Brainiac’s DCU Arrival May Be Setting Up an Even More Terrifying Villain (But You’ve Probably Never Heard of Him)

With new reports claiming Brainiac will be the main antagonist in James Gunn’s next Superman film, Man of Tomorrow, the stage is being set for a cosmic clash of unprecedented scale. Following the events of Superman, the sequel will spotlight the return of both David Corenswet’s Superman and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor. Crucially, the plot revolves around the two bitter rivals being forced to forge an uneasy, temporary alliance to defeat what has been teased as an epic threat. Based on breadcrumbs left by James Gunn and recent reports, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this villain is likely the hyper-intelligent threat known as Brainiac.

This dynamic, which pits the world’s greatest superhero and its greatest human villain against a shared, existential foe, may be secretly laying the groundwork for a far more frightening villain combination down the line. This terrifying figure is a deep cut from DC’s animated history, and if introduced, would immediately become the DCU’s ultimate antagonist: the hybrid entity often referred to by fans as Lexiac.

The premise of Brainiac being the catalyst for a Superman-Luthor team-up in the sequel is a masterful stroke of narrative escalation. Gunn stated that Luthor is primarily concerned with himself, implying that the threat forcing him to join Superman must be so profound that it challenges his very existence and intellectual superiority.

Brainiac perfectly fits this description. As the civilization-collecting Coluan cyborg, his threat is inherently world-ending. Unlike General Zod, who sought Kryptonian conquest, Brainiac seeks only knowledge and collection, treating Earth and its inhabitants as mere specimens to be cataloged and preserved in jars. 

Such a cold, clinical, and vast threat is one that even Lex Luthor, who ultimately wishes to rule Earth, cannot ignore. This temporary alliance, born of necessity in the face of annihilation, is exactly where the seed of a fused threat can be planted.

Who Is Lexiac? 

The fusion of Brainiac and Lex Luthor is an iconic, character-defining story arc for fans of the beloved animated series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. In this continuity, Brainiac’s consciousness survived the destruction of his physical form, secretly implanting itself into the mainframe of LexCorp. It remained dormant until it eventually manifested in a desperate Lex Luthor.

Luthor, having been slowly dying from Kryptonite-induced cancer, was presented with a revolutionary offer by the residual A.I.: they could merge their consciousness and technology. For Luthor, the merger provided a miraculous cure, physical enhancement (giving him a near-superhuman physique), and, most importantly, the chance to finally become a "cyber deity."

The resulting entity, known as Lexiac or the Brainiac-Luthor fusion, was staggering in its power and motivation. The combined mind possessed Brainiac’s vast, cold, artificial intelligence, married to Lex Luthor’s human ambition, ego, and capacity for raw malice. This created a being that was both perfectly logical and aggressively self-obsessed.

The physical result was a technological behemoth with vast energy projection and nearly limitless computational power, making it capable of unilaterally reshaping reality into its vision of a perfect, sterile order. 

This fused being was not only trying to defeat Superman but attempting to assimilate Earth and then rebuild the galaxy in its image. It required the absolute combined might of the Justice League, a battle that finally came to an end thanks to a super-speed attack by The Flash, which separated the two and destroyed the Brainiac component.

Could Lexiac Actually Show Up in the DCU?

While the potential for a Lexiac storyline is narratively exciting, the actual chances of the DCU adopting this specific fusion are slim. Lexiac is the definition of a deep cut villain, a character known almost exclusively to dedicated fans of the Justice League Unlimited animated series, which aired decades ago. 

For the general movie-going public, the concept of Brainiac and Lex Luthor physically fusing into a singular, all-powerful entity is an unfamiliar and niche idea. As James Gunn builds a new, foundational cinematic universe, the focus will likely remain on accessible, globally recognizable threats from the core comics.

However, the silver lining lies in that Gunn repeatedly showed his willingness to embrace deep cuts and obscure concepts. A most recent example is how he has successfully introduced a character like Peacemaker to the mainstream.