For a movie whose existence was only revealed a couple of months ago, Man of Tomorrow is progressing at a pretty speedy clip. James Gunn’s Superman sequel already has a screenplay and a release date - July 9, 2027. And now we have apparent confirmation of the big villain forcing David Corenswet’s Kal-El and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor to join forces. It’s Brainiac, of course.
This is hardly the most surprising news, but it is a welcome one. Who better than Brainiac to bring together the Man of Steel and the guy who kidnapped his dog? It’s a twist that just makes sense, given how Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU has been shaping up so far. Let’s take a closer look at who Brainiac is and why he’s the perfect choice to be Man of Tomorrow’s main villain.
Who Is Man of Tomorrow Villain Brainiac?
Lex Luthor will always rank as Superman’s greatest arch-nemesis. As Gunn’s first Superman movie proves, he’s just a next-level hater. But Brainiac is the clear choice for #2. More than any villain, he has both the brains and the brawn to challenge Kal-El on every front.
Brainiac was created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino and debuted in 1958’s Action Comics #242. Brainiac is depicted as an alien android from the planet Colu. Brainiac’s modern origin story reveals that he was originally an organic being - a Coluan scientist named Vril Dox - before being sentenced to death for trying to overthrow his world. But now, he exists as a cyborg with a series of super-strong bodies to draw upon.
Already fiendishly intelligent, Brainiac has made it his goal to collect all knowledge that exists in the universe. But much like Judge Holden from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, once Brainiac gathers said knowledge, he’s committed to ensuring no one else can possess it.
Brainiac’s fiendish modus operandi consists of travelling to different worlds and capturing cities as his personal souvenirs. He shrinks them down and bottles them up for his collection, and then destroys what remains of the conquered civilization. One of Brainiac’s greatest prizes is Kandor, a relic of the Krypton that was. In some versions of the Superman mythos, it’s actually Brainiac who causes the destruction of Krypton after stealing Kandor.
Superman has clashed with Brainiac many times over the years, both alone and alongside the Justice League. But though Supes inevitably triumphs each time, Brainiac always survives and returns to threaten Earth again. Because he can simply back up his consciousness and build new bodies, he’s a very hard villain to destroy. In fact, 2008’s Superman: Brainiac served as the first time that Superman encountered the real Brainiac in his true humanoid form. Every other Brainiac he battled before then was a drone proxy.
Despite being one of the most feared villains in the DC Universe, Brainiac’s descendants have established a more heroic legacy. Most notably, Brainiac 5 is a founding member of the 31st Century team known as the Legion of Super-Heroes and one of Kal-El’s closest friends.
Why Brainiac Makes Sense for James Gunn’s DCU
From the moment Gunn first revealed Man of Tomorrow online, one thing about this Superman follow-up has been clear. Something is going to happen that forces Kal-El and Lex Luthor to put aside their differences and confront a common enemy. Some villain will emerge that pierces through Luthor’s absolute hatred of Superman. Brainiac was the most immediate and obvious candidate, so it was hardly a surprise when The Wrap confirmed that the villain will headline Man of Tomorrow.
As we’ve already established, Brainiac is easily the #2 most important Superman villain after Luthor, so it makes sense that he would be next out of the gate. And in terms of picking a villain who can challenge both Superman’s strength and Luthor’s massive intellect, there’s no one better. With his advanced android bodies and endless supply of robotic tools, Brainiac can fight Superman to a standstill. And though Luthor has spent his entire life being the smartest guy in any room, he’s about to meet a true mental rival in Brainiac. This is a foe that requires Superman and Luthor to be at their absolute peak.
Brainiac also fits right into the larger story Gunn seems to be telling with Krypton. In what was easily the most controversial shake-up in 2025’s Superman, the film depicts Bradley Cooper’s Jor-El and Angela Sarafyan’s Lara Lor-Van not as benevolent scientists, but colonizers urging their son to conquer Earth and breed a new generation of Kryptonian heirs. Everything we think we know about Krypton is thrown for a loop with that reveal. If Superman’s birth parents aren’t paragons of virtue, then what else has changed about Krypton?
As discussed earlier, some Superman adaptations have reworked Brainiac to be more fundamentally tied to Krypton. We wouldn’t be at all surprised if the DCU follows suit. Will Brainiac again be a Kryptonian super-computer in this universe? Will he be the secret hand behind the planet’s destruction? Is he still carrying out Jor-El’s goals of colonization? At the very least, we’re expecting the Bottle City of Kandor to be a plot point in Man of Tomorrow, especially with Kandorian refugee Supergirl (Milly Alcock) already being introduced.
