Josh Brolin has gone from Goonie to President of the United States, but will the actual biggest challenge turn out to be a comic book hero? Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere, who interviewed Brolin recently, says the deal is "locked down" for Brolin to play Jonah Hex, a DC Comics anti-hero who was first introduced in 1972. Bear in mind that Brolin's rep completely denies the story, and it's all unsubstantiated rumor at this point.

Thinking of Brolin in his role as Llewellyn Moss in No Country for Old Men, Jonah Hex might be a perfect fit. The character is a former Confederate soldier who makes his way across the Old West as a vigilante and a bounty hunter. Half of his face is badly scarred, he's battled alcoholism, befriended Indian tribes and had multiple wives-- basically, Tony Stark for the 19th century. Squeaky clean superheroes are out, as The Dark Knight has resoundingly proven, and Brolin has proven he's good at playing a dirty cowboy in his current role as George W. Bush. (Zing!)

Wells' source says the movie will have sci-fi elements and "CGI up the wazoo," which indicate a change in tone from the comic books. But superheroes are hot right now, and DC has its cash cow franchise with Batman and can afford to take gambles on spinning off new ones. Brolin, if anyone, might be the guy to make a cowboy America's kind of hero again. After all, cowboys were the original superheroes; take that, Spider-Man.