Ananova:

Charlize Theron has just signed up for her biggest role to date - as a sci-fi superhero.

She is being paid £5.5 million to play the lead role in a movie version of MTV cartoon Aeon Flux, reports Empire Online.

Directed by Karyn Kusama, the film is set 400 years in the future after humanity has been all but wiped out by a deadly virus.

Aeon Flux is an acrobatic assassin hired to kill the leader of the government.

Theron has been Oscar-nominated for her role in Monster where she was transformed into serial killer Aileen Wuornos.