The casting of Jason Momoa’s Lobo brings this aborted Supergirl idea to life for the big screen

Aquaman is dead. Long live… Lobo?

This is the only way to read today’s news Jason Momoa is officially cast as the profane counterpart of Deadpool in DC. The bounty hunter character first appeared in comics in 1983 as a villain, but became a fan favorite as an anti-hero in the 1990s. Momoa has been rumored to play the character since James Gunn and Peter Saffron headed up DC’s film division, and it’s a character he seems perfect to portray, especially after his erratic performance in X-Men. Lobo’s co-creator Keith Giffen conceived Charnian as an absurdly violent parody of the Punisher, so he was shocked to see the character turn into a lovable mercenary with little regard for human or alien life. Since that time there were attempts to bring the character to the big screenbut only now, as part of the soon-to-be-launched DC Universe film series, will it be introduced to mainstream moviegoers.

How will it be? If the Deadpool franchise. is a reliable barometer, it will be a resounding success – especially with a lovably goofy star like Momoa in the role. But at Warner Bros. there must be some concern that audiences will be confused by Momoa’s appearance at the start of a new DC film series, especially given the success of the Aquaman movies compared to the rest of the DCEU. If they’re trying to clean up the brand from a failed cinematic universe, this would seem like a questionable choice.

This decision is made even more questionable when you consider that Lobo will launch alongside the main character of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which is supposedly a quasi-adaptation of Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s famous series of the same name. Is there going to be some multiverse nonsense to justify this casting decision, or is there something completely different going on? Let’s try to understand the essence.

Supergirl: The Woman of Tomorrow by King and Evely is revered by many comic book fans as a fascinating and touching riff on Charles Portis’s novel True Perseverance. The story follows a jaded, misfit Kara Zor-El as she embarks on a journey of revenge at the request of an alien girl. Compressed into a feature film, this is a story rich in potential. So where does Lobo figure in the story? In the comics, he doesn’t — although, according to King, he almost was. As he told WordBalloon:

“This book (‘Supergirl: World of Tomorrow’) started with me pitching a Lobo/Supergirl book and my editor(s), Brittany Holscher and Jamie Rich, saying, ‘No, take Lobo and make Supergirl a Rooster Cogburn character. “. And that’s why he wouldn’t be there without Jamie and Brittany.”

Under Gunn’s auspices, director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Ana Nogueira are apparently planning to make King’s opening installment Supergirl: The Woman of Tomorrow . Lobo will be Rooster Cogburn and Supergirl will be Matty Ross. It’s a choice that may surprise fans of the King-Aveley iteration. They had the opportunity to make a Supergirl movie with two exciting, very different heroines, and now they’re turning it into a partial Lobo showcase. It could very well work, but it seems like a hedged bet that might not appeal to anyone. Fortunately, we know this this take on Supergirl will be a little more violent, as Gunn said:

“Superman was sent to Earth and raised by incredibly loving parents, while Kara was in a piece of Krypton that was leaving the planet and lived there for the first 14 years of her life (in) a horrible situation where she watched everyone around her die, so she is a lot a tougher and more f***ing supergirl.

We won’t know until Supergirl: The Woman of Tomorrow hits theaters on June 26, 2026.