Lobo may have stumbled upon the unlikeliest of saviors.
Sources close to The Wrap indicate that Transformers helmer Michael Bay has met with Warner Bros. to discuss the long-gestating anti-hero pic, all the while offering his own input to Jason Fuchs’ (Wonder Woman) screenplay. That advice will presumably form the basis of a rewrite for what may well be Warner’s answer to Deadpool. And it appears the studio is keen on injecting a little Bayhem into its DC Extended Universe.
Should Michael Bay choose to direct, it would be his first foray into the comic book movie world, and Lobo‘s first tangible sign of progress since Brad Peyton (San Andreas) passed up the chance to helm his own version of the cigar-chomping rogue back in 2013.
Truth be told, Lobo has been kicking around in some shape or form since 2009, when Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman were attached to produce a live-action adaptation from Guy Ritchie. Sadly, the stars never aligned, and a gruff, hardboiled version of Lobo – think Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – was shelved indefinitely once Ritchie found success with his Sherlock Holmes movies. Which were also gruff, hardboiled iterations of a fan-favorite character.
Three years after losing Guy Ritchie, Warner Bros. began courting Dwayne Johnson to play the interstellar bounty hunter, only for The Rock to relocate to Black Adam, another DC anti-hero that has spent years waiting for his cinematic debut.
But if The Wrap’s latest findings hold true, and Michael Bay closes a deal, Lobo can finally begin to build a sense of momentum at Warner Bros. It’s only taken 10 years, after all…
