Underneath all of the celebrity, wealth and controversy, LeBron James claims to just be a kid at heart, and like any youth, he wishes that he could be a superhero.
"I think everybody, even grown-ups now, today all wish they could be a superhero," James told The New York Times. "I definitely had that imagination of, like, wow, it would be great to look over a city and take down the bad guys. Absolutely, I had those visions."
Since he can't fulfill that childhood fantasy, LeBron is opting to go with another — to have his own cartoon.
According to the Times, James and his alter egos are set to star in the first season of an animated Internet series, The Lebrons, this spring on YouTube and his website, LeBronJames.com.
Playing multiple characters, however, won't be new to James, who has many different facets in real life.
"I’m mostly a kid at heart," James said, "and I’m the athlete, of course, that everyone sees. But I also have a business side, a cool side, and I love antique stuff and classical music. I guess that’s the old man side of me."
The season will run 10 episodes in length, with each lasting approximately six minutes and having a unique socially conscious message.
The show, creatively inspired by Cartoon Network's The Boondocks and LeBron's own "The LeBrons" Nike ad campaign, will follow a 16-year-old LeBron as he grows up in Akron, Ohio.
"The Boondocks is very edgy," James said, "but it has some great points, too, and if you can extract yourself from how edgy it is, you can find that point and you can use it."
He reserved the honor of his favorite cartoon, though, for Tom and Jerry, saying, "I kind of always rooted for Jerry, man. … Even though Tom was the underdog, Jerry was much smaller."
See the original "The LeBrons" ad below.
