Unconfirmed reports indicate Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be terrible, and that Jason Momoa will be abandoning the franchise for Lobo.
Is Jason Momoa stepping away from Aquaman in favor of Lobo? You better fraggin’ believe it. According to @TheInSneider on Twitter, the Game of Thrones actor may soon be trading in his trident for a hook and chain because the sequel is reportedly not very good.
The Twitter insider tweeted that test screenings for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom were so disappointing that Jason Momoa might hang up his Aquaman tights for good. The tweet indicated that Momoa wasn’t through playing in the DC sandbox just yet and would simply be switching roles over to fan-favorite psychopath Lobo.
As reported by Cosmic Book News, Momoa has been teasing a new “dream project” since late last year, and fans speculate that it could very well be DC’s cigar-chomping intergalactic bounty hunter, Lobo. The Slumberland star has even said he is “very excited” about James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over DC’s movie division, further implying a new deal has already been discussed. If Jason Momoa is willing to turn away from the lucrative Aquaman franchise for this secret project, one can only assume the mystery role is better for the actor than his current gig as Mr. Talks-to-fish.
If Jason Momoa is playing Lobo–sometimes referred to as “The Main Man”–it will be a perfect match for the Aquaman actor. Lobo was conceived as a parody of grim and gritty characters like Wolverine and the Punisher that were all the rage in the ’90s. Lobo had a worse attitude, bigger muscles, and was 10x as violent as the characters he was satirizing, so naturally, he became a huge star in his own right.
Physically, Jason Momoa resembles the overly muscled Lobo with his long black hair much more than Aquaman with his traditionally more modest physique and short blonde locks. Nobody is saying that Momoa did a bad job as the first live-action Aquaman but Lobo is the part he was born to play. It’s hard to watch the scene in Justice League where Cyborg catches Aquaman in midair and not imagine Momoa’s “My man!” coming out of Lobo’s mouth.
But before a Jason Momoa Lobo can become a reality, the star still has to deal with the Aquaman sequel. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom already received a fair share of negative attention thanks to last year’s Amber Heard trial. These reports of bad test screenings for the James Wan-directed film only add to the bad buzz surrounding the movie.
Jason Momoa is in an awkward position. He will have to promote Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom for contractual reasons, but it will be hard to muster up much enthusiasm for a dead franchise. Especially when the role he wants to play is within his grasp.
James Wan certainly has his work cut out for him if he wants Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to be screen-ready by Christmas. It’s a wonder Warner Bros. didn’t shelve the Jason Momoa-led Aquaman sequel and write it off for tax reasons like Batgirl, considering all of the negative feedback for the film coupled with the lack of enthusiasm for the project from everyone involved. Hopefully, once December has come and gone, Jason Momoa can finally step into Lobo’s leather boots and give the fans–and himself–what they really want.
