DC Finally Gave Fans The Superman Vs Brainiac Battle We've Wanted For Years

Summary My Adventures With Superman provides a balanced and engaging Superman vs Brainiac battle, helping addressing the villain's lack of screen time in the world of films.

Brainiac's unique psychological battle with Superman in My Adventures With Superman season 2, episode 8 creates a compelling conflict, highlighting the character's potential in the DC Universe.

The show's tweaks to Brainiac - seemingly making him a Kryptonian AI - offer a fresh perspective on the character.

My Adventures With Superman has brought a truly engrossing on-screen Superman vs Brainiac battle into its story, helping balance out the DC villain's lack of screentime compared to many of the Man of Steel's other major antagonists. As a hyper-intelligent alien capable of capturing entire cities and shrinking them down into part of his unethical collection, Brainiac seems like a figure who'd be a first pick when it comes to Superman shows or movies. However, the character has instead faced a lot of bad luck when it comes to appearing on-screen.

Reportedly, Brainiac has been set to appear in five live-action Superman movies, but none of these plans came to fruition. In fact, only one of these films - Superman III - ever released, and even then the installment experienced major story changes that supposedly removed Brainiac from its story, and saw major criticisms upon release. With the spotlight seemingly so firmly rooted on Lex Luthor and General Zod for live-action Superman movies, it's a relief that releases like My Adventures With Superman are able to fill the proverbial void when it comes to seeing Brainiac and Superman square up.

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My Adventures With Superman Lets The Man Of Steel & Brainiac Face Off On-Screen

My Adventures With Superman season 2, episode 8 sees Jack Quaid's DC hero take on the animated series' iteration of Brainiac for the course of the episode, with the villain giving Superman both physical competition and psychological competition by delving into the depths of his mind. This creates a unique type of battle, as Clark is left fighting his own inner demons when Brainiac is able to start plundering his doubts and fears in order to turn them into ammunition.

Interestingly, at least for the time being, Brainiac can be seen to have won this battle, taking control of Superman's body to use it as his newest vessel. However, given it's unlikely that we will go into My Adventures With Superman season 3 following a corrupted and mind-controlled version of the hero, it's clear this conflict isn't over, meaning audiences will likely get to see even more in terms of a Superman Vs Brainiac fight.

My Adventures With Superman's Brainiac Battle Proves How Much Potential Their Conflicts Really Have

Given the amount of times that Brainiac has almost appeared on-screen only to be cut later down the line, it's no surprise that the villain's actual screentime is all the more interesting. However, My Adventures With Superman really serves to underline what a waste these missed opportunities to include the character are, as Brainiac's detached and inhuman approach to his aims and his morals work as a perfect challenge to Superman's own beliefs.

Given Superman is primarily characterized as being driven by his heart and humanity, having a figure who is so intensely the opposite allows the hero's perspective to be put in high-definition for audiences by contrasting it with the likes of Brainiac. While this approach can be used in a relatively similar way with calculating Man of Steel villains like Lex Luthor, this often doesn't work on quite the same level, as Brainiac is more consistently characterized as being fixed on galactic conquests, keeping the stakes persistently high.

My Adventures With Superman's Brainiac Makes A DCU Brainiac Even More Promising

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While Brainiac is conventionally a Coluan scientist named Vril Dox, My Adventures With Superman makes more major alterations to this usual story. While Brainiac has more than once happened to take on more robotic forms in order to bolster or best use his immense intelligence, My Adventures With Superman appears to have removed the organic being stage of his history altogether, instead making Brainiac a Kryptonian AI who is tasked with protecting the remnants of the empire at any and all costs.

This adds a fascinating new angle to the villain that puts him and Superman in even closer proximity, showing how the character can suit some story tweaks in order to align best with a universe - something that makes a potential DCU debut all the more interesting. Similarly, the decision to give even this robotic Brainiac emotional depth - seen in the episode when he reveals he does care for Kara as though she were his daughter, but considers this a "weakness" he must ignore - also lets My Adventures With Superman demonstrate the potential of the character for the upcoming DC Universe.