We need to think more about how Brainiac (and Vril Dox if you like) is the ultimate adversary of Superman.

Too many stories and films present various nemeses (albeit very symbolic) of Superman such as Nuclear Man, General Zod, Lex Luthor, and Doomsday, but Brainiac stands out in a way that not even Lex and General Zod do.

Because Brainiac is telekinetic and highly-calculating and can absorb information from the mental waves of others, he is very representative of intellectual evil.

He is a humanoid android, and his fury is impressive and his schemes can be terrifying. While Lex Luthor and General Zod have been portrayed as megalomaniac evil minds with devious and intricate plans, Brainiac explicitly invests in the dealings of intellect and experience.

One can argue therefore that next to Brainiac, Lex Luthor seems like a super-fascist (but nothing more) and General Zod seems like a supreme tyrant (but nothing more). Brainiac is not only a fascist and a tyrant but he is also a creature of intellectual danger (hence his iconic name!).

There should be easily-accessible relevant collections of Brainiac stories so we can better assess how his schemes illuminate the tranquility themes in Superman (DC Comics) storyboards.

Brainiac seems like the real dragon to Superman's knighthood.

Maybe Brainiac's been hiding...

Therefore, careful detailing of Brainiac's bio-physical profile could offer fans and writers more stimulation about Man of Steel surgery.

What do people think of Brainiac's organic/robotic duality?

Brainiac (Wikipedia)

The problem why Brainiac will never be Superman top villain, is that unlike Luthor or Darkseid, Superman is not a direct threat to him and his plans.

Luthor wants to rule the world, Darkseid wants to conquer all 52 universes and because Earth is kind of the linchpin of the entire universe, Superman will of course be in his way.

But Brainiac wants to conquer supreme knowledge. That's why he steals the best examples of the most advanced civilizations he encounters and destroys the rest. But because Superman is not a cosmic character, traveling throughout the universe fixing problems, he'll never be a direct opponent to Brainiac. In fact if Brainiac never threatened Earth they wouldn't even be enemies.

Also Brainiac has change so much over the years, that makes it more difficult to put him under the microscope.

He's been a complete machine, he's been a total biological being with incredible mind abilities, he's been a kind of cyborg. And most recently he started out has a complete biological being, that enhanced himself through cybernetic implants.

Either way right now the duality between man and machine as been much better explored in the Cyborg comic, in my opinion.

Favorite Superman villain right here.

@heavenlydarkdragon said:

Darkseid wants to find the Anti-Life equation, which may or may not be on Earth, or even related to something on Earth. If it weren't, Darkseid wouldn't even have to glance once at Earth, much less invade it, and his power is far too much for Superman to handle by himself anyway. Also, the fact that Brainiac can never have information on Earth (or Krypton, since Superman steals Kandor from him), is exactly why he makes a great foe for Superman. Superman denies him knowledge.

@orangebat:

You're joking right?

The Anti-Life equation was pre-Flashpoint. Now Darkseid is more focused on conquering each of the 52 Earth's. Something about Apokolips needing to feed on planets filled with life. Something you'd know if you had been following Earth-2.

In fact the only time the anti-life equation came into play, was most recently when it was revealed the Anti-Monitor was the Anti-Monitor because he had gained possession of the anti-life equation.

Now that he got rid of it, the Anti-Monitor went back to his original form. Mobius. Yes, that Mobius. The one that created Metron chair.

Also Brainiac conflict with Superman always seemed more one of convenience. With a whole universe filled with civilizations, why waste time on a civilization he had already learned everything he needed. After all his tech is much more advanced than anything kryptonians have.

The only time Brainiac and Superman conflict made any sense was when Brainiac originated from Krypton and not Colu.

Even the events during Doomed, made little sense, regarding Brainiac. Again with and entire universe filled with other civilizations why did Brainiac specifically needed to steal the psionic energy of everyone on Earth?! He could've as easily gone to anyother planet and done the same.

The only reason Brainiac is Superman enemy is mostly because writers make it so, not because it has to be that way.

@heavenlydarkdragon:

The Anti-Life equation was pre-Flashpoint. Now Darkseid is more focused on conquering each of the 52 Earth's. Something about Apokolips needing to feed on planets filled with life. Something you'd know if you had been following Earth-2.

In fact the only time the anti-life equation came into play, was most recently when it was revealed the Anti-Monitor was the Anti-Monitor because he had gained possession of the anti-life equation.

Now that he got rid of it, the Anti-Monitor went back to his original form. Mobius. Yes, that Mobius. The one that created Metron chair.

Yep, I haven't been following Earth-2, or most of the stuff around it (including the stuff in Justice League - there's just so much of Geoff Johns' writing I can take), so no clue about that. Probably a wise decision too, since most of what you described sounds painfully stupid beyond belief. Wait, I knew about the Anti-Monitor as Mobius. Yeah, still sounds stupid.

Also Brainiac conflict with Superman always seemed more one of convenience. With a whole universe filled with civilizations, why waste time on a civilization he had already learned everything he needed. After all his tech is much more advanced than anything kryptonians have.

