DC's Lobo, the Main Man, deserves a solo movie post his success on 'Krypton'
Back in the 80s and 90s, there were a number of gruff, hyper-masculine characters introduced to the world of comics. Quite a few of those characters have gone on to become comic book mainstays but a certain intergalactic bounty hunter takes the top spot as easily the best of them all. That character is none other than DC’s cosmic bad boy, the Main Man, Lobo the Czarnian.
A bounty hunter and mercenary with a penchant for gratuitous violence, Lobo has been an enemy and occasional ally of Superman and Green Lantern. In one of his earliest appearances, the self-proclaimed Main Man massacred the entire populace of his home planet of Czarnia for kicks and giggles. His appearance in any comic book is usually a guarantee that things are about to get both bloody and hilarious.
In hindsight, Lobo was always destined for greatness. The character combines the grit and machismo of the Punisher with the humor and moral compass of Deadpool. Though designed as a parody, Lobo has grown to be one of DC’s best characters in the modern era. So it is extremely surprising that the dastardly antihero has not been adapted to the big screen yet.
DC first announced plans for a Lobo movie way back in 2009 with Guy Ritchie helming the project. That plan had to be axed after Ritchie left the project to work on his second 'Sherlock Holmes' movie. In 2012, Deadline reported that 'Rampage' director Brad Peyton would be taking on the project with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in talks for the lead role. Unfortunately, that fell apart as well with Johnson moving on to sign up for the role of Black Adam. In 2016, it was announced that 'Wonder Woman' writer Jason Fuchs would be penning the script for a new attempt at adapting the character. Finally, in 2018, it was announced that DC was looking at Michael Bay as a potential director for the project.
Things sort of slowed down after that and not much attention was paid to the Main Man for a while. But with his very popular appearance on Syfy’s ‘Krypton’, played by Emmet Scanlan, interest in the character is once again on the rise. A spin-off series starring Scanlan’s Lobo is already in the works at Syfy and recently Bay has confirmed that the film project is still in development.
While earlier reports had suggested that DC would aim for a PG-13 rating for their planned Lobo movie, chances are that the character could get a chance to appear in an R-rated film that would give Bay full freedom to explore the explosive character to the fullest. Lobo’s predisposition towards violence plays right into Bay’s style and the movie, if it does finally make it to screens, could very well be one of the director’s best works.
Whether on the small screen or the big one, the Main Man has the chops to (literally) kill it and a film adaptation of the character is pretty much guaranteed to be a box office explosion waiting to happen. Let’s just hope he gets the chance to do it sooner rather than later.