Lobo’s Return Included A Deep Cut Callback Even DC Usually Ignore

Lobo is the Main Main, the baddest bastich this side of anything. He’s one of the DC Universe’s best bounty hunters, and tracks down his targets with a wicked smile on his face and a cigar in his mouth. Lobo is the Last Czarnian, a race of people with healing factors akin to Wolverine and strength rivaling Superman’s. He’s the last because he murdered the rest of his people himself because he felt like it. Unlike the rest of his people, however, Lobo isn’t unkillable because he can heal, but he’s unkillable because he is immortal. It’s not often talked about in DC anymore, but Lobo was gifted immortality, and they just made a major call back to it.

DC K.O.: Wonder Woman vs. Lobo saw the Main Man duke it out with the Princess of the Amazons, Wonder Woman. Much like the fight between Superman and Captain Atom, it was a three-round battle to the death, which posed a problem for Wonder Woman, given that Lobo is literally not allowed to die. However, DC not only confirmed that Lobo’s immortality is still on the table, but brought it back in the best reference possible. 

Banned From the Afterlife

Lobo’s gift of immortality came from the four-part 1992 miniseries, Lobo’s Back. The Main Man was short on cash and decided to take a bounty to face the notoriously dangerous outlaw, Loo. Unfortunately for Lobo, this job was set to be his last, as he was fatally blasted by Loo’s deformed brother, Feces, who was in Loo’s pocket. Lobo died and was taken to the Afterlife, where the problems started. Derek Dood is the administrator of the Afterlife and was tasked with deciding where souls should go after people die. His biggest challenge of all came when Lobo was jetizoned up to him. 

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Lobo naturally deserved to go to Hell, but the demonic realm refused to claim him, so Derek tried sending Lobo to Heaven instead. Naturally, this didn’t work as all Lobo did was wreak havoc and start an angelic mosh pit. Eventually, Derek forced Lobo through the gates of Hell, but the Main Man enjoyed the torture so much that all of the demons threatened to leave if Derek didn’t shove him somewhere else. Derek even tried reincarnating him, but Lobo immediately died again, after spending a brief period as a woman, and was a headache all over again.

At that point, Lobo was done with the Afterlife and decided to throw a ballistic tantrum. He couldn’t kill Derek or anyone else in the Afterlife, but he sure could make them wish they could die. In the end, Derek decided that the only thing he could do was give Lobo what he wanted. He sent Lobo back to his original body and wrote a memo to every being associated with the Afterlife that Lobo was not, under any circumstances, allowed to die. Lobo was given immortality simply because his soul was too annoying to deal with.

How to Kill an Immortal

Wonder Woman and Lobo kicked their fight off in the deadliest way possible. Although the Amazon was clearly the better fighter, Lobo’s raw strength and inability to die let him eventually take the first round through sheer brute force. In the second round, both contestants were given the option to change into any of their forms from the past or future. Wonder Woman chose to don armor and become her strongest self, which, according to the Heart of Apokalips, involved bringing her Wonder Girl sisters in to fight alongside her. Lobo decided to torture everyone involved by becoming his hated New 52 version.

Unfortunately for Lobo, this younger, despised version of himself was technically a different character entirely and thus wasn’t immortal. Wonder Woman and her allies hit the fake Main Man with everything they had, and she took the second round win. The final round saw both warriors back in their own skin, but just like the first round, Wonder Woman couldn’t land a fatal blow on her immortal adversary. Lobo taunted her, saying that he had made a deal with “the damn Almighty,” and was going to win no matter what.

That, however, was the worst thing Lobo could have said. That “damn Almighty” had been watching this fight with great interest, and just when Lobo thought he had this fight in the bag, the Presence and Derek both appeared. Since Lobo took the Lord’s name in vain, he revoked Lobo’s immortality, with Derek tearing up the memo. Without his immunity to death, Wonder Woman easily dispatched the Main Man in what will surely stand as one of the funniest and most-Lobo fights of all time. It just goes to show that when you have a gift like that, you could really stand to choose your words more carefully.

DC K.O.: Wonder Woman vs. Lobo is on sale now!

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