Every Brainiac Version from Superman History, Ranked

Summary

• Brainiac is a powerful and intelligent villain in the DC Comics universe. Over the years, there have been various versions of Brainiac, each with their own unique abilities and strengths.
• The Brainiac Queen: Introduced in Action Comics #1064, is a new and dangerous version of Brainiac. She was created after years of preparation and is part of a council of other Brainiacs.
• A fusion of Brainiac and Galactus, Galactiac is a terrifying version of Brainiac. Unlike Galactus, who feeds off planets out of necessity, Galactiac steals parts of planets to add to his collection. He combines the malicious attitude of Brainiac with the raw power of Galactus, making him a formidable opponent.

Superman has gone up against hundreds of dangerous villains in his time protecting Earth, but with an entire Multiverse in play, there are even more dangerous versions of his worst foes to consider. And as terrifying as Doomsday or Luthor may be, nothing compares to Brainiac.

Brainiac is one of the most dangerous villains in the universe. He regularly travels across the known universe and attacks planets that interest him, all to gather knowledge. This makes him a universal threat, and he’s attacked Earth many times in the past, only to be thwarted by Superman each time. But there are multiple variants and versions of Brainiac to contend with, and some of them are too dangerous for Superman to beat.

11 The DCAU Brainiac

Superman The Animated Series, “The Last Son Of Krypton, Part 1” by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini.

Many future fans of comic books were introduced to Brainiac through Superman: The Animated Series. Instead of an alien from Colu, this Brainiac was a computer program from Krypton that intentionally pushed the planet towards destruction, as it viewed the survival of Krypton’s knowledge as being more important than its people.

It’s the same general idea of Brainiac, but gives him a much closer tie to Krypton, as this Brainiac was significantly weaker than its comic counterpart as well, as it was just a robot. Superman would fight Brainiac many times over the years and while Brainiac was always dangerous, he was never on the same threat level as his comic version, who is a universe-spanning threat (and has actually succeeded in destroying Earth several times in different timelines).

10 Milton Fine, One Of Superman’s First Encounters With Brainiac

Adventures of Superman #438 by John Byrne and Jerry Ordway.

Milton Fine was a sideshow mentalist who was known as the Amazing Brainiac. Eventually, Milton discovered that he was a legitimate metahuman and possessed actual psychic powers. This obviously made his job as a mentalist much easier, but it would also eventually attract a being claiming to be the true Brainiac. This version of Brainiac was disembodied, nothing more than a swarm of nanites.

Milton would become possessed by them and became one of the first versions of Brainiac that Superman encountered. Eventually, it was revealed that this wasn’t actually Brainiac at all, but just a swarm of nanites he had programmed with his memories. The true Brainiac still lurked in outer space and would eventually arrive at Earth himself. Still, between Milton’s genuine psychic powers and Brainiac’s nanites enhancing his physical abilities, he proved to be a surprisingly strong villain.

9 The Original Brainiac

Action Comics #242 by Otto Binder and Al Plastino

The first time Brainiac ever appeared was way back in 1958’s Action Comics #242. This version of Brainiac was also a robot, surprisingly. The Coluan race of people were incredibly intelligent, and they created a supercomputer to simulate 10th-level intelligence. Unfortunately, the Coluans didn’t realize that such an intelligence would also become sentient. This supercomputer then rapidly began self-replicating and created what would be known as the Computer Tyrants, who quickly enslaved the Coluans.

Wanting to expand their reach beyond their planet, they would create Brainiac, who looked just like a computer and was fully organic. This was finished off by uploading the personality of a dead Coluan scientist, to make this Brainiac seem more alive. This version of Brainiac was surprisingly powerful, with Mechanokinesis, energy projection, and outright mind control. As well as the ability to freeze people in place with his Meson-Effect blast.

8 As The Years Went On, Brainiac Simply Got Stronger

Adventures of Superman #438 by John Byrne and Jerry Ordway

Instead of being an android, this version is a natural-born Coluan and a brilliant scientist. He eventually decided that the only person who could be a proper lab assistant would be another version of himself. So Vril Drox simply cloned himself. Afterward, he acquired a spaceship and went through outer space, gathering knowledge and using his robotic drones to capture any alien species that interested him. This would eventually lead him to Krypton, where he would steal the entire City of Kandor.

It was this version of Brainiac who sent his nanites to take over the body of Milton Fine. After the loss of Milton’s body, Brainiac would transfer his conciousness to a robot body, as all versions of Brainiac appear to become (or start out as robots) at one point or another.

7 Lex Luthor & Brainiac Created The Smartest Version

Superboy’s Legion #1 by Mark Farmer and Alan Davis.

There’s nothing more popular in comic books than fusing two characters together into one. This is a trope that has shown up time and time again, and for good reason. It created possibly the smartest Brainiac in the pages of Superboy’s Legion #1. In this story, Lex Luthor plotted to take over the Earth by manipulating public opinion against the superhero community. He was able to use both his political career as a former president and his impressive wealth to essentially turn humanity against the heroes. Unfortunately, Batman refused to back down against Lex and the resulting battle nearly destroyed the planet.

