Years after Henry Cavill’s Superman sequel failed to materialize, James Gunn has the chance to do one villain justice in the DCU as part of Superman 2. In the history of Superman’s live-action movies, there is one villain who has never materialized, despite coming close repeatedly.

Richard Donner considered the character for his films. Tim Burton and Kevin Smith had plans to introduce them in Superman Lives, and Bryan Singer intended for Superman Returns to have a sequel featuring the villain – but at every turn, these plans fell through.

Then, within the DCEU, it seemed as though the franchise could finally deliver on bringing this villain into live-action, but with the sequel reconfigured into a crossover film, and the franchise later falling apart, this once again ended up going nowhere.

Now, after decades of teeing up the character, and teasing one of the greatest Superman villains of all time, it feels only right that James Gunn and the DCU timeline bring them into the live-action movie world. Promisingly, it seems like Gunn may already be interested in exploring this story.

Everyone Wanted Brainiac To Be In Henry Cavill’s Man Of Steel 2

Henry Cavill is a huge comic book fan, who already had a pᴀssion for the DCEU’s source material – and a familiarity with the franchise’s characters beyond their on-screen adaptations – prior to being cast in the role of Superman. This led to Cavill having some strong opinions about who he wanted to see his Superman go up against, notably mentioning Brainiac.

Ultimately, this appeared to align with what the audiences wanted as well. Brainiac is a character who has long been teased to fight Superman in several projects, without ever successfully crossing the finish line and making it to the big screen.

Brainiac is one of the most powerful rivals that Superman has ever fought in the comics. As a hyper-advanced techno-organic being, Brainiac has the unique ability to inhabit and control various forms of life and machines. As such, the character has incredible power, and offers unique challenges for Superman as a DC villain.

But to date, the character has only appeared three times in live-action. The first of these was in Smallville, where the character is considerably different. Brainiac then later appeared in Krypton, which was more accurate, though the show was canceled after two seasons. Finally, Superman & Lois depicted its own Brainiac, but had the character be a highly intelligent human.

Given these depictions of Brainiac have historically altered the character, fans have been desperate to see the villain done right on the big screen. While this almost happened in Man of Steel 2, that film never made it to production, and thus a live-action Brainiac has remained a distant dream.

James Gunn Considered Brainiac For Superman

In an interview with Josh Horowitz for the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, James Gunn is asked if Brainiac was considered to appear as the villain for Superman, to which he responds, “Brainiac was considered, yeah. I think that was sort of considered, but yeah.“

While this is a more casual answer, it does convey that Brainiac was in the mix of considered characters. This would make sense given the creator has expressed taking fan hopes for the film and franchise into account, which would logically include conversations about such a prominent and yet under-adapted antagonist.

It’s possible that Gunn’s careful response may point to future plans for the character to pop up in a later DCU project. Of course, this means they need the right story, and the right approach to bringing this villain into the DCU. Evidently, the story for Superman ultimately moved in a different direction.

While it makes sense to introduce Lex Luthor early in a world where Superman exists, now that Lex has been locked up, it would be great to see Superman tackle a whole new breed of villain. Given the character’s history, powers, and untapped live-action movie potential, Brainiac is exactly that.

Why Brainiac Would Make The Perfect Villain For Superman 2

Brainiac has never appeared in live-action, and he is unlike the usual crooked Kryptonians, arrogant humans, and alien threats that Superman has faced time and time again. Brainiac essentially consumes the world around him, and he wields people as weapons, which would make for a profoundly interesting Superman story that could be perfect for the DCU.

Superman unveiled a version of the Man of Tomorrow that embodies hope and humanity. For his first outing, having him contrasted with a human rival, Lex Luthor, made his humanity and kindness so much more significant. Now, Superman’s kindness and hope is a signature of David Corenswet’s take on the hero.

But, to take the story forward, challenging Superman’s hope and pushing his kindness to the limits could be precisely what is needed to further develop the character. With Brainiac being capable of taking control of people to make them his puppets, this would force Superman to find ways to protect the people who are explicitly fighting against him.

With the things he stands for hanging in the balance, Brainiac could force Superman to confront his limitations, and whether his self-imposed rules could lead to more chaos, destruction and death. As a result, Superman’s hope and kindness would again be central to the plot, but approached in a whole new way that makes things more interesting.

Not only could including Brainiac pay off literal decades of teasing the character, but it could also provide the perfect story to follow on from James Gunn’s Superman. The DCU has already put the pieces in place, and with Gunn considering Brainiac for the first movie, there’s a chance he is already thinking about revisiting them for Superman 2.