The Villain That Terrifies Lex Luthor Is Coming to the Superman Sequel — But Can James Gunn Beat the DC Show That Nailed It?

Well, that took long enough. After months of winks and nudges, we finally have a proper big-bad for Man of Tomorrow, and it is exactly who you think it is: Brainiac. The Wrap says the Coluan super-intellect is the villain of the movie, which honestly feels like the most overdue Superman move in ages.

• The Wrap reported the Brainiac news on November 13.
• Production is slated to start in Atlanta in April.
• Release date: July 9, 2027.
• Per the report, Superman and Lex Luthor are teaming up to stop Brainiac.

If you have been paying attention, James Gunn has been telegraphing this for a while. Back on September 22, he dropped a photo on X of a human head anatomy illustration sitting on the title page of the Man of Tomorrow script, hashtagged '#MoT' with the date '7.9.27'. DC fans connected the dots in record time: brain imagery, Brainiac. Not subtle, but effective. Gunn then kept stoking the fire during a press conference for the Peacemaker Season 2 finale. When The Wrap asked what could possibly push Lex Luthor to work with Superman, Gunn did not play coy:

"A pretty pronounced one. Lex Luthor is mostly concerned about Lex Luthor. So we will see what threatens Lex Luthor."

So yes, The Wrap says the movie pairs Boy Scout and Bald Genius against the green-skinned collector of worlds. That pairing is not just fan-service fluff either; there is comic book precedent where Lex stops being performatively evil and becomes pragmatically self-interested. Case in point: 1963's Superman #164, where Lex and Supes wind up on an alien planet to duke it out. The locals need water, Lex tries to help, realizes he cannot fix it alone, and actually asks Superman to step in for the sake of the people. Translation: when the threat is big enough, Lex recalibrates.

As for Brainiac himself, he is a Coluan with a genius-level intellect and the kind of alien tech mastery that makes Kryptonian problems look small. He first showed up in Action Comics #242 back in 1958. If you want a modern reference point, Syfy's Krypton was the first to really bring him to life in live action, with Blake Ritson under a mountain of practical makeup and some cleverly restrained CGI. That version looked and felt like the character—a tough bar for the DCU to clear, and the kind of creative challenge you do not want to whiff on.

If you are feeling deja vu, you are not wrong. Brainiac has been hovering around a Superman sequel for years. During the on-again, off-again DCEU days, Zack Snyder talked about where he wanted to go after Man of Steel, and hopes briefly flickered when Henry Cavill popped up at the end of Black Adam... only for that door to slam shut again. Back in 2021, Snyder even said this on the Post-Credits Podcast:

"We talked about a Brainiac movie. But, I do think that the Kryptonians that are in the Phantom Zone are probably still around, and there was possibility for their return."

Different regime, different Superman, same looming idea: Brainiac is the kind of threat that forces the whole chessboard to move. And now he is finally in the DCU crosshairs.

Anyway, I am into the Superman/Lex uneasy alliance idea if it is driven by character, not just plot gymnastics. If Brainiac is the catalyst, that tracks. Your move, Atlanta-in-April production.

Side note: Superman is available to stream on HBO Max.