Robert Downey Jr riding into Cowboys & Aliens?

Strapping on Tony Stark’s suit of armour must’ve given Robert Downey Jr a taste for comic book-based action. Because he’s now in negotiations to star in Universal/DreamWorks’ Cowboys & Aliens, which is based on the graphic novel.

Having lingered in development hell for a decade, the plot finds Western settlers battling Apaches, only to have their scrap invaded by the arrival of an extraterrestrial vessel. The humans suddenly realise they must put their differences aside to fight off the alien menace.

Iron Man scribes Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus seem to have cracked the script, and if it comes together, it should saddle up in 2010, just in time for Downey Jr to likely compete with, er, himself in Iron Man 2: Electric Boogaloo. The Hollywood Reporter is finding its spurs .