Remember how excited everyone was when Dwayne Johnson tweeted that rumors of him playing Lobo in an upcoming film were true? Well, unfortunately the excitement was short-lived as Johnson is no longer attached to the project.

A Lobo movie has been in development for years. Back in 2009, it was announced that Guy Ritchie would be helming the film about the intergalactic bounty hunter but soon bowed to direct ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ instead. The project then went without a helmer until Brad Peyton (‘Journey 2: The Mysterious Island’) was announced last spring that he would not only take the director’s seat but also do a rewrite. Up until now, nothing else was heard presumably due to Peyton busy with the script.

But apparently no news is not good news as during an interview with MTV, Johnson was asked about the progress of the film and he let it known that he will no longer be a DC superhero:

“It was [there] for a minute, but then it kind of just went away. As things happen in Hollywood sometime. For a minute I was interested in it (Lobo), then it went away.”

Whether this statement means that the film is in development purgatory or not is unknown and until there’s official word from DC or Warner Bros. fans will just have to hope that Peyton is still working on it. Then again, for Johnson to say “it kind of just went away” doesn’t sound too promising for this film to be made.

DC is having a bit of a superhero identity crisis as beyond Batman and Superman, DC superhero movies historically don’t seem to have the same punch as Marvel ones. With the studios waiting to see if their attempt to reboot Superman with ‘Man of Steel’ is successful, other films have either failed miserably to bring in audiences (‘Green Lantern’) or are still waiting for their chance to climb out development holding hell (where ‘Justice League’ is currently located).

Meanwhile, Johnson can be seen in the upcoming ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ next month and will be moving on from superhero status to demi-god as his next project will be playing the title role in the film ‘Hercules’ which he calls his “passion project”.

You can watch the interview with MTV discussing the Lobo role below: