Critically acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky is set to direct the upcoming motion picture adaptation of Machine Man, based on Max Barry’s online serialized story. The production will reunite Aronofsky with Mark Heyman, who co-produced The Wrestler, and is currently penning the Machine Man screenplay. Mandalay Pictures will produce the film.  Here's what Variety has on the film:

A gadget geek and engineer working at a forward-thinking tech firm decides to systematically replace his weaker fleshy parts with high-end titanium performance upgrades of his own design. But he isn’t the only one with plans for his superior parts.

Barry wrote the story in serialized form, unveiling one page at a time from March 2009-December 2009 and the entire story will be published as a novel in Spring 2011.  Aronofsky will direct Machine Man after Wolverine 2, which will shoot this March for a 2012 release. The prolific director has been linked to various films recently, notably Superman: The Man of Steel, Tales From the Gangster Squad, and Preacher. He will unveil his highly anticipated Black Swan in December. Hit the jump for more.

When Aronofsky ditched the Robocop remake last year, many a film fan were deeply disappointed. The Fountain director promised a darker, grittier take on the character originally brought to the screen by Paul Verhoeven in 1987.

With news that Aronofsky will direct Machine Man, however there is reason to suspect Aronofsky will bring the same unique sensibilities he intended for Robocop. The stories appear vastly different, but uniquely similar in many ways, not the least of which revolves around a broken man upgrading his body with technology.