The second film in James Gunn’s new DC Universe, Supergirl, has received mixed reviews, with people either loving or hating it for myriad reasons, which has led to a very poor opening box-office performance. Still, among the many aspects on which critics and audiences are divided, the one thing that everyone can agree on is that Jason Momoa was born to play Lobo, and he played his role perfectly. Momoa brings the power, craziness, humor, and twisted moral code of the Main Man to life in an incredible performance. Of course, Momoa’s depiction of Lobo drew a lot of inspiration from many of the anti-hero’s most iconic DC Comics storylines.
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A parody of ‘90s anti-hero tropes, the dolphin-loving intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo is willing to kill anyone for the right pay and has the strength to contend with Superman. With his insane power and over-the-top acts of extreme violence, Lobo has become so iconic that Stan Lee himself has identified him as one of his favorite DC characters. Of all the wild and terrifying beings in the universe, none can stack up to Lobo, and these are the stories that defined the crazy Bastich.
5) “The Last Czarnian”
Although Lobo made his first appearance as a recurring character in 1983’s The Omega Men comic series, it wouldn’t be until 1990 that he became the crazed cigar-smoking and chain-wielding icon that he is today. Lobo’s breakout storyline occurred in his first solo miniseries, “The Last Czarnian.” In this story, Vril Dox hires the Main Man to capture a convict who escaped from a space prison. However, Dox forgets to tell Lovo that the prisoner is a Czarnian, the same species as Lobo. Not only that, but the prisoner is Lobo’s former fourth-grade teacher, Miss Tribb. What follows is an insane chase across the galaxy that leaves countless people dead. The story also reveals that Lobo is the last Czarnian because, when he was just a kid, he wiped out his own people so he’d be truly unique in the universe. “The Last Czarnian” is a hyper-violent, subversive, and humorous storyline that gave us the Main Man as we know him now.
4) A Contract on Gawd
For a bounty hunter as strong and crazy as Lobo, it was only a matter of time until he decided to take on both Heaven and Hell. The miniseries Lobo: A Contract on Gawd is set on the utopian planet of Paradize, where the people sought to pursue capitalism and industry while renouncing their tyrannical, omnipotent deity known as Gawd. When Gawd refused to give his people freedom, they rebelled by hiring Lobo to assassinate him. Shockingly, Lobo took this job for free because he just wanted to test his mettle against an all-powerful deity. Lobo’s quest has him take on giant priests, demons, carnivorous cherubs, and the Four Jonnies of the Apocalypse. As one can probably gather, A Contract on Gawd is an over-the-top satire on religion, society, and morality that holds nothing back, in the best way possible. The miniseries also delves into how Lobo cares very little for the battle between good and evil.
3) Infanticide
In case it wasn’t painfully obvious, Lobo would be an absolutely lousy dad. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the miniseries Lobo: Infanticide. In this unhinged storyline, Lobo is forcibly drafted into the military and must train an army into perfect killing machines. However, what the Main Man doesn’t realize until it’s too late is that his pupils are 200 of his illegitimate kids whom Lobo had sired through his countless escapades across the galaxy. These kids, led by Lobo’s daughter Su-Lehmon, set up this scenario so that they could finally kill their deadbeat dad. Initially, Lobo and his kids work together to stop an alien invasion. Yet, once it’s all over, the story turns into an all-out bloodbath as Lobo faces off against all of his ticked-off abandoned kids. Infanticide is the exact type of crazy story that shows Lobo at his absolute worst while still being an incredibly entertaining character.
2) Lobo’s Back
As the second miniseries centered on the Last Czarnian, Lobo’s Back shows how not even death can keep the Main Man down for long. When trying to get the reward for capturing the intergalactic criminal Loo, Lobo shockingly dies at the hands of his target. Of course, the story doesn’t end there, as the Main Man went on a rampage that left both Heaven and Hell in shambles. To get rid of him, Heaven and Hell had Lobo reincarnated, first as a woman during World War II and then as a squirrel. Desperate to have his revenge against Loo, Lobo declares war on the afterlife itself as he fights his way through all manner of angels and demons to force them to bring him back to life properly. Not only is Lobo’s Back a hilarious and insanely violent miniseries, but it also introduces the fact that the Main Man is such a powerful and dangerous individual that both Heaven and Hell banned him from the afterlife because neither never wants to deal with him again.
1) Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special
Lobo has killed gods, demons, aliens, and even his own people and family, but his most memorable clash was against Santa Claus himself. The Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special one-shot involves a jealous Easter Bunny who hires the Main Man to kill St. Nicholas because the Bunny wants more attention to be given to Easter. And although Lobo makes quick work of the elves in Santa’s Workshop at the North Pole, the Last Czarnian soon discovers that Father Christmas himself might be a bit more of a challenge than he previously thought. Santa is revealed to be a fearsome barbarian warrior with a pet gorilla named Kong. Lobo then engages in an epic battle against Santa with the fate of Christmas on the line. No other story featuring the Main Man reached the levels of unrivaled insanity that Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special displays, as it perfectly captures everything that makes the Bastich so great.
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