The only time Brainiac and Superman conflict made any sense was when Brainiac originated from Krypton and not Colu.

Even the events during Doomed, made little sense, regarding Brainiac. Again with and entire universe filled with other civilizations why did Brainiac specifically needed to steal the psionic energy of everyone on Earth?! He could've as easily gone to any other planet and done the same.

The only reason Brainiac is Superman enemy is mostly because writers make it so, not because it has to be that way.

Well, Earth is the linchpin of the entire DC universe, by your own words. Maybe humans are just better.

You might as well ask why Galactus spends so much time trying to eat Earth, instead of just using up all the other planets in the universe first.

Also, Pre-Crisis, it made more sense because Superman WAS more of a cosmic hero. Something I'd like him to get back to, honestly.

@orangebat:

Yes he needs to start operating more offworld. Maybe when he gets his powers fixed DC could use the fact that his secret identity will still be exposed, and give him some cosmic timeoff from Earth.

And if they add the breakup with Diana, he could really use some time exploring the galaxy or whatever.

And maybe start to give him stories where he's either on his own or can only really count on himself, release his chains, and show him doing everything that's really within his power to do.

Also something we haven't seen him do for quite sometime now. It seems Superman always needs to accommodate for the other heroes powers, and that's getting old.

@heavenlydarkdragon said:

Oh, no objection there from me. In fact, reading through your comments on Superman, we seem to more or less desire the same for the guy - a more self-sufficient, independent, and skilled characterization. It gets annoying where it seems like most Superman stories deliberately downplay or try to incapacitate Superman in some way so people like Lois, Jimmy, Steel or even Lex can shine and prove their resourcefulness and quick-thinking. Yeah, no, I don't read Superman stories to see Superman get knocked around for three pages by the villain of the week, while Lois is off hacking something, and Steel is building some advanced gizmo that Superman can throw into said villain's doomsday device. He's a big boy, he can do all that stuff himself, while fending off three or four super-villains at the same time.

I can tolerate this junk a bit more in team books, but in his own stories, no. Superman should not play second fiddle to others in his own stories, IMO.

@heavenlydarkdragon@orangebat

Thirded.

I don't know how relevant it is now, but do/did not like the existence of Emil Hamilton, and I get nothing out of Steel. They seem to exist for no other reason than taking Superman’s brains away from him and being generally redundant. Uncool, bros. Murder them. Murder them all. (Bibbo’s cool though. He can stay. Give him powers and make him the world’s laziest super.)

Funnily enough I don’t actually care much about Jimmy Olsen either, though you'd think I would. As far as I can remember, his only real value was that he could be turned into things more interesting than himself.

Personally, I think that if they want someone to fill that role (not saying they have to), Hiro has way more interesting potential as ‘that guy’, because what kid wouldn’t wish to be a genius, hang out in a Star Wars Hoth fortress after school, and get “adopted” by their favourite hero? Plus, he wouldn’t be getting deliberately put in any danger if he’s just scrubbing fusion engines in the ultra-protected Fortress, etc. He might be taken on as a SCIENCE apprentice or something. You can have Jimmy do that, theoretically, but I don’t know if it suits him.

But Jimmy’s not hurting anyone by just existing in the Daily Planet and doing Jimmy things. (I mean, I'd miss him if he was gone.)

I love Brainiac as a top Superman villain. I’m not exactly certain what his overall origin is at this point, if there is one specified, but I like the mad-science-gone-wrong unfathomable Machine Intelligence Galactus vibe he’s got going for him. He’s like a Borg-God living plot device. He can basically deus ex machina any kind of threat or plot you like to throw at Supes. He’s the ultimate nemesis, and therefore perfect for the ultimate hero.

IMO, obvs.

@supermudz:

Brainiac origin story in the New52 has gone a little stray.

At first Vril Dox learned that Colu faced ultimate destruction, a little like Krypton, because of a force called the Multitude.

But Colu ruling body didn't believe him. So Vril went to the extreme of experimenting on his son. After being found out, he was exiled, where he continued the experiments on himself.

He used cyber implants to enhance what his 12th level intellect brain could do. He then downloaded the minds of his family and most of Colu. And as far as it was initially said Colu was destroyed.

Then at the end of Doomed we learned that Brainiac goal to steal all of the psionic energy of everyone on Earth, humans and non humans, was so he could use that psionic energy together with the one he had already gathered, to change reality itself as he saw fit, bringing back Colu and its people and becoming like the god of the universe. And of course Superman being in his Superdoom form, not only stopped him but that's when Supes sent both of them inside a black hole.

After that someone in DC decided to change the entire Brainiac origin story, first by using the god-machine Brainiac and Convergence, and after Convergence now Colu is back like nothing happened. Brainiac no longer had a family, and he wants to remove COMPUTO, a 10th intellect machine that during Brainiac absence took control of Colu. All seen in the comic Telos.

@heavenlydarkdragon:

Cheers, bud.