Hot on the heels of his Oscar nomination for The Departed Mark Wahlberg is taking the next important step in his career: He’s starring in the remake of an 80s cartoon sensation. Yep, last year he was working for Scorsese, this year he’s following in the footsteps of Stephen Baldwin. Something doesn’t seem right here.

The story comes from IESB where they scored an interview with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. He’s working with Wahlberg on the movie Shooter, and while talking about Marky Mark told them he wants him to star in a movie version of G.I. Joe as Duke.

Now maybe that sounds like some producer’s casting pipe dream, but later IESB spoke to Wahlberg and he told them he wants to do it. He says, “You know what, I'll do whatever Lorenzo wants me to do; it really depends on the script, obviously, but it's a cool idea… He knows how to get me to say 'yes.'” Transformers stars Josh Duhamel and Shia LaBeouf, but G.I. Joe gets Mark Wahlberg? Optimus just got bitchslapped.

The film is supposed to take place before the old cartoon series, set early in the genesis of the evil COBRA organization and the rise of Cobra Commander. The JOE team will be lead by such fan favorite characters as Duke, Hawk, and Snake Eyes. In the cartoon the JOE’s are led by Hawk, with Wahlberg’s character Duke, as the team’s second in command. He may not be their leader, but Duke is usually regarded as the team’s poster boy. He’s the guy everyone thinks of when they think G.I. Joe. I guess he has the biggest muscles and looks best in green.