BREAKING: Sony has just closed a deal with Shane Black to co-write and direct Doc Savage, a movie based on the 1930s and ’40s pulp novel hero. He co-wrote the screenplay with Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, and Columbia Pictures says he’s eyeing it as his next project. Neal H. Moritz is producing the project with Ori Marmur through his Original Film banner. Michael Uslan will also be a producer. “We couldn’t be more excited to be building a franchise from the ground up with Shane and this team”, said Columbia production president Hannah Hannah Minghella, who made the announcement today with Columbia president Doug Belgrad. “Shane and Neal have a fantastic understanding of the character and a great take on the material and we can’t wait to get this production up and running.”

Doc Savage was a multiplatformer even back in the day, popularized on radio, film and TV. He was a scientist, physician, adventurer, inventor, explorer and researcher with outstanding strength, a photographic memory, and vast knowledge and intelligence. He uses those skills and powers to fight evil.

Sam Dickerman and Lauren Abrahams are overseeing for the studio with Minghella.

Black, coming off the phenomenal worldwide opening of Disney/Marvel’s Iron Man 3, also wrote with Bagarozzi and Mondry the live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga series Death Note, which is set up at Warner Bros. At the time of that deal back in 2011, Black said he wasn’t sure what he wanted to direct next. Well that ended up being Iron Man threequel, which reteamed him with his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang star Robert Downey Jr and which grossed $680M worldwide in its first 12 days.

While Shane Black is currently dealing with a pair of Nice Guys, the writer and director has an actor in mind for his next savage project.

Speaking with Thrillist about his upcoming film The Nice Guys, Black addressed his Doc Savage adaptation, for which he was announced as a co-writer and director in 2013. Black said that he’d like to make the film “sometime next year” and that he has a lead actor in mind for the role.

“I would very much like to do Doc with a fellow named Dwayne Johnson if we can make that work,” Black said. “I made a decision that Dwayne is the guy.”

That fellow, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, already has a busy schedule of filming ahead of him, as he’s currently in production on Baywatch, and has the upcoming Fast and Furious 8 and Rampage video game adaptation on his docket. Black acknowledged how packed Johnson’s schedule is, saying the film is “on the back burner while he’s busy.”

Doc Savage, the story of a man with superheroic levels of intelligence and strength (who just so happens to be a brilliant scientist, inventor, and explorer), began as a series of pulp novels and radio series. Black was announced as a director of the film in 2013 for Sony, having already written a script along with Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry. Earlier in the project’s lifespan, Chris Hemsworth had discussed playing the title role according to reports in 2014.