Robert Downey Jr. donning a cowboy hat and gunfighter’s rig fighting aliens in the Wild West would have been awesome on so many levels. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. The LATimes reports that Downey has now left the Dreamsworks sci-fi action movie, which was set to reunite “Iron Man” director Jon Favreau with his star. Favreau will remain on the project as director, but Downey, who some speculate may be leaving “Cowboys and Aliens” for a fast-tracked “Sherlock Holmes” sequel, will not.

The film would have had Downey playing a Wild West gunslinger name Zeke Jackson who teams up with some local Apache Indians when aliens arrive in 19th century Arizona looking to enslave the populace. Oh, what might have been…