James Gunn confirms who'll play the villain in Supergirl – and why Jason Momoa's Lobo is a vital part of the DCU movie's plot

• James Gunn has teased why Jason Momoa's Lobo is vital to Supergirl's plot
• His inclusion helped the DC movie's creative team to crack the story they want to tell
• Gunn also confirmed which actor will play the film's primary villain

James Gunn has confirmed who'll play the villain in Supergirl – and opened up on the importance of Jason Momoa's Lobo in the forthcoming DC Universe (DCU) movie.

In a broad-ranging interview on episode 15 of the official DC Studios podcast, Gunn revealed that Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts will portray Krem.

For the uninitiated: Krem is the Big Bad in 'Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow', an eight-part graphic novel series that the second DCU film, which releases on June 26, 2026, is heavily inspired by. In fact, the movie bore the title of its comic book namesake until very recently, with Gunn admitting Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow was now known by its much simpler and cleaner title Supergirl.

But back to Krem. Last October, Deadline claimed Schoenaerts had been cast as the movie's terrifying antagonist, but it's only now that Gunn has admitted The Regime and Amsterdam star is part of its cast. For more details on everyone else you'll see in Kara Zor-El's first feature film outing in over 40 years (the first, 1984's Supergirl, is available to stream on Max, FYI) , check out my dedicated Supergirl guide.

That's not the only interesting information that Gunn discussed. Indeed, the DC Studios co-chief also provided more details on why Milly Alcock was cast as Supergirl, how director Craig Gillespie positively fought to include certain scenes in the superhero flick, and the initial text that Jason Momoa sent to Gunn to persuade him to let Momoa play Lobo.

It's a continuation of that final conversation that'll pique the interest of DC devotees. Indeed, as co-host/comic book expert Coy Jandreau mentioned during the podcast's latest installment, the original draft for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow's eight-part literary series was set to feature the immortal, motorbike-riding bounty hunter. Tom King, who wrote the graphic novel, confirmed this was the case in an interview with ComicBook.com in February 2023.

Given Lobo was due to appear in King and Bilquis Evely's comic book series before he was eventually cut from the story, plus the fact that Momoa will play the last surviving Czarnian in Supergirl, Landreau asked if the forthcoming DCU Chapter One film would incorporate "some of the [comics'] original draft ideas" concerning how Lobo fits into the story that Supergirl will tell.

"Woman of Tomorrow, in the comics, is a bunch of little stories," Gunn said, "And we needed to create one through-line, one three-act, more traditional story. So, Lobo helps us to do that.

"It's not an amalgamation of him and Krem," Gunn added about rumors that Lobo and Krem would somehow be combined into a single character. "He [Lobo] is a totally separate character. I love Lobo. I always thought he was a great character to adapt and, maybe, in some way, the biggest comic book character that's never been in a film. So, I think it was a cool thing to do [include him in Supergirl], yeah."

Are you happy that Lobo is in Supergirl? And what do you make of Schoenaerts playing its main villain? Let me know in the comments.

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