Superman: Legacy Villain Revealed And Fans Are Freaking Out?
A recent post on X—formerly known as Twitter—from the official Superman account may have just lowkey confirmed that the main villain of Superman: Legacy will be Brainiac, and fans are losing their minds. Getting a Superman villain on screen that isn’t Lex Luthor or General Zod is already an accomplishment, but finally bringing fan-favorite baddie Brainiac to the big screen is enough to make even the most curmudgeonly Man of Steel fan say, “Henry who?”
A recent Tweet about Superman: Legacy’s inspiration posted by the official Superman account hints that the villain of the upcoming film may be Brainiac.
The tweet includes images from several comics said to inspire Superman: Legacy, including Superman: Birthright and All-Star Superman, but the picture that really stands out is the one depicting the cover of Action Comics #866, the start of a storyline called Superman: Brainiac.
The inclusion of the cover, which depicts a worried Superman staring at several of Brainiac’s bottled “artifacts” as the green-hued villain’s face appears in the background, is leading many fans to assume that Brainiac is the main antagonist of the upcoming Superman: Legacy.
The tweet received many responses from fans, including one where a fan revealed their dream casting for Brainiac: Ralph Fiennes.
Fiennes, who portrayed evil wizard Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise, is no stranger to villain roles. While there’s nothing beyond the tweet linking Fiennes to Superman: Legacy and the Brainiac role, it’s an inspired casting choice all the same.
The original script for Superman III had Richard Pryor’s computer hacker, Gus Gorman, turn out to be Brainiac in disguise.
Brainiac made his first appearance in 1958 and has been one of the biggest thorns in Superman’s side ever since. Wikipedia lists the extraterrestrial cyborg as “second only to Lex Luthor” when it comes to Superman’s archenemies. If you’re wondering why no movie prior to Superman: Legacy featured Brainiac as a villain, the answer is one of them did…sort of.
The original script for Superman III had Richard Pryor’s computer hacker, Gus Gorman, turn out to be Brainiac in disguise. That idea was eventually scrapped, but the movie in its current state features a scene where the main villain’s sister gets sucked into a supercomputer and turned into an evil robot that could pass for the Wish version of Brainiac if one were to squint really hard.
Superman: Legacy
If Superman: Legacy does feature Brainiac, it will be the first time the villain has officially appeared in a live-action film. If, for some reason, DC is just stringing fans along, well, the movie’s confirmed cast is already impressive enough as it is. Not only are we getting David Corenswet as Superman and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, but James Gunn recently announced that additional superheroes like Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) will also make an appearance in the film.
Superman: Legacy is sure to be an exciting, action-packed introduction to James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU, no matter who the villain is, but we can’t deny that finally getting Brainiac in a Superman flick would make it that much cooler.
