Superman 2: Meet the Villain Who Outsmarts Lex Luthor
Superman 2 has locked in a mastermind who could make Lex Luthor look second-rate: Brainiac will be the main villain, bringing a cold, hyperintelligent threat to the Man of Steel, according to The Wrap.
So the Superman sequel finally stopped playing coy: the next movie is bringing in the one opponent who can make even Lex Luthor swallow his pride. Yep, Brainiac.
Yes, the villain is Brainiac
Trade reports are out, and they all point to the same thing: Brainiac is the big bad of 'Man of Tomorrow,' the follow-up to James Gunn's 'Superman.' That lines up perfectly with what Gunn teased earlier this year about Superman and Lex needing to put their endless grudge on pause to deal with a far bigger problem. Translation: the guy they are up against is somehow an even bigger brain than Lex. The movie is locked for theaters on July 9, 2027.
Who exactly is Brainiac?
Short version: a hyper-intelligent, hyper-dangerous collector who treats civilizations like lab samples. Brainiac debuted in 1958, created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, and he hails from the planet Colu, which tracks with the whole supercomputer personality. Over the decades he has toggled between organic and robotic designs, but the classic green, bald, slightly eerie version is still the look most fans picture.
His most infamous crime against Krypton? He miniaturized the city of Kandor before the planet blew up. Superman eventually saved it and keeps the preserved city in his Fortress of Solitude as a constant reminder of what Brainiac can do. This is not a one-and-done villain; he has been a recurring problem across comics, animation, TV, and almost the movies for ages.
- On TV: James Marsters played a version of him on 'Smallville.'
- In animation: Corey Burton voiced him in 'Superman: The Animated Series,' Michael Emerson voices him in 'My Adventures With Superman,' and Stephen Fry did a comedic spin in 'Harley Quinn.'
- Almost in theaters decades ago: early drafts of 1983's 'Superman III' flirted with using Brainiac, but it never happened.
Gunn basically told us this months ago
When James Gunn sat down on the Howard Stern Show earlier this year, he all but spelled out the dynamic for the sequel. These are the parts worth highlighting:
"It is a story about Lex Luthor and Superman having to work together to a certain degree against a much, much bigger threat."
"It is more complicated than that but. It is as much a Lex movie as it is a Superman movie. I relate to the character of Lex, sadly. I really wanted to create something extraordinary with the two of them. I just love the script so much."
What that means for 'Man of Tomorrow'
If Lex is agreeing to share a foxhole, the threat is not just global, it is systemic. Brainiac is the kind of antagonist who changes the rules the second he shows up. He does not just punch; he studies, catalogs, and then erases. Putting Superman and Lex on the same side (barely) gives the sequel a sharper angle than 'hero vs. billionaire nemesis' and raises the ceiling on how weird and operatic this can get.
Bottom line: the sequel is not just upping the stakes, it is widening the scope. Superman and Lex, forced to cooperate against a collector of worlds with receipts? That is the sort of cosmic headache you want to see play out on a giant screen.
'Man of Tomorrow' hits theaters July 9, 2027.