Brainiac is once again teased for James Gunn’s Superman movie, and actually could be the glue that binds together the DCU, much like Thanos and the Infinity Stones with the MCU’s Phase 1-3.
The latest tease for Brainiac comes again from Umberto Gonzalez, who used to drop mad scoops and now writes for The Wrap.
Gonzales previously teased Brainiac in Gunn’s Superman a year ago, and now does so again with an image from the comics posted to X with the Eyes Emoji.
Brainiac confirmed?
A year ago also saw scooper Daniel RPK claim Brainiac is indeed in Superman and reportedly even added the info to his “confirmed” section on his Patreon account.
A leaker on Reddit also claimed to have seen concept art featuring a Brainiac drone and described it as:
Oh here’s a fun one. I’ve seen concept art for what appears to be a Brainiac Drone. Now, this doesn’t outright confirm that Brainiac is in the movie, but he at least has some sort of presence. The drone’s appearance is nothing of note, just a generic gray robot with green highlights. The reason I’m lead to believe it’s a Brainiac Drone is because it features Brainiac’s signature headpiece thing on its forehead. So yeah, interesting stuff.
I previously threw it out there that Dave Bautista could be playing Brainiac, who, of course, played Drax in Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films at Marvel.
More evidence Brainiac is James Gunn’s big bad of the DCU
What’s also interesting is that Gunn recently teased a big surprise role for Superman.
That’s not all as, interestingly enough, the recently canceled Superman & Lois TV series had plans to use Brainiac. The series was cancelled with the arrival of Gunn’s new Man of Steel movie. Just in time?
Gunn has also said something to the effect that there is a big bad that connects the DCU or at least some sort of storyline. Maybe Brainiac is the big bad behind it all, including Lanterns where Hal Jordan and John Stewart investigate a mystery in the Heartland of America. It’s worth questioning, what would require the involvement of Green Lanterns?
Of course, Supergirl also has a long history with Brainiac, and the Supergirl movie is in development.
In fact, Brainiac has battled Supergirl numerous times in the comics, often threatening Kryptonian legacies and Earth alike. If he’s the main villain across multiple DCU projects — Superman, Lanterns, and possibly Supergirl — he could truly be the Thanos-level threat of Gunn’s new universe.
Superman gets released on July 11th. Lanterns is thought to be released in early 2026. Supergirl gets released on June 26, 2026.
