Sony Pictures has found their leading man for the studio's Bloodshot comic book adaptation, with Vin Diesel entering talks to star in the movie. Sony announced in September 2016 that they are working on a Valiant Comics movie universe which will span five movies, two Bloodshot movies, and two Harbinger movies, concluding with a Harbinger Wars event movie. There has been no indication as to whether Bloodshot or Harbinger will actually move forward first, but since Bloodshot has found its leading man, it wouldn't be surprising if this project starts production soon.

There was a report back in August that Dave Bautista was eyed for Eternal Warrior in this new Valiant Comics universe, while Jared Leto was being eyed to play Bloodshot. While the Jared Leto report was not confirmed, now the studio is going in another direction with Vin Diesel coming aboard to play Bloodshot. This new report also claims that Sony is eyeing a 2019 release for the movie, although no exact date has been given. If that's true though, that would likely mean production will have to begin sometime this year, so we could be hearing more casting news on this project quite soon.

The Bloodshot comic book was created in 1992 by Kevin Van Hook, Don Perlin and Bob Layton, and was immediately a huge hit among Valiant Comics fans. The story follows a mortally wounded soldier who is brought back from the dead thanks to cutting-edge nanotechnology that allows him to heal from injuries at an incredibly fast rate, while also giving him the ability to interface with other forms of technology and he also became a shape-shifter. The book was translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Filipino, Chinese and Turkish languages. There has been no indication as of yet as to any specific comic book stories this movie will be following.

Back in 2015, John Wick directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch were attached to direct, but they are no longer doing it. Taking the helm instead is Dave Wilson, longtime Blur Studios partner of Tim Miller (Deadpool), making his directorial debut. He will be working from a script by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer (Arrival), with Neal Moritz producing through his Original Film company, alongside Valiant's Dinesh Shamdasani. Insiders claim that the studio is looking to follow in the footsteps of Logan and Deadpool with an R-rated adaptation that is said to be "tonally and aesthetically influenced" by blockbusters like Terminator, RoboCop and Total Recall.

This news comes just after Vin Diesel was named the top-grossing actor of 2017, with the actor's two movies from last year, XXX: The Return of Xander Cage and The Fate of the Furious bringing in $1.6 billion, which doesn't even count his voice work as Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The actor will also voice Groot once again in the highly-anticipated Avengers: Infinity War, and he is slated to return as Dominic Toretto in Fast & Furious 9 and Fast & Furious 10. The Wrap broke the news about Vin Diesel entering talks for Bloodshot earlier today.