2027’s Man of Tomorrow, the sequel to 2025’s Superman, will replace Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor as the main villain, but luckily for the audience, the new antagonist will be better in multiple aspects. James Gunn’s new DCU is off and running, as multiple TV shows and films have been released within the franchise. Following the success of Superman, DC Studios and Warner Bros. announced that a direct sequel, titled Man of Tomorrow, would be released on July 9, 2027.
A lot of details regarding Man of Tomorrow have been kept under wraps, but it was confirmed that the main villain of the upcoming movie will be Brainiac. He is a DC supervillain who fans have long wanted to see properly on-screen in live action, especially in a franchise with the budget and overarching story of the DCU. Notably, Brainiac (played by German actor Lars Eidinger) will take Lex Luthor’s place from the first Superman film, as Lex was the main villain of that entry.
It is important to note that Lex will still play a major role in Man of Tomorrow. However, he won’t be viewed as the big bad like he was in the first movie.
DC Studios has not revealed exactly how Brainiac will factor into the story or what the DCU’s version of the character will be like, and fans likely won’t find out until the film is released. However, if Man of Tomorrow presents a Brainiac similar to his portrayal in the comics, he will be a much better villain for Superman than Lex Luthor was.
How Brainiac Will Be a Better Superman Villain Than Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor was an objectively good villain in Superman. He directly opposed the Man of Steel and pushed him to his limits multiple times, proving to be compelling on multiple fronts.
However, Brainiac is going to be better in a few ways, and one of those has to do with the fact that Brainiac has superpowers. Lex Luthor is just a regular person. Yes, he is intelligent and has resources that make him formidable, but in Superman, he didn’t actually face off against Superman because he would have had no chance of even landing a hit on him (the two will seemingly fight in Man of Tomorrow, though).
In Brainiac’s case, he has literal superpowers, meaning that fans will likely see one-on-one fights between him and Superman. In the comics, Superman and Brainiac have fought multiple times and developed quite a rivalry, as both characters are extremely powerful.
Like Lex, Brainiac has minions that serve him and are capable of fighting in his stead, but Man of Tomorrow has the potential to feature a major brawl between the main protagonist and villain, which is something that Superman lacked.
It is also worth mentioning that Brainiac’s inclusion in Man of Tomorrow presents the possibility of much higher personal stakes for Clark Kent. Superman established that Clark’s birth parents were people he looked up to and wanted to make proud, even though they were dead.
However, Lex Luthor revealed that Clark’s parents were actually evil Kryptonians who wanted him to be a conqueror, which dealt a massive personal blow to the Man of Steel.
While that narrative presented high personal stakes for Superman, Brainiac could go even farther in Man of Tomorrow. Specifically, in DC lore, Brainiac is known for possessing Kandor, Krypton’s capital city. Since Krypton was Clark’s home planet and was destroyed, the fact that the planet’s capital city still exists could greatly affect Clark and his motivations.
Once Superman learns of Brainiac having a remnant of Krypton, it could make Superman fight even harder. Obviously, this would pose great personal stakes for Clark and push him beyond his own superhuman limits. While not confirmed, it could also bring out a side of Clark that was not seen in Superman.
If that were to happen, and the personal stakes were raised in Man of Tomorrow thanks to the actions of Brainiac, it would undoubtedly make the upcoming villain feel a bit more formidable than Lex Luthor was.
Another major way Brainiac will be an upgrade over Lex Luthor is that he is an intergalactic villain. The DC umbrella deals with threats and characters far beyond Earth, but much of that has not yet been explored in the DCU. While Superman is from Krypton, the Superman film largely took place on Earth and featured a human villain in Lex Luthor.
Man of Tomorrow, on the other hand, will introduce Brainiac, who will expand the scope of the DCU, as he is not human and not from Earth.
This could open the door to more intergalactic threats in the DCU and broaden the scope of the franchise in the future. In short, it would make it easier for future projects to take place on other planets or feature different races.
Specifically, it could even be explained in Man of Tomorrow that Brainiac has already been involved with other species from DC lore, such as the Thanagarians or the Martians. If that were to happen, Brainiac could be a gateway for those species (and others) to be featured in the DCU.
