Jason Momoa Will Play Lobo in the DCU
Jason Momoa is going from Aquaman to the Main Man. Deadline was the first to report that Momoa had been offered the role of Lobo in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, part of Warner Bros.’s emerging DCU. Lobo was created in the 80s as a villain but was brought back in the 90s as a sort of antihero, an alien bounty hunter with loose (if any) morals and vast superhuman powers. Lobo has previously appeared in the 90s Superman animated series from Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, in which he was voiced by Brad Garrett. Momoa had been fancast as Lobo for some time due to his striking resemblance to the character, as opposed to Aquaman, whom he looked nothing like. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, directed by Craig Gillespie, also stars Milly Alcock as the titular superheroine, Matthias Schoenaerts as Krem of the Yellow Hills, and Eve Ridley as Ruthye Marye Knoll, and will arrive in theaters on June 26, 2026. Momoa confirmed the news on his Instagram account, where he posted a screenshot of a comment from an interview where he expressed his desire to play Lobo, then commented, “They called.”
I like this casting, not that I imagine anyone doesn’t. Jason Momoa was fancast as Lobo for a reason: not only does he look just like the character (minus the necessary makeup and colored contacts to make him look like the creepy image of death Lobo is supposed to look like; he won’t even need a wig), but his usual on-screen persona – the one he uses when he’s not playing Khal Drogo – fits Lobo to a T. It’s another example of James Gunn casting actors who actually resemble their comic book counterparts rather than going for edgy or woke reimaginings to pursue the mirage Hollywood suits call the modern audience. (There are a couple of exceptions, of course, like Wendell Pierce as Perry White, but he’s wisely sticking to background characters for that.) David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Milly Alcock are excellent choices to play Superman, Lois Lane, and Supergirl from a physical standpoint, and Skyler Gisondo is a better Jimmy Olsen than I thought we’d ever see again. Even Krypto looks right. Momoa playing Lobo is consistent with Gunn’s casting strategy, so even though any halfway decent casting feels surprising, nowadays, maybe this one shouldn’t be.
I’m still concerned, though, and that’s mostly about how Lobo will be used in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and the larger DCU. My initial thought was that Lobo would be the villain, but that’s going to be Krem of the Yellow Hills, as he was in the graphic novel on which the film is based. (That also means it’s an actual adaptation of the story, not just a pilfering of a good title like Marvel frequently does; go read “Age of Ultron” and be prepared for a very different story – one in which Ultron barely appears.) I never read the comic, but as far as I can tell, Lobo doesn’t appear in it. That suggests he’ll be some kind of X factor, perhaps an unlikely ally for Supergirl. And I think that’s a great way to use him; Lobo is not a hero, and he contrasts well with someone who has a strong moral fiber. In fact, if the movie is about Supergirl flirting with darkness, as Gunn suggested, he could serve as a warning sign for where she’s headed if she doesn’t embrace the traditional heroism of her cousin. What worries me is that this could devolve into some “toxic masculinity” screed instead of being the interesting and fun story it should be. In the modern era, it’s rare you see a man and woman on an even playing field in terms of characterization, or have a man’s negative attributes examined without blaming them on his being a man in the first place. I didn’t think James Gunn was going to infuse the DCU with that tired woke stuff… until I saw the first two episodes of Creature Commandos. The show is awful for many reasons, but one is that it took less than ten seconds for the first episode to reveal that the villains were men’s rights activists/incels/whatever the buzzword is (you won’t believe how farcical it gets), and if Gunn went that far in his first DCU venture, I worry that he won’t be able to help himself with a character as gift-wrapped for the theme as Lobo is. I hope it’s great – I hope the entire DCU is great – but I’m much more worried now than I had been.
Let us know what you think of Jason Momoa playing Lobo in the comments!
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