Having added new life to the Fast & Furious, Journey, GI Joe franchises, what do you think about The Rock bringing the people’s elbow to DC’s Lobo? I can’t say that I’d be thrilled about it. I like Dwayne Johnson and he’s been great in a lot of his film roles. I just can’t see him in the role of Lobo. Of course, I once said the same thing about Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, but now I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the role. Let it be known that I also said that about Halle Berry as both Catwoman and Storm. I still stand by those statements.
Last month we announced that Journey 2 director, Brad Peyton had signed on to direct a Lobo film for Warner Bros. Now, speculation is running rampant that The Rock will get the title role. He’s got a lot going for him. He’s a big enough star for WB to want him. He’s got the build and he just worked with Peyton on Journey 2.
To be clear, I don’t think my problem is really with Johnson in the role as much as it is with what I fear happening in the studio. If they were going to cast him in an R Rated Lobo film, I’d be all for it. That said, with the director on the project, it feels like they are going for something a little more all ages friendly.
Here is the Wikipedia backstory for Lobo:
An alien, Lobo works as an interstellar mercenary and bounty hunter. Introduced as a hardened, rarely used hardboiled villain in the 1980s, the character remained in limbo until his revival as an anti-hero biker in the early 1990s… “I have no idea why Lobo took off,” Giffen once said in an interview, referring to the 1990s incarnation of Lobo he created. “I came up with him as an indictment of the Punisher, Wolverine, hero prototype and somehow he caught on as the high violence poster boy. Go figure.” …
Lobo is a Czarnian with exceptional strength and fortitude. He enjoys nothing better than mindless violence and intoxication. Killing is an end in itself; his name roughly translates as “he who devours your entrails and thoroughly enjoys it.” He is also arrogant and self-centered, focusing almost solely on his own pleasures, although he proudly lives up to the letter of his promises: no more or no less than what he promised. Lobo is the last of his kind, having committed complete genocide by killing all the other Czarnians for fun.