Comic book legend Grant Morrison has delivered his verdict on the DC Universe’s Supergirl movie — and in doing so had some choice words for Jason Momoa’s Lobo.
Morrison, whose comic book series All-Star Superman influenced James Gunn’s Superman movie, talked about Supergirl via his Substack, Xanaduum. In the post Morrison said Supergirl “wasn’t terrible but wasn’t especially great either,” and praised Millie Alcock for doing a “credible job” with Kara Zor-El.
So far, so good. But things go downhill from there. Morrison singled out Jason Momoa’s portrayal of Lobo — a role Momoa has said he was the perfect fit for — as “one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen in a film and quite baffling.” Ouch.
The anti-hero bounty hunter only appears in Supergirl in a supporting role, despite his prominence in the movie’s marketing in the run up to release. Some have said Lobo feels tacked on to Supergirl due to the fact he only has one scene with Kara. From IGN’s Supergirl review:
The one scene he has with Kara has real reshoot energy. It’s added on to a scene that didn’t need any extra motivation to get to the next scene, nor is he a particularly unique foil for Kara that propels her character in any meaningful way. He just happens to be looking for the same group of guys that Kara and Ruthye are after. The only real added value he gives the movie is a few (admittedly fun) one-liners. And maybe that’s all Lobo needs to be. Ultimately, he shows up to put his immortal stamp of approval on Kara’s actions, but that feels both unnecessary and more than a little pandering, and it leaves me not entirely sure what to do with him.
Morrison went on to say Supergirl falls apart in the second act, criticising the plot for not making sense. Here are his comments on Supergirl in full:
I watched Supergirl, which wasn’t terrible but wasn’t especially great either. All the best and most moving scenes involved Millie Alcock, and I thought she did a credible job. Jason Momoa, who I was actually looking forward to, was very disappointing as Lobo. It was, in fact, one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen in a film and quite baffling, as I know Momoa’s not usually that bad and Lobo seems like a character made for him to play. Go figure. Then the whole plot fell apart in Act 2 — all Supergirl had to do was bring Krypto with her to that yellow sun world, and the sun’s rays would have made the dog invulnerable again, easily able to shake off any toxin. They needn’t have bothered chasing after the dull and low level Romanian gangster baddie, Krem of the Yellow Hills, to get the antidote after all!
As most know, Supergirl suffered a disastrous box office run, making just $126 million from theaters globally. After last year’s Superman, that was a big disappointment for DC Studios, and left some questioning the future of the DCU itself. Gunn’s Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow, comes out next year with Alcock reprising her role as Supergirl. But before then the DCU continues with the last two episodes of well-received HBO show Lanterns, and body horror movie Clayface.
In August, Warner Bros. boss David Zaslav said Gunn was “focused on Man of Tomorrow” following the failure of Supergirl, working up to 18-hour days on the forthcoming sequel. Asked about the future of the DCU following Supergirl, Zaslav told investors that the DCU remained on-track, insisting the current slate “feels very good.”
DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran had previously commented on Supergirl’s box office in an interview with The New York Times: “While Supergirl didn’t meet our box office expectations, it’s just one component of a broader, long-term strategy at DC Studios that we remain confident in,” he said.
As for the future of Momoa’s Lobo, the Aquaman actor has said any Lobo solo movie must be rated R. “It’s all I want and I promise, I do not have any interest in making a PG-13 Lobo movie,” Momoa told Collider in June. “Will he be part of some other movies? If they want me, I’ll be there. But if I make a solo movie, I’m not doing it unless it’s rated R.”
Wesley Yin-Poole
Director, News
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
