History ComicBook / Brainiac

* ''Series/{{Krypton}}''

* ''Franchise/{{DCAU}}''

* ''VideoGame/LEGOBatman''
* ''VideoGame/{{Injustice 2}}''

* ClassicVillain

He received a major overhaul in 1983, turning him into a SkeleBot with vastly greater abilities, but this version was wiped out by the ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths only a few years later. Later versions do usually retain a version of his skull-shaped spaceship introduced in this period, however. Skeletal Brainiac appears in the later seasons of ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' and was immortalized as an action figure for the popular Super Powers toyline.

** His mid-80's upgrade into SkeleBot form arguably turned him into this, or at least more of a "cosmic being" than he's usually portrayed.

** His ''[[Comicbook/{{Convergence}} Convergence]]'' incarnation sees him turned into something like this... and he realizes he ''doesn't like it.''

He returned to menace the superhero over the years, sometimes and often in a VillainTeamUp with ComicBook/LexLuthor. Due to legal issues, he was reimagined as a living supercomputer in humanoid form, the renegade agent of the Coluan race.

+ EldritchAbomination: ''ComicBook/TheNew52FuturesEnd'' claims that Brainiac is actually a lovecraftian entity beyond time and space who routinely sends probes to collect knowledge ([[ActuallyADoomBot incidentally explaining all of its various forms as just probes]]. Across all cotinuities). The status of this reveal within canon is debatable, however, [[OldShame since its not been used for any comic ever since]] but it still hasn't been explicitly retconned.

* AdaptationalHeroism;
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon'', Superman reprograms him to be good but at the end when Superman decides he's wrong to try and control humanity, Brainiac turns against him.
** In the ''Bomb'' short that ties in with ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueGodsAndMonsters'', Brainiac is a child who can't control his powers and begs Superman to MercyKill him.

* "The Team of Luthor and Brainiac!" (''Superman'' #167): First team-up with Luthor.
* "Let My People Grow!" (''Superman'' #338): Kandor finally enlarged.
* Planet-Eater Trilogy (''Action Comics'' #528-530): A reprogrammed Brainiac teams with Superman to stop a planet-destroying weapon Brainiac has lost control of.

* Planet-Eater Trilogy (''Action Comics'' #528-530): A reprogrammed Brainiac teams with Superman to stop a planet-destroying weapon he has lost control of.

* Planet-Eater Trilogy (''Action Comics'' #528-530): A [[MirrorMoralityMachine reprogrammed]] Brainiac teams with Superman to stop a planet-destroying weapon he has lost control of.

* Planet-Eater Trilogy (''Action Comics'' #528-530): A (MirrorMoralityMachine reprogrammed) Brainiac teams with Superman to stop a planet-destroying weapon he has lost control of.

* Planet-Eater Trilogy (''Action Comics'' #528-530): A temporarily reprogrammed Brainiac teams with Superman to stop a planet-destroying weapon he has lost control of.

* "Rebirth" (''Action Comics'' #544): Upgraded to cosmic-powered skeletal form.

* "Rebirth" (''Action Comics'' #544): Is upgraded to cosmic-powered skeletal form.

He received a major overhaul in 1983, turning him into a SkeleBot with vastly greater abilities, [[note]]this version appeared in the later seasons of ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' and was immortalized as an action figure for the Super Powers toyline[[/note]] but this version was wiped out by the ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths only a few years later. Later versions do usually retain a version of his skull-shaped spaceship introduced in this period, however.

He received a major overhaul in 1983, turning him into a SkeleBot with vastly greater abilities, but this version was wiped out by the ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths only a few years later. Later versions do usually retain a version of his skull-shaped spaceship introduced in this period, however.

Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, Brainiac debuted in July 1958 as a green-skinned alien with advanced technology who attacked an Earth spaceship and possessed a private collection of shrunken, stolen cities, including the Kryptonian city of Kandor, which Superman stole back and took back to his Fortress of Solitude. Notably, Superman never actually managed to defeat the alien and was completely outmatched by his DeflectorShields and [[YouFightLikeACow tirade of insults]], and this was the ''[[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]]'' Superman, the same one who casually tugged chains of planets through space.

* {{Sadist}}: While largely emotionless, Brainiac does occasionally let it slip that he enjoys causing others pain, being especially prone to a PsychoticSmirk while abducting planets. Brainiac 13 is particularly sadistic; he could have killed Superman instantly, but took the time to torture him to death, because in his own words: "I have run simulations of your death 1,098,288,546 times; this one is a particular favorite." [[VillainBall His dillydallying directly leads to his defeat.]]

* MechanicalAbomination: His late [[TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] SkeleBot form was created to invoke this trope, granting him power levels (and a general creepiness factor) far beyond what he'd ever had before.

* RetCanon: These days, as of the Comicbook/{{New 52}}, he's much like the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' version, which is also what most other adaptations' Brainiacs are based on. Apparently he still got started on Colu, but he ''also'' was the Kryptonian AI, and exists in many places under many names (including Earth, as [[spoiler: the Internet]].)

-->'''Brainiac:''' You're hiding from the truth, as if calling yourself Clark Kent changes what you are. You and are alike in many ways. You hate me because I've found the one thing that you will never know.

* FashionVictimVillain: On the cover to "The Super-Duel in Space" he's wearing [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3a/Action_Comics_242.png/170px-Action_Comics_242.png a pink legless unitard]]. It is not flattering. There's a reason most of his revisions, such as the page image, at least include pants.

* EvilIsPetty: He is incredibly petty. In "Superman: Brainiac", right after Superman defeats him, he commands his ship to fire a missile at the Kent Farm. Superman ruined his home so he wants to destroy his. In other words, Brainiac attempts to murder an elderly couple who never did anything to him and he has never met because their foster son defeated him and humiliated.