Michael Fassbender has fought epic battles in the eras of the Cuban Missile Crisis of the 1960s ("X-Men: First Class"), World War II in the '40s ("Inglourious Basterds") and the Persian invasion of 480 BC ("300"). Now one of our favorite actors gets to exercise his time-jumping warrior's heart in the big screen version of videogame series "Assassin's Creed," which Variety says Fassbender will both star in and co-produce through his DMC Film banner.

The four games in the series have sold 30-million copies since 2007, with a fifth, confusingly titled "Assassin's Creed III," due out this October.

Its story follows a modern-day bartender named Desmond Miles, who is descended from several historically badass assassins. Using a magical doohickey called an Animus, Desmond can travel mentally back in time to the bodies of his ancestors, picking up clues to a modern mystery while absorbing their mad killing abilities.

So far the series has found Desmond traveling "Quantum Leap"-style to the time of the Third Crusade, the Renaissance and lending George Washington a hand during the American Revolution.

Though the film was initially linked to Sony, Fassbender and his partners at the Paris-based Ubisoft (who are responsible for the videogame franchise) are trying to package a screenwriter and director independently before seeking studio assistance. Who can blame them, what with the cinematic hog troughs that became "Tomb Raider," "Doom" and other woebegotten videogame properties?

"Michael Fassbender was our first choice," said Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures. "Michael is an extremely smart, talented, versatile and committed actor. We're open to re-discuss with the key studios once the production package is finalized. Whatever the financial model, UMP will limit its risk investment, and will save on production costs by turning to its 26 in-house game studios like Hybride Technologies, to handle visual effects work."