Tom Cruise is teaming up with Sam Raimi to develop an adaptation of the Wildstorm comic book Sleeper. Cruise might star, while Raimi will produce with Josh Donen.

Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips, the story follows a covert “sleeper” operative named Holden Carver (aka The Conductor), who is fused with an alien artifact that makes him not only impervious to pain , but also able to pass it along to others through skin contact. Carver has been placed undercover in a villainous organization led by TAO (a WildC.A.T.s villain from Alan Moore’s run). But when the only guy who knows that he is an undercover agent goes into a coma, Carver must question right and wrong, as he falls and for a member of the group while rising through he ranks.

Aside from being a spin-off of WildC.A.T.s, Sleeper also features characters from Gen 13. Cruise’s involvement has put the project on the fast track. Warner Bros hopes to turn the project into a franchise. I haven’t read the series, but the synopsis certainly sounds interesting enough for the big screen. Sleeper placed #81 on Comic Book Resource’s top 100 comic book runs of all time.

source: THR