Sacha Baron Cohen will star as Mandrake the Magician

Comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen, will star in the first live-action film adaptation of the classic comic strip hero, Mandrake the Magician.

As of late, Hollywood seems to be doing a great job of actually listening to what fans have to say. New and exciting intellectual properties are being produced for the teeming masses who have been asking for their incarnations for years. Recently, it was announced that Dwayne Johnson would be tackling one of the comic heroes of the golden age, Doc Savage. Following in that trend, its been confirmed that Sacha Baron Cohen will be the latest embodiment of the comic strip sorcerer, Mandrake the Magician.

The 'Mandrake' script has been floating around for years, never making its way out of development hell until new rumors began circulating in 2012 that a decision was being made on the adaptation. Finally, having been passed around studios like Disney and Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros. is set to produce the film with Etan Cohen slated to write and direct.

Predating famous comic book mages like Doctor Strange and John Constantine, Mandrake the Magician released in the early 1930's, the same era as other comic heroes such as Doc Savage, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and John Carter of Mars. Mandrake is a magic wielding crime fighter with an arsenal of abilities, his most famous of which is the ability to hypnotize his enemies, alongside his super strong sidekick, Lothar.