Despite his best attempts to avoid it, Lex Luthor would eventually die of old age, but his personality was assimilated into a new supercomputer known as Universo. This computer would also eventually go rogue and reveal itself as yet another version of Brainiac.

The idea of Brainiac and Lex Luthor fusing has been explored before, most famously in
Justice League Unlimited
episode “Panic in the Sky” by Dwayne McDuffie.

6 The Antimatter Brainiac Was Beyond Good And Evil

JLA: Earth-2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

While it’s easy to assume Brainiac is always evil because he is a villain in its core, the actual explanation is a little more complicated. It was shown in JLA: Earth-2 that when a Brainiac from the Antimatter Universe was captured by Ultraman, this version of Brainiac was a slightly different story.

Brainiac is so intelligent, he considers himself beyond the abstract concepts of good and evil. While this version of Brainiac is the least physically imposing of any on this list, he still proved to be remarkably dangerous, as he nearly destroyed both the Crime Syndicate and Justice League by manipulating them into an impossible situation, but as the Justice League usually does, they found a way to win.

5 The Batman Brainiac is An Unstoppable Force

Dark Nights: Death Metal #3 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

Readers were introduced to The Collector in Dark Nights: Death Metal #3, a fusion of Brainiac and Batman and terrifying combination of their immense intellect and skills. Everyone knows that Batman is the king of contingency plans, but just how absurd would those plans become with a 12th-level intellect?

With Brainiac’s resources and intelligence, Batman would be able to use his methodical thinking to likely defeat any planet in the universe with ease, which makes him one of the most dangerous Brainiacs possible.

4 The Version Of Brainiac Who Succeeded In Destroying Earth

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost by Sterling Gates and Oliver Nome

Brainiac has attacked Earth several times, but he’s always been pushed out by Superman and the Justice League. But a few disturbing details show that Brainiac could destroy Earth anytime he wants. During the Justice League: No Justice storyline by Scott Snyder, Brainiac demonstrated that he’s capable of defeating every superhero team on Earth anytime he wants.

He not only takes down the Justice League, but also the Suicide Squad, Titans, and Outsiders with ease. After Kid Flash ends up lost in the time stream, he arrives at an Earth that was completely decimated and destroyed by Brainiac. The Justice League and everyone else were powerless to stop Brainiac, and he is shown as the undisputed ruler of this ruined Earth.

3 The Brainiac Queen Is A Brainiac Unlike Any Other

Action Comics #1064 by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval

The Brainiac Queen is a new addition to Superman’s lore, but she’s every bit as dangerous as any other Brainiac on this list. After years of preparation and assembling an entire council of other Brainiacs to help him do it, Brainiac finally managed to create the Brainiac Queen, and she was shown off in gory detail as she cut her way through a group of Czarnians.

Considering just how absurdly durable and powerful Czarnians are, the fact the Brainiac Queen slaughtered them all is a major red flag, and makes her possibly the biggest threat that Superman has faced yet. While readers have yet to see the confrontation between Superman and the Brainiac Queen, all evidence points to her being able to easily hold her own against the Man of Steel, which makes her one of the most dangerous Brainiacs yet.

2 Galactiac Was A Terrifying Version Of Brainiac

Challengers of the Fantastic #1 by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett

Galactus is by far one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. The only saving grace of Galactus is the fact he feeds off planets out of necessity, not malicious desire. But by fusing Galactus with Brainiac, he becomes a whole lot scarier.

Instead of simply needing to devour planets, Galactiac instead travels around and steals parts of planets to add to his collection, as he tried to do with New York in Challengers of the Fantastic #1. This version of the character has all of the malicious and uncaring attitude of Brainiac combined with the pure raw power of Galactus.

1 Futures End Brainiac Is The Ultimate Brainiac Form

The New 52: Futures End by Keith Giffen, Jeff Lemire, Brian Azzarello, Dan Jurgens, Jesus Merino, Dan Green, Hi-Fi Design, and Carlos M. Mangual

Every version of Brainiac on this list pales in comparison to the Futures End version of Brainiac. After managing to break through the Source Wall, this version of Brainiac witnesses and absorbs every other Brainiac on this list. All of their combined knowledge and skills become his to use, while boasting complete invulnerability, power distribution, and the ability to alter reality at will. Brainiac upgraded from just traveling around the universe gathering planets and cities, to instead gathering cities from doomed timelines or alternate universes.

In the end, this was one of the very few heroic versions of Brainiac, as he grew tired and simply wanted to return to being Vril Drox, the Coluan scientist. With his impressive power, he managed to save the entire Multiverse, completely rewriting history and changing how Crisis On Infinite Earths ended, which makes this by far the most powerful Brainiac ever seen.