Brainiac: What To Watch The Superman Villain In Before ‘Man Of Tomorrow’

The first major appearance of Brainiac outside of comics came in Super Friends, which was a low-key great way for broader audiences to meet the larger DC Universe. The superhero cartoon may be fairly basic by modern standards, but the simple charm of the quasi-Justice League’s adventures made for plenty of memorably weird and pretty charming adventures. 

One of the many Legion of Doom members that the superheroes had to deal with was Brainiac, whose advanced intellect made him one of Lex Luthor’s most effective allies in their efforts to take over the world. While the fairly standard approach to good and evil lacks the complexity that later versions of the character would have, Super Friends serves as a solid introduction to the baseline mechanics of the character.

One of the best examples of Brainiac outside of the original comics is the version that appeared in Superman: The Animated Series. Part of the Bruce Timm-led DC Universe that started with Batman: The Animated Series (1992), Superman shifted focus to Metropolis. Notably, this version of the Man of Steel’s mythos was tweaked so that Brainiac was a Kryptonian computer system that had allowed the planet to explode for its own means. 

Brainiac became one of the most consistent threats to this version of Superman, with Corey Burton’s take on the character continuing on into sequel shows like Justice League (2001) and Justice League Unlimited (2004). This Brainiac was a coldly calculating threat with a quietly sadistic side, something that fans might see more of in James Gunn’s take on the character.

A loose reimagining of Superman’s early days, Smallville had a lot of fun playing with the central concept and tweaking long-established characters like Brainiac. In this show, the BRAIN InterActive Construct was a Kryptonian invention that was corrupted by Zod and turned into a weapon against Clark Kent. 

Introduced in Season 5 and continuing to be a threat for multiple seasons, Brainiac was played by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) alum James Masters with a deft mix of the actor’s typical charm and the inherent robotic approach of the character. Brainiac may not have ever truly realized his big bad potential on the show, but he was a consistently engaging addition to the show’s roster of rogues that highlighted the surprising amount of depth that could be afforded to the character.

Voiced by Lance Henriksen, Brainiac takes center stage in Superman: Brainiac Attacks. The animated film has a lot of similarities with the DCAU iteration of the characters, even sharing visual designs and voice actors from Superman: The Animated Series. However, the film was released as a tie-in for Superman Returns (2006), meant to serve as a fun standalone story that took cues from the DCAU while still being original to it. 

The film highlights Brainiac's potential as a central villain, which may prove to be somewhat prophetic given the apparent role the character will be taking as the primary villain of James Gunn's upcoming Superman film. While it’s not the most complex take on the character, this take on Brainiac does prove why he’s endured as a villain.

Part of a slew of animated original DC films that tangentially created their own shared universe, later known as the DCAU—not to be confused with Timm’s DCAU—Superman: Unbound highlighted a lot of the key differences between Superman and Brainiac. Adapting a comic plot where Brainiac directly attacks Metropolis, Superman: Unbound is largely a story about Superman and Supergirl bonding together to overcome a shared threat. 

The version of Brainiac who appears in this film is fairly basic but quietly frightening, a truly extraterrestrial threat that even Superman’s might can’t fully counter on its own. While James Gunn will inevitably make the character unique in his own ways, there’s something to this harsh interpretation of Brainiac played by Fringe (2008) star John Noble that makes it especially memorable compared to other takes on the character.

Given that Krypton was a show centered around the history of Superman's birth planet two centuries before he was born, it's no surprise that Brainiac was central to the SyFy Superman prequel. The show deals with a long-running plot where Superman's grandfather Seg-El, is busy restoring the family name when a mysterious figure from the future reveals that Brainiac is set to destroy the planet—but that Seg-El has a plan about the importance Superman has to play in the overall history of the universe. 

The show casts Brainiac as a world collector and a galactic threat. Krypton is a high sci-fi take on the mythos that never realized its full potential because it was canceled after two seasons. However, it’s at least a fascinating showcase of Brainiac as a main villain who can take the DC Universe into a fully sci-fi space.

One of the most comical and sympathetic versions of Brainiac to appear in mass media happened in Harley Quinn. The streaming animated show has always thrived in tweaking classic DC heroes and villains in surprising ways. One of the more comical turns happened in Season 5 with the inclusion of Brainiac, an alien figure dealing with his own family issues. 

Voiced by the legendary comedian Stephen Fry, this version of Brainiac is more driven by his family issues than any other iteration of the character in mass media, with a more emotional core than other iterations of the character that explains his typical villainous motivation. While it's likely a more sympathetic version of the character has appeared in film or TV before or since—and is likely a far cry from the iteration set to appear in the 2027 sequel to Superman—this take on Brainiac is a fascinatingly human one on one of DC's most alien threats.

One of the best iterations of Brainiac in film and television is the horrifying version that appears in My Adventures With Superman. Once again a Kryptonian AI who has survived the end of Krypton, this take on Brainiac is one who wants to preserve what Krypton was at any cost—and is quickly proven willing to manipulate his "loved" ones to do it. 

Played by Lost (2004) and Evil (2019) star Michael Emerson, Brainiac has never been creepier than here, a methodical and emotionally manipulative figure who betrayed Krypton in more ways than one and represents the true “alien” threat that people see Lex Luthor as. While this may be one of the more recent takes on Brainiac, it’s likely one of those that will most inform the next cinematic take on the character, given the ways he comes across similar to James Gunn villains like the High Evolutionary from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023).