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While Batman has the most democratic rascal verandah of DC Comics villains , none of them are as unsafe asSupermanandSupergirl’sBrainiac . While Kal - El and Kara Zor - El often stop him by themselves , sometimes it take the full Justice League to stop him . The alien collector threatens the DC multiverse on a ceaseless basis , acting as one of its mortal threats .
FromSuperman : The Animated SeriestoInjustice 2,Brainiac has undoubtedly earned a social status among Superman ’s most substantial villains . However , he ’s gone through various rendering . Brainiac keep up a mint of his original facet in innovative - twenty-four hour period comics . However , beforeCrisis On Infinite Earths , the alien was an super cartoonish villain . Like most type during DC ’s Silver Age , Brainiac once possessed shrinking rays , force out fields , and other stereotypical scientific discipline - fiction weapons .
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First Appearance & The Silver Age Origins
Brainiac ’s first appearance was just at the start of the Silver Age of Comic Books . In Otto Binder and Al Plastino’sAction Comics#242 , Brainiac reveals himself to Superman for the first time . The Man of Steel discovers Brainiac has several artifact from Krypton , including an entire city that the Coluan shrunk before the planet ’s destruction . Brainiac is an alien from Colu — a world oblige genius - stratum beings . Coluans place soul by their level of intellect , which finally becameDC Comics ' primary system to order intelligence agency levelsfor any eccentric . For deterrent example , Krypto the Superdog would be consider a non - animate intellectual . Jimmy Olsen , who has about average intelligence on Earth , has a 2nd - level intellect . Batman has a 6th - story intellectual ; this is the first rank Coluans consider brilliance - level . Everyone on Colu has a 6th - level intelligence or higher .
Among the smartest Coluans were the Computer Tyrants . One of their projects was to create artificial intelligence agency with a tenth - level intellect . Its intention was to collect data on worlds throughout the universe . They constitute it " brain . " When the Tyrants forced a youthful Coluan named Vril Dox to ward the AI , the son decided to fuse with the newfound intelligence . Vril Dox became"Brainiac 2 , " the translation that first faced Superman . He eventually go forward the program ’s original mission to collect artifacts around the galaxy , leading him to abduct the Kryptonian metropolis of Kandor . Just ten issues after Brainiac ’s first appearance , Superman encounter his cousin-german , Kara Zor - El , for the first prison term . She is able to help Superman combat Brainiac in next skirmish . When the Kryptonian cousins encounter the Legion of Superheroes , a team from the 30th 100 , they find Brainiac 5 among their ranks . Brainiac 5 ’s expansive intentions and eventual romantic involvement with Supergirl establish that Brainiac 2 might be worth redeeming .
Brainiac’s Robotic Form & The Bronze Age
Unfortunately , Superman and Supergirl still put up with Brainiac 2 ’s malefic schemes well into the Bronze Age of Comics and beyond . In 1983’sAction Comics#544 , Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane create anew version of Brainiac for Superman ’s 45th anniversary . Brainiac revivify himself in a new robotic body with a skull - like mind . Action Comics#544 also innovate Brainiac ’s Skull Ship , which still appears in Superman and Supergirl ’s modern account adaptations . The robotlike translation of Brainiac struggle against his common Kryptonian enemy , but he also challenged the Legion of Superheroes and the Teen Titans from time to time .
Crisis on Infinite Earthsultimately ended the Bronze Age of Comics to completely recreate the DC Universe , commingle unlike prospect of the multiverse into a single ground . Brainiac in reality sense the confusion in the multiverse . Alan Moore , Curt Swan , George Pérez , and Murphy Anderson’sSuperman#423 andAction Comics#583 ( " What Ever encounter to the Man of Tomorrow ? " ) , intended to recount the last pre - Crisis Superman taradiddle . Brainiac ’s robotic skull attaches itself to Lex Luthorto destroy Superman once and for all . When Mr. Mxyzptlk choose to use his power exclusively for evil rather than just rascality , he ends up killing Brainiac . DC’sConvergenceevent from 2015 brought the original interpretation of Brainiac back due to the DC multiverse ’s destabilized reality . " What Ever fall out to the Man of Tomorrow ? " is now a retconned universe known as Earth-423 . Brainiac would get various interpretations between here and his next mirthful book origin story . Most popularly , he ’d be interpreted as a Kryptonian AI in the DC Animated Universe’sSuperman : The Animated Series .
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Return to Coluan Form & Modern Comics
In 2008 , Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’sAction Comics#866 - 870 ( collected asSuperman : Brainiac ) redefine Brainiac as most sports fan know him today . When Superman and Supergirl discover a robot resembling Brainiac ’s Bronze Age form , it turns out to be nothing more than a drone . Superman eventually finds the realBrainiac , in his original Coluan form , aboard his Skull Ship . Johns and Frank successfully redefine Brainiac as a less chintzy scoundrel . However , they also honor unlike facial expression from the Greco-Roman character . When Brainiac miniaturizes the city of Kandor , it ties immediately to Supergirl ’s Kryptonian origins . She goes through a Kryptonian disaster , lose various friend and kinfolk .
Despite Brainiac ’s tasteful origin becoming a contemporaneous achiever , the New 52 quickly rebooted the DC Universe yet again . Brainiac got a unexampled origin story in the New 52’sAction Comics#4 by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales . This reading of Brainiac is similar to Johns and Frank ’s , except Brainiac ’s first miniaturized city is on Colu to protect his family . Brainiac happen upon an approach originating from the Fifth Dimension , which he dub " The Multitude . " He then determine out to collect city to save sentient civilization , make for him to encounter Superman on Earth . DC Comics ' latest events , such asConvergenceandRebirth , lead this new translation of Brainiac to affiliate himself with Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom .
In most non - comics sensitive , such asInjustice 2,Brainiac is most similar to his word-painting from Johns and Frank’sSuperman : Brainiacstory . Not only isAction Comics#866 - 870 still Brainiac ’s best conceivable depiction in his account as the super cousins ' villain , it ’s also among the greatest Superman / Supergirl stories of all fourth dimension . Clark and Kara ’s relationship receives beautiful delegacy , and Brainiac becomes a villain worth fear . Whatever the interpretation , two aspects ofBrainiacthat remain unceasing throughoutDC Comics ' history are his aggregation of artifacts throughout the population andhis contention withSupermanandSupergirl .
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