The padded resume of Robert Downey Jr. will have a musical addition, though it's not a debut album! He has recorded a full album in 2004. Despite the success, he hates the idea of someone else taking the mantle of his most financially rewarding endeavor.

The report from contactmusic.com states:

"The 'Iron Man' star has been meeting with music label executives whose interest was sparked after a duet of him and Sting singing Police classic 'Driven to Tears' became a huge hit on the internet.

A source said:'Some of the biggest names in the music industry are helping Robert put his album together. Robert has already recorded several songs and he sounds better than a lot of the performers out there.'"

They give a little background that Downey is not exactly a newbie in the music industry:

"Sting and Robert have been friends for years, and he even convinced the 'Fields of Gold' star to sing his track 'Every Breath You Take' when he appeared on TV show 'Ally McBeal' in 2000. Those two go way back, and you couldn't ask for a better musical mentor than Sting. It's clear Robert is talented, and he's been writing music for as long as he can remember. Who knows, maybe he'll win a Grammy before he wins an Oscar?''

In fact, Downey has already released an album entitled "The Futurist." From the album's Wiki page: ".. produced by Jonathan Elias and Mark Hudson, and released on November 23, 2004 through Sony Classical. The album debuted at number 121 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 16,000 copies in its first week. The album received mixed reviews, but Downey stated in 2006 that he probably will not do another album, as he felt that the energy he put into doing the album was not compensated. "Broken" plays during the end credits to Downey's 2005 film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang."

Now that he has more star power, his album will definitely outsell his debut. Will the added strain of a musical career force RDJ to pass the armor to a different actor?  From MTV, we get a resounding 'No':

"I would really hate for someone else to think they could step into my shoes. I wonder who's playing Tony Stark next. Is it you? Is that what you're here to tell me? I know things are looking like that they could go on for a long while. As usual in my book, it's all about quality control and delivering a product that you can have this kind of reaction to. If they keep doing that, maybe I'll keep showing up."

The leverage game continues for Marvel and Robert Downey, Jr.