Brad Peyton is the latest in the line of directors to take a crack at bringing "Lobo" to the big screen

Warner Bros. has hired Brad Peyton, who helmed the hit family adventure "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island," to direct and rewrite "Lobo," the live-action movie based on DC Comics' ultraviolent intergalactic bounty hunter, Deadline reports.

Guy Ritchie had been attached to direct the adaptation in late 2009 but left the project to develop the blockbuster "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows." Don Payne ("Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," "Thor") wrote the most recent draft. Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman are producing.

Created by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen, Lobo debuted in 1983's "Omega Men" #3 as a self-centered villain with a penchant for mindless violence, but he gained popularity in the 1990s as a parody of Wolverine, Punisher and other anti-heroes. Although Lobo has appeared in animated form on "Superman: The Animated Series," "Justice League" and "Legion of Super Heroes," this would mark his live-action, and big-screen, debut.

Payne's PG-13 script reportedly followed Lobo as he pursued four fugitives to Earth, where he partnered with a teenaged girl to stop them. Whether any of that will remain in Peyton's rewrite is, naturally, unknown at this point.

Stay tuned to CBR News for more on Warner Bros' "Lobo" film adaptation.