Season 2 of Krypton has brought with the arrival of Lobo, an intergalactic bounty hunter like no other. With Lobo also having been announced to star in his own spin-off series, fans who have just been introduced to the character are looking to gain insight over who this character is.
You’ll be surprised to find out that Lobo has been a longstanding character in the DC Universe, who has had several crazy moments you won’t see from any other superhero, villain, or anti-villain. To illustrate our point, here are the 10 things you need to know about Syfy’s newest Main Man.
He Was Once In The Justice League (Uninvited)
In the DC Animated Universe series of Justice League, Superman was attacked by Toyman, causing him to be sent into the future and making the people in the present believe he had died. When word reached of this development to Lobo, he headed straight for the Justice League.
Nobody asked him for help and nobody wanted his help, but Lobo decided to stick around and forcibly become a part of the Justice League - there was even an extended scene where he battled the League members just so they would let him in. Eventually, the Justice League reluctantly let him stay on, only for Superman to return from the future and kick Lobo out for not being Justice League material.
He Was Meant To Be A Parody Of Wolverine
Guys like Wolverine and Cable had proven to be big hits for the audience at large due to their gritty personalities, the vices they had making them look cool, and being generally a departure from the superhero norm. Lobo was introduced to parody this new, cooler superhero trope but it didn’t last long as a satire.
Instead, the character’s personality took off in popularity and Lobo eventually became how he is in-universe rather than being a tongue-in-cheek reference to other superheroes. His stories were then developed with Lobo being chaotic and funny in mind, and they were treated as strictly canonical.
He Was Stan Lee's Favorite DC Character
In an interview a little while before his passing, Stan Lee was asked in a video interview over who his favorite superhero from DC was - the answer was a swift response with Lobo’s name. Stan also reiterated that Lobo was his overall favorite DC character, as Lobo isn’t a superhero.
This is the ultimate nod of approval any comic character could have gotten since Stan Lee epitomized the comic book industry. Stan had also earlier mentioned that he’d have liked Lobo to have been a Marvel character, and now we’re left to ponder how Lobo would have fared had Stan Lee been the one to write his stories.
He Was Originally A Stereotypical Villain
Not many people know this, but Lobo had originally started out as just another villain in the DC Universe; his anti-villain demeanor had only sprung up after his time in limbo. Upon first introduction, Lobo was a by-the-numbers villain with a hardened personality and nothing to separate him from the rest of the bad guys - this was back in the early-1980s.
Following the unsuccessful first go at the audience, Lobo would be taken out of publication and then reintroduced with the tendencies that fans found engaging. This shows that it takes a lot of trial and error even with characters who go on to be very popular.
He Tried To Assassinate Santa Claus
You might be wondering why we’ve been calling Lobo crazy this whole time with nothing to back it up, so here we have a ridiculous story featuring the Main Man: he tried to kill Santa Claus. And who hired Lobo to carry the hit in the first place? That would be our very own Easter Bunny.
This story, titled Paramilitary Christmas Special, was one of the few released under a Lobo mini-series, which also included plots like Lobo becoming RoboCop, thereby LoboCop, and another where he kills his daughter and other offspring because he’s clearly a terrible father. No wonder Santa had him on his Naughty List.
He Lost To Wolverine In A Fight
So now that you know that Wolverine was the inspiration behind the creation of Lobo, you’ll also be interested to know that Lobo did try to take out Wolverine at one point. In the famous DC vs. Marvel crossover in the 1990s, Lobo and Wolverine were featured in their very own match-up, but it wasn’t really very competitive.
Due to a fan vote deciding who would be the winner, the unanimous choice came out to be Wolverine, who went on to brutally defeat Lobo in a bar fight. Even here, Lobo didn’t keep his mouth shut while having himself kicked out, proving while he might lose, his overinflated ego never will.
His First Portrayal Was By A Mainstream Actor
For the live-action audience, Lobo might finally be getting his day in the sun with his debut in Krypton; however, he has already been played by a mainstream actor. In the DC Animated Universe, Lobo was voiced by none other than Brad Garrett.
If you’re a younger fan who isn’t familiar with the sitcom landscape, Brad is a legend due to his regular role on Everybody Loves Raymond, and him being in a DC animated series only elevated its relevance. He was phenomenal too, as Lobo felt like a real rootin’-tootin’ son of a gun thanks to Brad injecting life and personality in the character.
Nothing Can Stop Him From Fulfilling A Contract
It’s strange how a guy who has no morals is known for having principles. Lobo is perfectly fine with killing off any guy he’s contracted to take out, even if that person is innocent, but he will not go so far as to break his contract.
In every iteration we’ve seen so far of the character, Lobo has laid his life out to honor his contract, with no care given whether he could end up dying in order to do so. The only thing that can get him out of completing his end of the deal is if someone else were to offer him a higher value counter-contract, in which case he’ll do the opposite.
He Is The Last Of His Kind Because Of His Own Doing
For every other comic book character like Superman or the Silver Surfer, the end of their race spelled tragedy for them; as far as Lobo is concerned, the end of his species was a crowning achievement.
It was Lobo who exterminated his planet of Czarnia by releasing a scorpion-like monster on his own people that he created. This resulted in a painful death for all of the world’s population, whose people were well-known in the galaxy for being very peaceful. Funnily enough, the only survivor was Lobo’s fourth-grade teacher, whom Lobo had a contract to honor. Once that was done with, Lobo swiftly killed his teacher as well.
His Main Love Is Dolphins
Bet you never thought Lobo would have this kind of a soft spot, did you? Weirdly, the guy who killed his own race has a love for the dolphin species (space dolphins to be exact), and goes out of his way to protect and nurture them.
In one story, Lobo’s space dolphin was killed when he brought it along with him to Earth to fight Aquaman. His truce with Aquaman occurred due to a fisherman killing Lobo’s dolphin, and the latter realized Aquaman really was a friend to the dolphin species. Refusing to fight Aquaman anymore, Lobo reasoned that any friend to dolphins is off his hit list; although he then proceeded to kill the fisherman.