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Jason Momoa Auditioned for Batman Before Landing Aquaman, But He's Holding Out Hope for Lobo
Do you think he could have pulled off the cape and the cowl?
Before he was crowned the king of Atlantis, Jason Momoa actually tried out for Gotham City's Caped Crusader. If you can't quite picture the eventual Aquaman star as Bruce Wayne, don't worry — neither could he. "I almost didn’t go because I was like, 'This is bulls--t I’m not a white guy. I ain’t playing Batman,'" Momoa told Entertainment Weekly in 2018.
"Even if I do, I don’t even want to. It’s like an American playing James Bond, you know? I almost didn’t do it ... The only people I knew they were casting for were Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman — who the hell am I going to play? So in the meeting, I just played it as if Batman had died in an alley and some thug picked up his suit and put it on. I just played him as a smart ass, jaded and sarcastic."
Thankfully, Zack Snyder wasn't willing to cut him loose and proposed that Momoa sink his hooks into the role of maritime hero, Arthur Curry. Aquaman would, of course, go on to appear in several projects, including two solo outings — the first of which is still the highest-grossing DC movie of all time (and is currently streaming on Peacock!).
For More on Aquaman:
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Will Jason Momoa Ever Get to Play Lobo Onscreen?
With the DC Universe about to fully reset in next summer's Superman (written and directed by Marvel alumnus, James Gunn), Momoa has a chance to tackle a character he's wanted to play for a very, very long time: cosmic bounty hunter Lobo. "I originally thought I was gonna be playing Lobo in the very beginning," the actor confessed during an interview with Fandango in late 2023.
When he was asked to meet with Snyder following his Batman audition, Momoa just assumed he'd been cast as the villain, since Lobo is "the only one who can fight Batman and Superman." Snyder, however, gave a totally unexpected response: "What? Lobo? No, he's not in this universe."
RELATED: Stream Aquaman on Peacock right now
This threw Momoa for a loop. "I was like, 'What? Who the hell am I supposed to play?' I wish he would've taped it. He was like, 'Aquaman.' I'm like, 'What the f*** are you talking about?' I literally think of [Patrick Wilson] instantly ... I was like, 'How?' And then he just told me his vision. He's like, 'You're Polynesian. You're this mix [of human and Atlantean]. You live in Iceland and you go to these places. You're this traveler and you'll punch Batman in the face and you'll kiss Wonder Woman. You're just this renegade. I was like, 'This is awesome' ... You've gotta give it to Zack, it was an unbelievable character that he came up with."
With that said, his dream of sitting astride Lobo's motorcycle has never wavered. "It's a perfect role [for me]," he concluded. "If they call me and ask me to play [him], it's a 'F*** yeah!' That's a guarantee, so you don't have to worry about that. But I haven't received that call, so I don't want to put any fake news out there. If they ever call me and ask me to play [Lobo] or ask me to audition, I'm there."
Put on those swim trunks! Aquaman is now streaming on Peacock.
