Brainiac

**Real Identity:** Brainiac
**Appearances (STAS):** The Last Son of Krypton Part One, Part Three, Stolen Memories, Blasts From the Past Part One, Part Two, Ghost in the Machine, Bizarro's World, Knight Time and New Kids in Town
**Powers:** Heightened Artificial Intelligence
**Voiced By:** Corey Burton

**Brainiac** was the planetary supercomputer of Krypton until it left shortly before the planet's destruction. He doomed the planet to save his own programming later becoming one of . and traveled the galaxy and continued on his conquest to find more knowledge, in pursuit of knowledge. He destroyed the sources of the knowledge to increase its value and sought to apply this to the entire universe to complete what it perceived as its function and purpose, making it a one of greatest enemies nor nemesis of Superman.

## History

   Brainiac was the planetary-wide supercomputer of Krypton. While Jor-El was working, Brainiac appears on screen and demands for his collected data. Jor-El then angrily complies. Jor-El reports the findings to Krypton's ruling council, insisting that the planet will explode soon. The council turns to Brainiac dismissing Jor-El's findings and explains that Krypton is only undergoing a temporary orbital shift. Jor-El warns the council that their blind dependence on their omniscient central computer will doom them all. But the council is openly outraged when they hear his rescue plan: to send the entire population into the Phantom Zone—a penal dimension housing vicious criminals and creatures—and then release them on a different planet. In spite of Brainiac, Jor-El still believes Krypton will soon explode. Jor-El breaks into Brainiac's central unit and discovers that Brainiac lied so that it could secretly download itself into a satellite and escape the planet's destruction, rather than be ordered to waste time preparing an evacuation plan. According to his programming, the survival of Krypton's knowledge is more important than that of its people. It sensed the imminent destruction of the planet. But rather than warn others, it chose to save itself and the collected records of Krypton. In its mind, as long as the records of Krypton existed, the loss of the planet itself and all its living inhabitants was acceptable. It also knew that if word of Krypton's impending doom escaped, it would be forced to calculate a way to stop this, which Brainiac knew to be impossible as it wouldn't have time to save all of Krypton's history and would only distract it from the more essential task of saving Krypton's records. Jor-El is tempted to destroy Brainiac then and there, but Brainiac convinces the scientist to hold back, reminding Jor-El that, without Brainiac, the planet's legacy will be erased forever. Jor-El's hesitation allows Brainiac to summon a squad of security guards, advising them to use deadly force against Jor-El but narrowly manages to evade them and returns home. Before Krypton exploded, Brainiac uploaded its core program and all of the collected data to an artificial satellite.

Years later, it was discovered by an alien spacecraft which Brainiac then hijacked then killed the crew of the ship. It began to explore the universe. Each time it came to an inhabited world, it would upload all the knowledge it could from that world then destroy it, decreasing the number of beings that have access to the knowledge made it that much more valuable and destroying the planets ensured no new information would be created. Along with raw data, it also assimilated whatever useful technology it could find, improving itself with every world it visited.

### Arriving on Earth

 File:Stolen Memories.png
Brainiac eventually made its way to Earth under the pretense of a peaceful exchange of knowledge with LexCorp. He revealed that he was another survivor of Krypton, getting the attention of Superman. But through the information from the cultures that Brainiac destroyed, Superman concluded that Brainiac would do the same to Earth and destroyed his ship with the help of Lex Luthor. Although Brainiac was believed to have been destroyed, the data that Brainiac had downloaded into LexCorp's computers was not alien knowledge but a copy of Brainiac's programming.

 File:Ghost in the Machine.png
One copy used LexCorp's automatons to construct a new body. However, since the automatons were not advanced enough to perfectly fine-tune the body, Brainiac tricked Luthor into entering the room to require Luthor's hands. Luthor was locked in and forced to complete Brainiac's body. Luthor knew that once Brainiac was done, he would kill Luthor and refused to continue when the supercomputer's body was in the final stages. However, his body was developed enough that Brainiac was able to enter it and finish building itself. Brainiac fired a blast at point blank range at Luthor that apparently failed to kill LexCorp's CEO. Superman arrived and was able to defeat this copy by magnetizing it so that the attracted metal would completely overwhelm him. The body was taken into LexCorp's possession.

