When it comes to the movies, comic book adaptations bring the big bucks. The big stars, the trained actors are lining up to star in the ever growing genre. Currently Tom Cruise is working with Sam Raimi to get the comic book Sleeper made into a film by Warner Bros. The tentative plan is for Cruise to star in the movie with Raimi and his Star Road Entertainment partner Josh Donen producing.

Sleeper was written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips. It was published by DC Comics and Wildstorm from 2003 to 2005. The comic tells the story of a man who fused with an alien artifact, making him impervious to pain, and giving him the ability to pass on the gift to others through skin contact. He is then placed by the director of Internal Operations undercover in a criminal organization, led by Tao, a villain from WildC.A.T.s.

Sleeper marks the third project Cruise has been associated with over the past few weeks. He’s also working on a Spyglass thriller called Tourist and he vocalized interest in working on the Universal comedy, with the working title Food Fight. Recently, Cruise garnered a few laughs for his uncharacteristic role as a bad guy mogul in Tropic Thunder.

Many questions, along with determining whether or not Cruise will star in Sleeper, have yet to be decided. Warner Bros. is currently working with Fox to iron out rights issues of Watchmen, so it may be a while before logistics are worked out and Sleeper graces the big screen. Along with potentially starring Cruise, Sleeper is being groomed as a possible franchise for the studio. Overseeing the project are Matt Reilly, for Warner Bros., Russell Hollander for Star Road, and Gregory Noveck from DC.