Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris' superhero-turned-politician comic Ex Machina is headed to the big screen -- but yeah, it's gonna need a new name. Seberg and The Aftermath writers Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnelare set to write the adaptation, which will be titled The Great Machine to avoid confusion with Alex Garland's 2015 sci-fi film of the same name. The project is set up over at Legendary Entertainment with Vaughan on board to produce.

The Great Machine is the latest collaboration between Legendary and the Y: The Last Man and Saga writer, who has an ongoing overall film and TV deal with the studio. New Line Cinema had an adaptation in the works back in 2005, but in 2012, Harris confirmed the rights reverted back to the creators.

ex-machina

The comic series kicked off in 2004 under the DC Comics imprint Wildstorm and tangled up the superhero genre in politics with the story of Mitchel Hundred, a former superhero who was elected mayor of New York City after his heroic actions during 9/11. Ex Machina ran for 50 issues and took home the Eisner Award for Best New Comic in 2005.

The news of the adaptation comes from THR, who reports that the film "will revolve around Hundred dealing with a threatened political career when the source of his powers returns to claim its debt." In the comics, Hundred -- aka, The Great Machine -- can communicate with mechanical, a power that makes him the world's first bonafide superhero and allows him to stop the second plane on 9/11.

Vaughn's Y: The Last Man is currently in the works for a series adaptation at FX, where it's been set up for some time. At the Winter 2020 TCA tour, FX chairman Jon Landgraf said the project is "going well" In addition to Y: The Last Man and The Great Machine, Vaughn's Paper Girls is in the works over at Amazon.