Cowboys and aliens and Downey, oh my!

Fresh from his success as the super-heroic Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. may continue riding tall along the comeback trail as the star of... no kidding... Cowboys & Aliens. Based on the graphic novel by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, the sci-fi Western centers on a battle between Apache warriors and paleface settlers that is interrupted by the crash-landing of a spaceship near Silver City, Arizona. Downey currently is in negotiations to play Zeke Jackson, a notorious gunslinger (and Union Army vet) who leads an alliance of settlers and Apaches in a counter-attack against invading extraterrestrials bent on enslaving (or destroying) all Earthlings. The movie is tentatively set as a 2010 release.

Update, June 17: Evidently, some folks aren't too happy about the "allegorical" content of this "liberal Hollywood" movie. They're also unhappy about the "blatant foolishness" of the equally offensive Tombstone. No kidding.