After years of fans clamoring to see him as the character, Jason Momoa will finally bring Lobo to life in James Gunn and Peter Safran's DCU. The space-based bounty hunter is slated to debut in Craig Gillespie's Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock. Yet, before this promising big-screen appearance, the Main Man was meant to get his own standalone movie years ago (it was revealed to be in development in 2016), written by Jason Fuchs, and helmed by Transformers director Michael Bay (though San Andreas' Brad Peyton was originally listed as director).
Unfortunately, the movie gradually fell by the wayside. Now, fascinating new details have surfaced about the defunct project, courtesy of screenwriter Jason Fuchs, writer of films like Wonder Woman and Argylle, and showrunner of It: Welcome to Derry. Appearing on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, the writer stated he was excited to see Lobo in Supergirl. This led to him revealing that Lobo was his favorite unproduced feature, which he described as Guardians of the Galaxy if it had been directed by Quentin Tarantino:
"I'm really excited to see Lobo finally make his appearance in the Supergirl trailer. I'd written a Lobo script many years ago for DC. Which, of all the things I've written that didn't get made, I think that Lobo script is my favorite. 'Cause it was... the tone of that [film] was Guardians of the Galaxy if Quentin Tarantino had directed it."
Fuchs went on to describe the extremely adult nature of the movie, going as far as to claim it would have made Deadpool appear family-friendly by comparison: "It was a hard-R, psychotic movie. Very violent. It made Deadpool look like a Disney family film. Which is probably why it ultimately didn't get made." The scribe was also asked if he had an actor in mind for the part while writing. In a curious twist of fate, Fuchs enthusiastically revealed: "Momoa! Who can play that role but Momoa? It was always... we never got to the stage we were talking to him, but it was always in my brain, Momoa."
Fuchs revealed why the once-promising film was ultimately scrapped, and stated that a member of the Green Lantern Corps was supposed to appear in it alongside other characters from the DC pantheon: "[Michael] Bay was going to direct it, which would've been equally insane. And it was a weird time in the DC Universe, where it didn't quite fit into what they were doing. But yeah, I loved writing that script and there was a Green Lantern involved. There was all kinds of fun DC characters who popped up in the context of that."
The Green Lantern mentioned was likely Jack T. Chance (a Green Lantern who made his comic book debut in 1992), whom Fuchs said would have played a big role in the movie: "There was a real fun dynamic between Lobo and Jack T. Chance. Jack T. Chance was a huge part of that story." The writer further stated the film would have featured DC team L.E.G.I.O.N. prominently: "I used a lot of L.E.G.I.O.N., also. It was definitely a Lobo movie, but it was also in some ways a first film in what could have been a L.E.G.I.O.N. series."
For those unaware, L.E.G.I.O.N. is essentially a space police force who made its DC Comics debut in 1988, created by Todd McFarlane, Keith Giffen and Bill Mantlo. Lobo has been a part of the team. Perhaps most importantly, though, Lobo would have also made fun of the infamous (and much criticized) "Martha" scene from Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. As Fuchs explained (Note: Part of his description had to be interpreted, and could therefore have some mistakes regarding which character the dialogue belonged to):
"[It was a] pretty nutty movie. I remember there was a moment early in the script, where there's a bad guy who pleads for Lobo's forgiveness by saying that he's got a mother to think about. And he says, 'Please, what will become of my mother? [...] What will become of Martha?' And Lobo goes, 'What did you say?' He goes, ''Martha,' 'cause it's my mom's name!' [Lobo] goes, 'No way! 'Your mom's Martha, my mom's Martha?' He goes, 'Yeah!' And the bad guy's, like, really hopeful, and then Lobo blows his brains out, and goes, 'what the f—ck was that about?'
Fuchs also said he believes a Lobo movie will eventually come to fruition, even if he doesn't think his version will see the light of day: "I'm sure at some point they will... I don't think they'll make my Lobo, but I'm sure at some point, you'll see a Lobo film come together, 'cause it's just one of the great characters."
The movie sounds fascinating, to say the least, particularly due to Fuchs' promise of it making Deadpool look tame by comparison. Going by the lengthy description provided by the screenwriter, the scrapped film appears to be one of Hollywood's biggest missed opportunities regarding superhero projects. Oh, well. I suppose it will now have to live on as a "what could have been" in the heads of geeks (myself included) who were eager to see it materialize.
As mentioned, Jason Momoa will make his DCU debut as Lobo in Supergirl, flying into theaters on June 26, 2026.
What do you make of these details regarding Lobo's scrapped film? Would you have liked to see the movie? Drop your thoughts below!