Lobo was in development at Warner Bros. for years, first with Guy Ritchie attached to direct, and later Brad Peyton. It was widely reported that Dwayne Johnson was going to play the fan-favourite character, but now that he's attached to star as Black Adam in Shazam, it's clear that it isn't happening. When Superhero Hype caught up with Brad Peyton (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) recently, they asked him to explain why it never happened. "I think what’s happening with DC is that they have prioritized what they need to make first in order to kind of lay the foundations for the DC Universe," he revealed. "This is what I believe is happening just from what they’ve been taking about. They’re talking about Justice League, Batman v Superman, and going into Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. Those are kind of the pillars of that universe."
It sounds like the odds were always stacked against the movie anyway, as the San Andreas helmer went on to reflect on the issues he went through in trying to get a green light for Lobo. "It’s one of those things where, creatively, you and I get it, but there’s a lot of people that don’t quite get that. It’s a real uphill battle to talk people into spending a lot of money to do things correctly… I was really happy with the script, [though]. I talked with Dwayne about it. Joel Silver and I had a really amazing meeting about it. I did a rewrite of the script and was really, really excited for it. In their estimation, though, he wasn’t one of those main guys… That’s fair enough." Those comments emphasise how Warner Bros. is going about building their DC Cinematic Universe in comparison to Marvel, and Peyton added: "I think that, to do any kind of comic book universe correctly, you do need to establish, ‘Here’s the tone. Here’s the main people.’ Then we can grow offshoots from there. With Marvel, they’re now doing smaller characters like Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. They obviously had to start, though, with their big guns and set up The Avengers. I kind of feel like that’s where DC is now. They’re setting that team up."
Will Lobo ever happen? Peyton remains optimistic. "I think there’s going to be a really amazing time for Lobo and I think people are going to realize, certainly once they revisit it, what they’re sitting on. But you never know. I’m really happy with the project and where we got it and fingers crossed it comes to fruition at some point." Would you guys like to see a Lobo movie or are Warner Bros. making the right decision by focusing on their A-List DC Comics superheroes?