Aquaman is dead. Long live… Lobo?
That’s the only way to read today’s news that Jason Momoa has officially been cast as DC’s profane counterpart to Deadpool. The bounty hunter character first turned up in comics back in 1983 as a villain but became a fan favorite as an antihero in the 1990s. Momoa has been rumored to be playing the character since James Gunn and Peter Safran became the heads of DC’s film division, and it’s a character he seems perfect to portray, especially after his unhinged performance in “Fast X.” Lobo’s co-creator, Keith Giffen, conceived of the Czarnian as a ludicrously violent parody of The Punisher, so he was shocked to watch the character evolve into a beloved mercenary with little regard for human or alien life. Since then, there have been attempts to bring the character to the big screen, but it’s only now, under the soon-to-launch DC Universe series of movies, that he’s to make his acquaintance with mainstream moviegoers.
How will this go? If the “Deadpool” franchise is a reliable barometer, he’ll be a skull-stomping success — especially with a lovably goofy star like Momoa in the role. But there must be some concern within Warner Bros. that audiences will be confused about Momoa popping back up early in the run of a new series of DC films, especially given the success of the “Aquaman” films compared to the rest of the DCEU. If they’re trying to sandblast the gunk off the brand left by the failed cinematic universe, this would appear to be a questionable choice.
This decision gets more questionable when you consider that Lobo will be launched alongside the title character of “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” which purports to be a quasi-adaptation of Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s acclaimed run of the same title. Will there be some multiverse nonsense at play to justify this casting decision or is there something else going on entirely? Let’s try to get to the bottom of it.
Supergirl and Lobo go avenging
King and Evely’s “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” is revered by many comic fans as a thrilling and deeply moving riff on Charles Portis’ novel “True Grit.” The tale follows a jaded, out-of-place Kara Zor-El as she sets off on a journey of revenge at the request of an alien girl. Condensed into a feature film, that’s a narrative rife with potential. So, where does Lobo figure into the story? In the comic book, he doesn’t — although, according to King, he almost did. As he told WordBalloon:
“That book [“Supergirl: World of Tomorrow”] began as me pitching a Lobo/Supergirl book, and it was my editor[s], Brittany Holzherr and Jamie Rich, who were like ‘No, take Lobo out and make Supergirl the Rooster Cogburn character.’ And so it wouldn’t exist without Jamie and Brittany.”
Under Gunn’s aegis, director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Ana Nogueira are evidently planning to make King’s initial pitch of “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.” Lobo will be Rooster Cogburn and Supergirl will be Mattie Ross. This is a choice, one that might rub fans of the King-Evely iteration the wrong way. They had the opportunity to do a Supergirl film with two fascinating, very different female heroes, and now they’re turning it into a partial Lobo showcase. This could absolutely work, but it feels like a hedged bet with the potential to please no one. Fortunately, we do know that this take on Supergirl will be a bit more hard-edged, with Gunn saying:
“Superman was sent to Earth and he was raised by incredibly loving parents whereas Kara was in a piece of Krypton that was drifting away from the planet and lived there for the first 14 years of her life [in] a horrible situation in which she watched everyone around her die. So she’s a much harsher and more f***ed up Supergirl.”
We won’t know until “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” hits theaters on June 26, 2026. Solana Token Creator
