After completing one of the most improbable comebacks in Hollywood history, Robert Downey Jr. is sitting pretty (yes, there is hope for you, too, Lindsay!). Not only will the former drug addict now be known as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, to a new generation of superhero fans, but he's also reaping the financial benefits of starring in a blockbuster that will soon top $300 million in U.S. box-office receipts. And his year is just beginning. Word is he steals the show as a method actor who goes a bit too far to play an African-American soldier in this August's "Tropic Thunder." He's generating quiet Oscar buzz for his leading role opposite Jamie Foxx in "The Soloist," the follow-up drama from "Atonement" director Joe Wright due out in November. Forget his troubled past with drugs and rehab: Just two years ago Downey Jr. was balancing little-seen indies such as "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" with lame paycheck flicks such as "The Shaggy Dogg" remake. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Downey Jr.'s career resurgence continues and he's in negotiations to star in DreamWorks and Universal Pictures' potential franchise flick "Cowboys & Aliens."

Based on a graphic novel by Fred Van Lente, Andrew Foley and Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, the story finds an Old West gunslinger and former Union soldier, Zeke Jackson (Downey Jr.) in the middle of a fight between Apache and Western settlers. The combatants' world is turned upside-down when a spaceship crashes in nearby Silver City, Ariz. As fate would have it, the Native Americans and settlers must put their differences aside to survive the alien attack (and somehow erase it from the history books).

While in development at several studios during the past decade, the epic project seems to have jumped on the fast track after a new screenplay was penned by "Iron Man" and "Children of Men" writers Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus. Whereas heavy hitters such as Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Steven Spielberg are on board as producers, a director hasn't been named. However, the studios hope to shoot "Cowboys" next year to make it a must-see for 2010.

As for Downey Jr., "Cowboys" equals one thing he hasn't seen in years: paycheck, baby.

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