Robery Downey Jr.'s Perry Mason Reboot Circling Writer Marc Guggenheim

Having last summer’s Green Lantern on the resume isn’t as toxic as one might assume. Marc Guggenheim, who co-wrote the superhero origin story with at least four others, is the leading contender to pen the Perry Mason reboot for Robert Downey Jr., also set up at Warner Bros., according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Guggenheim’s a good fit, as he once worked as an attorney before trying his hand at producing and screenwriting. His early credits also include episodes of The Practice and Law & Order. He also has comic credits, having penned for both Marvel and DC Comics.

Mason, of course, is a lawyer serving as the central character in a series of books by Erle Stanley Gardner. Though Hollywood made a number of Mason films and radio telecasts in the 1930s, the character became a household name once Raymond Burr played him on television from 1957-66.

Guggenheim reportedly will work on an original story credited to Downey and his collaborator, David Gambino, that will return Mason to the 1930s. Downey’s riding a red-hot streak of literary reboots, carrying his latest Sherlock Holmes sequel, A Game of Shadows, to $509 million at the global box office. Needless to say, with those numbers, WB would greelight virtually anything RDJ wanted to try, and with Guggenheim penning a script for the charming and intelligent actor, Perry Mason has loads of potential. No idea when he’d have time to film, however, as The Avengers press no doubt is about to heat up, and he has Iron Man 3 with Shane Black on the horizon. More details as they surface.