After his despicable role in Django Unchained, Samuel L. Jackson will be returning to our screens as a villain again early next year in Kingsman: The Secret Service. It seems he’s on a run of playing bad people at the moment, as he’s now in talks to snatch the title role in The Black Phantom.

The film finds Kevin Hart working again with his Ride Along director Tim Story, playing a double-crossed mob hit man who learns that – in the grand tradition of movie hit men – his old bosses now want to kill him. And the man tasked with the job? Notorious assassin the Black Phantom. But somehow, a different dynamic emerges.

While it sounds like it could be a gritty thriller, it’s actually a comedy, with Jackson looking to stretch his funny muscles again and work for the first time opposite Hart, who is on a roll at the moment. Story will be working from a script by Dave Lease and Megan Hinds, and had grabbed Jamie Foxx for the role but he’s had to drop out due to scheduling changes.

The ever-busy Jackson, as mentioned above, will be Valentine in Matthew Vaughn’s latest, which has just been pushed back to February next year. He’ll also be back in the eye patch as Nick Fury for Avengers: Age Of Ultron (April 24) and is part of the cast for anime adaptation Kite, which has yet to lock in a UK date.