Robert Downey Jr.: EW's 2008 Entertainer of the Year

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It's a testament to Iron Man's success that Holmes is not being played by somebody like Daniel Radcliffe or Shia LaBeouf or even Michael Cera (although Jonah Hill would have made a pretty good Watson). When director Guy Ritchie first came aboard, right after finishing RocknRolla, he was thinking of a much younger Holmes. ''Guy wanted to do more of an origin story, which would have made me age-inappropriate,'' says Downey. But Iron Man's box office demonstrated with inescapable Holmesian logic that a middle-aged movie star could indeed fill theater seats. Well, this middle-aged one anyway.

Not that there won't be plenty of other reasons to see Sherlock Holmes when it opens in November 2009 — Jude Law's turn as Dr. Watson, Rachel McAdams as Holmes' feisty love interest — but Downey will undoubtedly be the main draw for most moviegoers. It's an even safer bet that they'll line up for Iron Man 2, which the actor starts shooting this March for an April 2010 release. After that, he'll play Stark again, this time in The Avengers, a synergistic superhero ensemble project Marvel Comics has in the pipeline for summer 2011. At one point, Downey was even thinking of squeezing in a memoir — ''I banged out a couple of things, which I found cathartic'' — but ultimately he decided not to go there, or anywhere else that might be deemed self-indulgent. ''Beware the passion project,'' he says, talking about the peculiar movies stars often make when they get a little clout. ''It's so predictable: 'Now that I have a hit, I can tell that story about the transsexual horse whisperer!'''

At the rate he's racking them up, Downey could probably get away with a transsexual-horse-whisperer trilogy. Just now, though, he's got his hands full with Mr. Holmes. ''We still haven't figured out what sort of hat he should wear,'' he says. ''Guy Ritchie was hell-bent on me wearing a bowler, but it was more Chaplin than Sherlock Holmes.'' Downey is still teasing out the character, feeling for his shape, and perfecting the accent. ''There's a lot of pressure because of the kudos I got for my voice in Tropic Thunder,'' he says (indeed, there's even talk of a possible long-shot Oscar nomination for his supporting role). He also had to whip himself into shape for the part — Holmes needed to be ripped and buff for today's topless boxing exhibition — while keeping up with his regular holistic regimen of natural tonics and potions. Even here, on the set of Sherlock Holmes, he manages a constant dosage. An assistant holding a black box full of bottles and baggies is always hovering nearby, like a Secret Service agent with the nuclear-code briefcase.

''Oh, they work,'' Downey insists, popping another supplement. ''They definitely work. I'm alive, aren't I? What more proof could you want?''

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