Rumor: Intergalactic Bounty Hunter Lobo Might Be In ‘Justice League’ Movie (But Probably Not…)
Take this with the biggest grain of salt you can find (we suggest the Salt District of your local urban center), but Comic Book Movie is exclusively reporting that Warner Bros. is “kicking around” the idea of using Lobo in their forthcoming “Justice League” movie. We can’t help but zero in on the intentionally vague phrasing of the report. “Kicking around” could amount to one executive saying “Hey, what about putting Lobo in ‘Justice League’?” only to have the rest of the room ask “Who is Lobo?” And then whip him with towels or something.
The template for the “Justice League” movie seems to be the inverse of the Marvel cinematic universe, with the team-up movie being the point where a whole bunch of other movies spin off, instead of a bunch of individual movies leading up to a singular cinematic event. And the “Lobo” movie, at one point spearheaded by Guy Ritchie, is at least creeping forward, with “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” director Brad Peyton signed on to direct and rewrite the script, and Dwayne Johnson circling the lead role (because no one has the balls to cast M.C. Gainey), so it’s presumably somewhat of a priority at Warners, so this report does make a little sense.
Still, it mostly sounds pretty bogus. Firstly, Lobo is kind of a morally nebulous character. A villainous, violent intergalactic bounty hunter (think Boba Fett refashioned as a meth-dealing motorcyclist), the character was introduced in the early eighties as an answer to similarly hardboiled characters in the Marvel universe (Punisher, Wolverine, etc.) As the years went on, his popularity increased and he became more of an antihero instead of a straight-up bad guy. But still, figuring that character in amongst the squeaky-clean likes of Wonder Woman, Superman, and The Flash, as a hero or a villain, would be something of a tall order. There are already enough moving parts in the “Justice League” movie to worry about before you throw a monkey wrench like Lobo into the works.
Of course, “Justice League” writer Will Beall might be able to find a way to squeeze him in, although we suspect if it does happen (a big if), it’ll be in the form of a cameo, or an “Avengers”-style post-credits tease. The character has been a notoriously tough nut to crack, cinematically speaking, but then again, so was the Hulk. And after two failed big screen outings, writer/director Joss Whedon knew exactly how to use him in “The Avengers.” So Lobo could be the “Justice League” equivalent of the Hulk. But again, we kind of doubt it. If and when they find a director, “Justice League” will likely hit theaters, with or without Lobo, in 2015, give or take a year.