The Superman movie also establishes that the DCU’s Earth has a history of superheroes dating back 300 years. It even features an Easter egg in the form of a mural depicting some of the many heroes who preceded Superman. It’s very possible that Brainiac’s debut is tied to this 300-year metahuman timeline. As a collector of knowledge and rare specimens, Brainiac may well be fascinated by Earth’s metahuman phenomenon. He may be coming to Earth to study these strange beings and collect samples, after which he’ll no doubt want to obliterate what remains. That represents the kind of clear and present danger that would force Superman and Luthor to put aside their differences for the greater good.
What DC Stories Will Man of Tomorrow Adapt?
2025’s Superman may not be a direct adaptation of any particular DC comic or storyline, but there are clear influences in the film. Gunn and his cast and crew have made no secret of the fact that Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All-Star Superman was a huge source of inspiration. We have to assume that Man of Tomorrow will be similar in that regard. Gunn may not be adapting any one particular Superman vs. Brainiac story, but he’s too big a fan of the classic DC Comics and adaptations not to draw on that rich history.
The aforementioned Superman: Brainiac (from writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank) is likely to be one source of inspiration. That book is pretty much the definitive modern Brainiac tale, establishing a new look for the iconic villain and intensifying the rivalry between Supes and his alien nemesis. That book also ends on a profoundly tragic note that we could see Gunn repurposing for the DCU.
And, again, don’t be surprised if Man of Tomorrow borrows a page from the DCAU and Smallville playbook by depicting Brainiac as an AI relic of Krypton rather than a Coluan. It’s a cleaner origin story, in many ways, and it helps highlight the feud between Superman and Brainiac. Cooper’s Jor-El is not the good man Kal-El always believed him to be, and it would make sense to establish Brainiac as another piece of that tarnished legacy.
But in terms of stories that specifically involve Superman and Luthor teaming up against Brainiac, the pickings are surprisingly slim. These two villains have been much more prone to teaming up against Superman in the comics. Brainiac even sometimes serves as a member of the Legion of Doom. Perhaps most famously, they form a one-sided alliance to destroy Superman in Alan Moore and Curt Swan’s graphic novel Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, which features Brainiac hijacking Luthor’s body.
There is one recent Superman comic that could have inspired Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow screenplay, however. Mark Waid and Bryan Hitch’s Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor (which we recently added to our list of the best Superman comics of all time) sees Luthor turn to Superman after contracting a mysterious terminal illness. Despite the protests of the world at large, Superman can’t turn down a plea for help, even from his greatest enemy. In the end, it’s revealed that Brainiac infected Luthor with a virus as part of a plot to kill Superman, keying up a showdown between Brainiac on one side and a united Superman/Luthor on the other.
James Gunn's Man of Tomorrow: Superman vs. Lex Luthor Art Gallery
The first Superman movie establishes Hoult’s Luthor as a supremely arrogant individual, one who views Superman as a subhuman thing and isn’t above casual murder if it causes Clark pain. No doubt Man of Tomorrow is going to have to find ways to humble Luthor and force him to accept the Man of Steel as an ally (as well as force the audience to embrace him as a protagonist for a change). Gunn could do far worse than draw on The Last Days of Lex Luthor’s basic premise. Luthor confronting his imminent mortality is an easy way of forcing him into an alliance with his hated rival.
On the other hand, it may take nothing more than the threat of Earth’s annihilation for Luthor to temporarily make nice with Superman. We saw Luthor play a heroic support role in 2024’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League when Brainiac invades Earth, though in that case, he doesn’t survive long into the conflict.
Warning: The rest of this article contains spoilers for Peacemaker Season 2’s finale!
Finally, there’s the question of how much Man of Tomorrow will draw on Bill Willingham and Lilah Sturges' Salvation Run. Gunn is clearly leaning on that series as he charts the future of the DCU, as Peacemaker Season 2 ends with John Cena’s Christopher Smith being dumped on the prison world of Salvation by a vindictive Rick Flag (Frank Grillo). Similar to the Salvation Run comic, we’re going to see many metahuman villains banished to Salvation by ARGUS.
Will that include Hoult’s Luthor? It’s very possible that Flag will see Luthor as too smart to remain safely in ARGUS custody, opting instead to banish him to another dimension entirely. That could motivate Luthor’s alliance with Superman if he sees his nemesis as his only “get out of jail free” card. And perhaps Brainiac enters the picture when he sees this world full of exiled villains and decides to add it to his collection. One way or another, Flag’s plan is going to blow up in his face. It’s just a question of whether that happens in Man of Tomorrow or elsewhere in the DCU.
What do you hope to see from Brainiac in Man of Tomorrow? Do you want him to be tied to Krypton? Vote in our poll and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
For more, brush up on every DC movie and series in development.
China revolutionizes live sports streaming by letting viewers fully control the camera