A report via the LA Times was floating around the internet yesterday that Twilight and The Twilight Saga: New Moon star Taylor Lautner was being weighed as an option to star in Paramount’s superhero teenager property, Max Steel. This didn’t take long to develop into a factual story as Deadline Hollywood was able to confirm with Paramount that they had indeed cast the 17-year-old Lautner for the lead.

Max Steel originated as a CG-animated series that debuted in 2001 and went on to become an internationally popular toy line for Mattel, though it is not so well-known here in the states. And though it’s not the Transformers and G.I. Joe-level title that’s already making Paramount massive amounts of money, the studio is hoping that Lautner will rake in the majority of the planet’s female population and a strong percentage of the male population — for whatever reason might snag them. Steel tells the story of a 19-year-old X-Games-type athlete who is badly injured in an attack that sees millions of microscopic nanomachines known as Nano Tech Max infest his body and die, which in-turn eventually kills him. In order to save him, he is subjected to a heavy amount of special energy that revives the machines, saves his life, and gives him superhuman abilities.