Here's Who (Besides Jason Momoa) Should Play Lobo In The DCU

You may have heard about the recent buzz around a potential DCEU Lobo movie, possibly starring Jason Momoa. Things started when new DCEU head James Gunn and “Aquaman” star Momoa both threw some Lobo references out there, which has been both obscure enough to promise nothing, and intriguing enough to get the rumor mill going.

Giving Lobo his own movie would not only bring one of DC’s most fascinating characters in the DCEU, but it’d also set him up as the perfect antagonist for Henry Cavill’s recently returned Man of Steel once Dwayne Johnson’s whole “Black Adam should fight Superman” thing has blown over. A “Superman v Lobo” movie would make all sorts of sense, since the two characters have comparable power levels and are excellent foils for each other. Both are billed as the last survivors of their home planets, though it should be noted that Lobo was considerably more hands-on with the Czarnians’ demise. What’s more, this Superman has never faced an adversary like Lobo. Sure, Clark has fought strong opponents, but the gleefully violent Czarnian brings an element of brutality and unpredictability that’s above and beyond anything the likes of mindless Doomsday and military-minded General Zod (Michael Shannon) could hope to muster.

Sure, Momoa seems to be a pretty great fit to play the shaggy, imposing Lobo. The DCEU might even find a way to pull off this piece of casting despite the fact that he’s already playing a major role in the franchise. However, despite all Aquaman and Khal Drogo-themed evidence to the contrary, it just might be that Momoa may not even be the best choice to play Lobo. Here’s who should play the DCEU incarnation of the character instead.

Karl Urban is your ultimate Lobo

If you reduce him to bullet points, Lobo might seem like a fairly simple creature — a super-powerful space biker who works as a bounty hunter and doesn’t give a damn about anything that isn’t a space dolphin or his canine-ish companion, Dawg. However, there’s a surprising complexity to the character, and he lives by his own, extremely peculiar ethical code. This requires the services of an actor who can bring hardboiled characters to vivid life, regardless of what the script throws at him. In other words, you want someone who’s so good at conveying rough, threatening characters that he can believably play a brutal near-future law enforcement officer whose face is almost entirely obscured by a helmet.

Yep, that was a “Dredd” reference, and we’re talking about Karl Urban. Physically imposing, versatile, and able to radiate threat with every little motion of his facial muscles, the actor is a veteran of playing fearsome, yet fully realized characters. In fact, he’s so good at it that fans would love to see him as the next Wolverine. Since DC’s famous bounty hunter is pretty much the company’s answer to Wolverine, they should be over the moon to see Urban portray Lobo, as well.

From “Almost Human” to the Kelvin timeline “Star Trek” movies, Urban’s acting career is full of roles that display his ability to perform gruff, complex characters. If you’ve missed his work until now and are looking for a single role to convince you of his suitability for the role of Lobo, look no further than Prime Video’s “The Boys,” where he stars as the fittingly named Billy Butcher. Self-assured, unpredictable, determined and absolutely terrifying, Butcher’s a black ops master who’s chilling enough to trouble some of the world’s most powerful superheroes … and that’s before he becomes strong enough to actually engage them in a fight. If you slap some makeup on Butcher’s face and tear the sleeves off his cool coat, you might find that Urban is already fairly close to Lobo.

Urban can provide the hardness, but also the levity the role requires

A big challenge in bringing Lobo to life is that while he’s just about the hardest creature out there, he’s never just about the hardness. Humor is an integral aspect of the Main Man, and while the term “punchline” is often applied extremely literally in his particular brand of comedy, the actor who gets the part needs to be able to deliver on this front, as well.

Fortunately, Karl Urban’s other field of expertise is juggling rough characters’ serious and comical sides as required. Just take a look at his Marvel Cinematic Universe turn as “Thor: Ragnarok’s” hapless Skurge, who starts out as a comical character who only wants to hoard Earth goodies and enjoy his cosy gig as Heimdall’s (Idris Elba) successor, but ends up as Hela’s (Cate Blanchett) increasingly troubled executioner. His Billy Butcher, too, has many moments of dark comedy that would be right at home in the Lobo wheelhouse.

With a demonstrated aptitude for comic timing and a dark smirk that rivals just about any A-list actor out there, Urban’s penchant for portraying threatening figures with a glint in their eye makes him the perfect choice for playing Lobo. Since the actor clearly doesn’t shy away from a cool genre movie, he might very well be willing to bring the Last Czarnian in the DCEU, as well. Perhaps his Lobo will one day ride his cool space bike to star in a movie of his own, or perhaps to face Superman. Regardless of how the inevitable fight would turn out, the encounter between Cavill and Urban’s smouldering powerhouses would be one for the ages.