Jason Momoa Leaving Aquaman for Lobo Breaks a Major Comic Book Movie Trend

The Main Man will be making his DC Studios debut in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and he will be brought to life by a familiar face. News recently hit that Lobo will be appearing in Supergirl, and will be played by none other than Aquaman actor Jason Momoa. His casting breaks a major trend in comic book films, as it’s the first time that an actor has gone from playing one DC character to another DC character on the big screen. While there are several actors who have jumped from DC to Marvel or vice versa, and even some who have gone from Marvel to Marvel in some other role, no one has moved from a DC movie to another DC movie, and Momoa is also the only person from the prior DC movie universe to make the jump to this new one, at least so far.

It will be interesting to see what Momoa does in the role, as Aquaman and Lobo couldn’t be further apart as characters. While Momoa brought some edge to the role, Aquaman is still a hero through and through. Lobo on the other hand is a mercenary on his best day, and it all goes down from there. As we’ve seen in past appearances, he can occasionally fight with the good guys, but it often comes with some sort of self serving purpose.

That said, Lobo is a character Momoa loves, so if anyone can bring him to life on the big screen, he can. “I used to collect comics and I don’t do so much anymore, but [Lobo] was always my favorite. And I’ve always wanted to play Lobo,” Momoa told Fandango. “It’s pretty perfect. It’s the perfect role. I mean, listen, if they call me and ask me to play it? It’s a f— yeah. That’s a guarantee. So you don’t have to worry about that.”

There have been several actors who have jumped over to DC in the past, and both were part of the previous DC movie universe. Those included Zachary Levi and Ben Affleck, and both would appear multiple times. Levi went from playing Fandral in Marvel’s Thor films to laying Shazam! in the original film and its sequel. As for Affleck, he appeared as Daredevil before the MCU ever came into the picture, and would then jump over to DC to play Batman in Zack Snyder’s DC universe.

[RELATED: How Does Jason Momoa’s Lobo Fit Into DC’s Supergirl Movie?]

On the DC to Marvel side, the most famous jump was made by Ryan Reynolds, who appeared in the original Green Lantern film before making his debut in the Marvel universe as everyone’s favorite wise cracking mercenary Deadpool. The most recent film in that franchise was one of the biggest blockbusters of 2024 with Deadpool and Wolverine, so it’s safe to say it was a pretty great decision.

Another big jump was made by Josh Brolin, who originally appeared in Jonah Hex before ultimately becoming Cable in Deadpool 2. Brolin also was the actor behind the arch villain of the MCU in Thanos, so his tenure over in Marvel has been pretty stellar compared to Hex.

Then you have someone like Chris Evans, who appeared in Marvel’s Fantastic Four franchise as the Human Torch before the MCU came into view. Once that happened though, he was cast as Captain America, and the rest is pretty much history, as the character as at the center of an era of Superhero film dominance. There’s also movement occasionally from outside the big two, as David Harbour brought the character of Hellboy to life before becoming part of the MCU with Black Widow, and now he’s making his return to the MCU as part of the heavily anticipated Thunderbolts*.

Those are just the ones on the big screen, as there have been plenty of actors who have appeared in projects across both DC and Marvel on the TV side. Creature Commandos alone features two such crossovers in Frank Grillo and Sean Gunn, who have also been featured in several Marvel film between the two of them. That won’t be the last we see of that sort of crossover either, and it’s exciting to think of what future castings might be.

Are you excited for Momoa playing Lobo? You can talk all things DC and Marvel with me on Bluesky @KnightofOA!