Jason Momoa’s New DC Character Has Only Appeared in Live-Action Once Before

The news that former Aquaman star Jason Momoa will play Lobo in DC Studios‘ Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow movie, has people looking into the character with much more scrutiny. Lobo is one of DC’s most infamous characters – a foul-mouthed intergalactic bounty hunter (sometimes anti-hero) who has the power to rival Superman. A generation of comic book readers know him from years of Lobo books crossing the line with the Comics Code Authority (CCA); another generation of fans know Brad Garrett’s animated version of Lobo featured in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited. However, few fans probably know that Lobo has already made a live-action debut, as it occurred in a project that flew woefully under the radar.

[RELATED: Who Is DC’s Lobo? Explained]

A Live-Action Lobo Appeared In Krypton Season 2

A live-action version of Lobo appeared in Season 2 of Syfy’s Superman prequel series Krypton, back in 2019, played by actor Emmett J. Scanlan (Peaky Blinders). That series followed Superman/Kal-El’s grandfather Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe) and his role in a pivotal time of Kryptonian civil strife. A Season 2 storyline saw Seg and his time-traveling buddy Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) get captured by Lobo on the planet Colu while tracking down the origins of Brainiac. Lobo is also looking for vengeance against Brainiac for wiping out his homeworld of Czarnia – after Lobo had gone to the great effort of killing off his fellow Czarnians to claim it for himself.

Krypton‘s version of Lobo was an unhinged, indestructible maniac, who at one point demonstrates his unkillable nature by shooting himself into enough bits to splatter through a defensive energy barrier and rebuild his torso on the other side! Krypton went with the character design of Lobo that mixed the classic DC space biker aesthetic with the more modern ‘Skinny Lobo’ of the 2010s “Rebirth” era of the comics. While there has been no concept art to confirm what Jason Momoa’s Lobo will look like, the actor’s physique practically dictates that he play the classic version of Lobo – leather fest, cigar-smoking brute, with the big-budget VFX space hog to ride across the cosmos.

In the span of a limited guest role (4 episodes), Emmett J. Scanlan proved that Lobo is a dynamic and fun character onscreen and that he can be done well (enough) even on a TV budget. Pulling off that big swing is also just one more reason that DC fans should take the time to stream Krypton, and find out all the other fun ways that show delivered some exciting Superman lore.

Krypton is streaming on Tubi.