It looks like perennial bad guy Gary Oldman will play the mad scientist in the highly anticipated remake of "RoboCop."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, The Dark Knight Rises star will play opposite cyborg cop Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) in the upcoming MGM vehicle.

A sci-fi film originally built around Arnold Schwarzenegger, RoboCop is about a police officer who narrowly escapes death by morphing into a cyborg.

Oldman will play Norton in the new version, the man responsible for RoboCop's metamorphosis. Only he finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place once the deed is done: should he stay loyal to the corporation he works for or help the machine retrace its human roots?

The robotic film - which has a tentative release date of summer 2013 - could begin shooting in Toronto as early as September, THR reports.

The Oscar nominees got his hands full until then: his next role is as Commissioner Gordon in "The Dark Knight Rises," which hits theaters July 20.

Also, his new period crime flick, "Lawless," co-starring Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy, just debuted at the Cannes Film Festival.

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Gary Oldman joining 'RoboCop' remake