RobertDowneyJr.

While his reps are saying it's too soon to say for certain, it looks like Daniel Craig may be replacing Robert Downey Jr. in Cowboys and Aliens

Variety reports that the extraterrestrial western penned by sci fi film's current Midas men Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof may not be as hobbled as the loss of RDJ makes it seem. Jon Favreau is attached as director. The plot, in case you've missed it in other reports, is an alien invasion upset by cowboys and Indians. The film is adapted from a graphic novel series created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.

As the report indicates, the next James Bond edition isn't yet in production, with no clear idea when that will happen, so Craig looks to have the time on his hands for another project.

I can certainly see Craig as a rugged cowboy. I haven't read the graphic novels, but the idea of people from the wild west uniting to battle aliens sounds like fun to me, and I think Favreau is someone who can do the concept justice. So, Jacob, while not your first choice, do you think Craig could do the material justice?

"There will be blood in the water, and the sharks will come."

So says Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) in the just-released Iron Man 2 trailer (available on Apple's website in glorious QuickTime) and man oh man does it look like Jon Favreau and Co. outdid themselves. They don't hold much back in the chock-full 2 minutes and 28 seconds, but still, there's nothing too spoiler-ish going on, especially if you've been keeping up on your Iron Man 2 news. The correct one word response: totallyf-ckingawesome.

Since the end of Iron Man (i.e. "I am Iron Man"), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has gone full-blown rock star to the next degree. The sin of hubris attracts a lot of attention, mainly a pair of Ruskies, Whiplash (who we get a lot of) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson filling out that leather outfit nicely). Only a glimpse of Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), but hey, cars flip, things explode, and yes, the oh so appropriate Black Sabbath song is back.

Did I forget to mention...War Machine (Don Cheadle replacing what would have been Terrence Howard)? Please just do yourself a favor if you haven't already and let this thing kick your ass all over the place. Or watch it again. Ahhh, May 2010 can't come soon enough.

No word yet if Marvel Studios has decided to release this thing in 3D, although I've got a gut feeling that that's going to be a big fat negative.

It's no secret that War Machine was going to rear his metallic, butt-kicking head in Iron Man 2 (presumably to shoot missiles at Mickey Rourke and crack wise), but now that Yahoo has debuted the first poster for the highly-anticipated film, we can stop wondering what War Machine is going to look like and start complaining about what he looks like. Such is the way of the internet!

My layman's knowledge of the Iron Man universe prevents me from going into extensive detail about this particular exoskeleton-o-destruction, but I'll go on the record with saying it looks pretty cool. Far bulkier than the sleek, agile Iron Man armor, it looks ready to karate chop it's way through a tank while on the way to throw a boat at a terrorist (and with that gatling gun arm, War Machine certainly ain't got time to bleed).

Of course, new toys and armors aside, it's important to remember that Don Cheadle will be inside the suit and unless he's murdering the British accent alongside George Clooney, Cheadle is always a joy to watch perform (I have a gut feeling that no one is going to miss Terrence Howard in the role). It's funny to think that a tentpole summer release will feature Cheadle, Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell all trying to destroy/one-up/defeat each other...with a cast as talented as that and with armor as cool as this, Iron Man 2 has a lot of high quality ingredients on its plate. I expect nothing less than greatness come summer 2010.

A third video from the set of Iron Man 2 has arrived online courtesy of Entertainment Tonight, and this one -- which you can watch after the jump -- centers on Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, featuring interviews with director Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow. There's not a whole lot of additional information provided, though I did find it interesting that Paltrow said most of Rourke's work with her character so far has been done opposite her stunt double -- which means Pepper Potts will be getting in on a lot more of the action this time around ... and I think that's pretty cool.

Also in the video is a whole bunch of Mickey Rourke in action as Whiplash, however all we really see of him is a scene that has him pushed up against a fence while he uses his whips to trash a car. I can only imagine how cool that will look once it's all polished and up on the big screen.

Check out the video after the jump. Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7.

By: Elisabeth Rappe (originally posted on Cinematical)

I really believe this is the best geek news we'll have all month. Not only is Robert Downey Jr. officially on board Cowboys & Aliens, The Hollywood Reporter announced that he's bringing Jon Favreau along for the ride. Considering the graphic novel was penned by Iron Man screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, it's literally a dream team come true.

As if it wasn't touched by the movie gods enough, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, they-who-can-write-no-failures, are penning the script, and producer Damon Lindelof came aboard last fall. There's no way this can fail. Even if the movie was one big trick, and simply 2 hours of Robert Downey Jr. in a cowboy hat reading a phone book, it would succeed. We would just call it arthouse, and praise them all for subverting our expectations!

But there's no danger of arthouse here, Cowboys & Aliens really does promise to be pure fun with this team. The story takes place in 1880s Arizona, where a war is raging between settlers and Native Americans. Their war is interrupted by the arrival of a UFO, which promptly unleashes hell onto the plains of Silver City. The Native Americans and settlers must unite to fight a larger threat, and are led to battle by Zeke Jackson (Downey), a gunslinger and former member of the Union Army. You can read the entire graphic novel online, which should keep you satisfied until Cowboys & Aliens hits theaters in the summer of 2011.

Welcome to Captain's Log -- your (semi) daily round-up of sci-fi randomness from around the web. Here's what's happening today:

- Here's more evidence of Robert Downey Jr's awesomess: The dude reportedly saved an extra from rampaging robots on the set of Iron Man 2 over the weekend.

- Michael Bay' second Transformers movie made $201.2 million, the second-largest amount over a five-day period after The Dark Knight. Also, it's awfulness made me sterile.

- A sci-fi-tinged comedy with Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Jennifer Garner and starring/written/co-directed by Ricky Gervais? You must watch the trailer for The Invention of Lying and read more after the jump:

By: Elisabeth Rappe

See Tony Stark. See Stark's suit. See Stark lounge around, looking cool, with nary a care in the world. The first shot of Robert Downey Jr. decked out in (half) the Iron Man 2 suit comes not by way of Jon Favreau's Twitter, by way of People Magazine.

Downey Jr. is really looking more and more like the Stark of the comics -- I can't put my finger on what it is except that he looks older. It hasn't been that long since he shot Iron Man, but here it looks like he's got some new lines to the face. Fighting War Mongerer will do that to even the most eternally young of faces, I guess.

It's so geeky to say so, my childish heart of hearts just leaps at a photo like this. Iron Man was definitely an amazing way to kick off last summer, and it helps erase the pain of this year's superhero film to know that Iron Man 2 is in the wings.

Now come on, Favreau! Give us a photo of Scarlett Johannson or Mickey Rourke in costume! We have a long way to go, and we need something to make the long, long months even more unbearable.