If you’re a fan of the character Lobo, you probably know his history. He was introduced as a bad guy in the Omega Men comic series. Originally intended to parody tough-guy comic leads like Wolverine, Lobo soon found a devoted fanbase. In fact, when Marvel great Stan Lee was asked about his favorite DC character, he unabashedly said it was Lobo. We now know that we’ll see Momoa’s Lobo in the upcoming film: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
Who exactly is Lobo? Good question. He’s strong like Superman, ferocious like Wolverine, and loves hedonism at least as much as Dionysus himself. Lobo is bisexual like Deadpool, is the last survivor of his race like that Doctor from Gallifrey, and he delights in violence and destruction like...honestly there’s nobody who delights in killing and maiming quite like Lobo. Euron Greyjoy, maybe? This spoof of The Punisher is almost as misunderstood by dudebro fans who delight in their misinterpretation of the lampooning.
Other actors were considered for the role of Lobo in recent years. Guy Ritchie wanted Dwayne Johnson (AKA “The Rock,” AKA the guy who stepped aside to make room for fascism), to play Lobo. Instead, Dwayne lit up the screen as Black Adam I assume, I never saw it.
It turns out, James Gunn always wanted Momoa to be Lobo—and Momoa himself has always wanted to play him. Gunn revealed recently that when it was announced that he’d be heading up the DC Universe, he received a telling text from Aquaman himself: “F*cking Lobo.” Short and to the point! Gunn replied that he had the same thought.
Will Lobo get a stand-alone feature film? Maybe. SyFy fans recall that the excellent-but-short-lived series Krypton featured a delightful version of Lobo. At that time, it was hinted that a Lobo spinoff might be in our future. But like so many things on SyFy, Krypton was canceled before we could get answers to many of the fascinating questions raised by the series. Here’s hoping we get at least as much Lobo as we have Spider-Man reboots.