Could Dwayne Johnson Be Lobo?

UPDATE: There's not much to add to the story from the end of May, except to say that The Rock has confirmed via his Twitter account that he is indeed in official negotiations to play DC Comics' Czarnian bounty hunter **Lobo.

"Rumours of me possibly playing Lobo are true," tweeted Dwayne. "[producer] Joel Silver and [Director] Brad Peyton are working on it now. That could be fun..."

A sociopathic, chalk-skinned, mascara'd, chain-wielding Rock, with dreadlocks, a cigar and a space-bike? That's a bring it...

Last month we reported that, flush from his success with Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, director Brad Peyton had leapt on an offer from Warner Bros. to make DC Comics' psycho alien bounty hunter Lobo his next project. A tip of the hat to **Empire **forumite Partybee then, who suggested that Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was the obvious choice to play the cigar-chomping bastich. There *may *just be something in that.

This is strictly, strictly rumour at the moment, stemming from Bleeding Cool, who heard it at a party that The Rock's second-cousin didn't show up at (or something). But given that his Rockness was the star ofJourney 2 and therefore has previous with Peyton, it does actually sound reasonable.And then there's this tweet from Dwayne, in response to a fan saying she'd love to see him in a DC property. "Funny you should say that..." The Rock is cooking something. Can you smell it?

Lobo, for those not familiar, is the 7ft, chalk-skinned, mascara-wearing "Last Czarnian" (he killed all the others) from the darker corners of the DC Universe. He was created in 1983 by Keith Giffin and Roger Slifer, primarily to satirise ultraviolent Marvel characters like Wolverine and The Punisher. The joke was largely missed though, and Giffen has lamented that Lobo ultimately became the "violence posterboy" in the early 90s, especially thanks to the (really good, really funny) mini series by Alan Grant and muscle-loving nutcase Simon Bisley.

Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman are producing for Warners, and back in the days when Guy Ritchie was attached to direct, the screenplay was by Don Payne (Fantastic 4: Rise Of The Silver Surfer) and apparently revolved around an Earth-bound Lobo helping a young girl defend her small town from bad guys.There's no word so far if that's still the case (and fingers crossed it isn't), or if Peyton will be starting from scratch. We'll keep you posted.