Jason Momoa Breaks Down His Incredible Lobo Transformation for ‘Supergirl' (Exclusive)

Playing Lobo in the new Supergirl movie was a dream job in more ways than one for star Jason Momoa.

The actor has famously campaigned to play the DC antihero for years now, all while playing a superhero in the same universe, Aquaman, at the same time. With James Gunn and Peter Safran doing a soft-reboot on the universe, Momoa finally gets his chance to jump onto Lobo's flying motorcycle, the Spagehog, in the upcoming Milly Alcock-fronted film.

And while Momoa is nearly unrecognizable in the project, which finds him covered head-to-toe in prosthetics, there's one aspect of stepping into the bounty hunter's boots that made him very, very happy: no superhero workouts!

Becoming Lobo for Supergirl

Speaking with Men's Journal at the Supergirl press day, Momoa revealed the moment it truly started to sink in that his dream role was becoming a reality.

"When you put everything on, man," he shared. "Last step is putting the contacts in and once the full scleras are in, you spin around, open your eyes and it's just like, ‘There he is.'"

"The voice changes, the walk changes, the laugh changes, everything changes. I haven't quite experienced something like this before and it was a lot of fun," he explained.

Lobo is truly a larger-than-life character, one that required the already-hulking Momoa to cover himself in prosthetics to get true-to-size. The movie might just be the most covered up the actor has ever been in a project, as even his seemingly-exposed chest and massive biceps are totally fake. While previous roles like Aquaman or Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones required intense fitness training, that wasn't the case here.

"It's the best job if you don't have to. I didn't have to do s–t!" he said of his workouts-or lack thereof-for Supergirl. "You don't have to do anything."

"There's no way I could get that big and no way I would want to," he said, noting how "brutal" it would be to keep applying-and later removing-makeup for his entire body. "That's six hours of work, when you can just throw the suit on in seconds."

"Within a minute, you can get into the top half," he added. "I didn't put any muscle on my legs, my legs are big enough, but this top half. I don't want to walk around like that, I can't fit in a suit, can't even fit through a doorway. I'm big enough. But I want him to look that way. You want him to have that size."

The project did still require some time in the makeup chair, however. This, according to Momoa himself, isn't something he's good at.

"I'm not good at sitting still. Generally, when I have to sit still, I just bring my vinyl, listen to music and listen to solid albums. That's one way," he shared. "I'm always, unfortunately, constantly on Instagram, finding things and learning stupid facts. That'll distract me. Just learning my lines and talking to people."

How Lobo Ended Up In Supergirl

As Momoa, Gunn, and Safran tell it, Momoa reached out to them immediately upon hearing they were taking over DC, texting them one word in all caps: "LOBO." From there, they all just needed to figure out where and when he'd make his debut.

Speaking with Men's Journal, Supergirl director Craig Gillespie said Lobo was already part of the story when he came onboard.

"Literally, in the first meeting with James and Peter, ‘This is what we're thinking for Jason and Lobo' and I was like, ‘Perfect,'" Gillespie recalled. "How can I have any problem with that? It's amazing. He's been championing it for 15 years and I think there's such a love online for him to do this."

Gillespie said he then took a "deep dive" into Lobo's comic appearances, before settling in on his ‘90s biker look for the movie. He explained that it became a collaborative process with Momoa to get the look just right, saying the two had many discussions about the makeup, including whether Lobo's skin texture was due to scarring or something tribal.

"Ultimately, when he stepped onto set and just the exuberance and joy that he has for that character, you can feel it in his performance," said Gillespie, who loved the dichotomy between Lobo and Alcock's Supergirl, described as a "very reserved, observational, sarcastic character."

"This guy comes in and he's just a whirlwind," added the director.

Gillespie also wanted to keep things very practical, right down to Lobo's Spacehog.

"I think the audience is so attuned to visual effects now. It's amazing how quickly their eyes train. So as much as I can, I try to do things in camera," he shared. "I'm a big fan of that."

"It was really important to me that his motorcycle worked and he could ride an actual motorcycle into the set, which is a whole slew of complications and liabilities," the director continued. "He's driving through a crowd of 50 people, stunt guys. But he was absolutely up for it. He's literally coming out of a fireball to introduce himself, and having to skid to a stop. No hesitation from Jason."

Ready to Unleash Lobo

Momoa has previously said the lead-up to Aquaman's release was tough, because they were re-introducing a character to the world that had become kind of a joke. With Lobo, the pressure comes from delivering on a passion project the actor himself has been so vocal about pursing.

"I was definitely aware of that. Also, the pressure on him, because he's been championing it for so long," said Gillespie. "For anybody, as an actor, you've been fighting for this role and now, ‘Go ahead, step up and say action.' Suddenly, it's like, ‘Okay, now I gotta do it.'"

"He did such a great job with it. He also played with it and tried to find the range. It was very generous that way," the director continued. "To be able to have that and also give us the choices, I realize I was being handed a golden egg, so to speak, and better be careful with it. I think we found the perfect balance."

For Momoa, the opportunity to be "unapologetic" with his characterization of Lobo was just "crazy."

"My buddy Michael Fassbender, who I really adore as an actor and is one of the greats, played [a comic book role], and he was like, ‘You have to bring a part of you to this, you have to show them Jason and not the character. You gotta let yourself shine through,'" Momoa recalled, saying that advice really helped him with Aquaman.

"This motherf–ker, it's all gas no breaks," he then added. "No one's gonna tell me what to do. Once that whole thing goes on, I'm gonna do whatever I want."

See Momoa in action when Supergirl soars into theaters June 26.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 9:01 AM.