DC Studios' Man of Tomorrow might bring a long-awaited Superman villain to the big screen for the first time. Having found success with the DCU's first projects, including Superman, director James Gunn is already writing his next movie, Man of Tomorrow, which will be something of a sequel to the July 2025 blockbuster. As production edges closer to beginning in April 2026, before releasing on July 9, 2027, several DCU actors already teased their return.
On Monday, September 22, James Gunn took to X to reveal his newly completed second draft of Man of Tomorrow with a potentially spoilery cover. The Superman sequel's latest script cover features a cross-section of a human head, notably highlighting the brain in a potential hint toward the 2027 flick's villain: Brainiac.
Gunn previously teased that Man of Tomorrow would unite Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor (who will finally wear his iconic green and purple Warsuit as he steps into the leading hero role for the first time) and David Corenswet's Superman "against a much, much bigger threat," which many speculated from the get-go to be Brainiac.
For those unaware, Brainiac is a superintelligent android from the planet Colu who travels the cosmos collecting all the knowledge out there. As part of that mission, Brainiac has been known to shrink, bottle, and collect whole cities to store on his iconic skull-shaped ship, including the Kryptonian capital Kandor.
Why Brainiac Is the Perfect Villain for Man of Tomorrow
While Brainiac has only been adapted in live-action on TV across Smallville and Krypton, the genius Superman rival has never come to the big screen. That's not to say there haven't been attempts, as Brainiac was reportedly the villain for Henry Cavill's Man of Steel 2 before the sequel was abandoned for a reboot.
DC Studios is aiming to shoot Man of Tomorrow in April 2026, meaning fans can look forward to casting news for Brainiac (if he is indeed the villain) within around six months. Actors such as Matt Smith, Jude Law, and Ralph Fiennes have all been thrown around as potential fan casts for a live-action Brainiac.
Man of Tomorrow's villain of choice perfectly explains why Superman and Lex Luthor will team up, uniting the former's physical brawn with the latter's genius intellect to save the planet from an alien threat with both strengths.
Just as Superman featured multiple villains, Brainiac may not be Man of Tomorrow's only villain. But, just as Lex Luthor was behind it all in the 2025 blockbuster, the same may be true for Brainiac when he arrives on July 9, 2027.