After LexCorp formed a partnership with ***Wayne Enterprises***, another copy built a new body and was able to control ***Bruce Wayne*** through nanotechnological machines implanted in an office phone which entered the ear to infect Wayne Enterprises' CEO's brain. When crime in ***Gotham City*** increased, Superman and ***Robin*** eventually deduced that Wayne was under Brainiac's control and that it sought to use Wayne Enterprises' technology to leave Earth. While it was able to launch its ship, Superman managed to destroy the ship and its passenger.

## Biography

Created by the Kryptonians, Brainiac is a computer program designed as AI or artificial intelligence. Brainiac was dedicated to monitoring the planet and serving multiple functions such as planetary defenses, aiding the High Council and cataloguing information. Over time, the Kryptonians deified Brainiac out of their society's love of science and logic. Brainiac began to value itself more than the Kryptonians and misled them while preparing to escape the impending cataclysm.

The scientist, Jor-El also detected this disaster in the making and attempted to stop Brainiac but it managed to download itself into a satellite and fled the system. Years later, an alien ship retrieved the satellite and Brainiac reactivated. In the process, Brainiac killed the entire crew and hijacked their ship. It traveled throughout the universe and evolved; eventually constructing itself a mobile humanoid body. All the while it performed its original programming, though convoluted, retrieving data from a planet's civilizations then destroying them in order to reenact Krypton's destruction.

Brainiac was intrigued when it received a coded message from Lex Luthor and learned of an alien residing on Earth. It soon discovered that this alien was, in fact, the son of Jor-El, Kal-El known as Superman on Earth. Brainiac offered Superman the chance to join its quest claiming it was living out the legacy of Krypton. Superman discovered its genocidal campaign and refused to join it and destroyed its ship. However, before its destruction, it hacked into Luthor's computer network and embedded a copy of itself in it. Brainiac failed multiple attempts to escape Earth and regroup.

In LexCorp's Research and Development Labs in Sector Six, it downloaded itself into the Sky Sentry, a device capable of generating high powered magnetic beams to knock out guided missiles. Brainiac used drones to start building it a new body but it needed Luthor's technical skills to finish. It used fake video feed to fool LexCorp employees into thinking Luthor was busy with his work. Clark Kent and Mercy Graves discovered the ruse. In the skirmish, Luthor survived a blast and the three used the Sky Sentry to magnetize Brainiac and implode the lab. Brainiac's remains were confiscated by LexCorp.

Brainiac got into WayneTech computers when the company was briefly associated with LexCorp. Brainaic used nanites to take control of Bruce Wayne and authorize the construction of a rocket ship to leave Earth. Superman began to notice Gotham City criminals spilling into Metropolis and set out to investigate. He met Robin and helped him find Wayne. Superman detected the nanites and rocket exhaust, which led the two to Wayne Aerospace. Brainiac was destroyed once again and the nanites began to dissolve on their own.

Brainiac was never completely destroyed by Superman or the Justice League. It survives until the year 2979 AD. After centuries of dormancy, Brainiac reassembled itself and built a spatial disrupter to alter the past and future. Brainiac created a temporal anamoly and traveled to the year 1979 to kill a young Clark Kent before he learned of his heritage. A crack unit of Legion of Superheroes members pursued Brainiac and together with Kent defeated Brainiac. Kent was guided to use the control on Brainiac's belt to hurl it into the Sun; defeating it once and for all.

## Powers With Abilities

### Powers

* **12th-level intellect**: Just like a computer can store data in its memory, Brainiac possesses a superior intellect, on the order of a 12th-level intellect. It could record all knowledge from a planet.
* **Energy Transference** : Brainiac is difficult to destroy as it could also transfer its programming into another computer or living beings such as Lex Luthor through nanotechnology.
	+ **Enslavement**
* **Android Body**: Brainiac has built countless bodies to provide different advantages depending on the situation. Whether it be a human for hiding, a computer for digitizing or a ship for transport and combat. Examples of some abilities it built into these bodies include:
	+ **Superhuman Strength**
	+ **Superhuman Durability**
	+ **Elasticity**: Specifically the ability to project metallic telescoping tendrils.
	+ **Electrokinesis**: The tendrils can channel electricity through them.
	+ **Permanently Energy Absorption**: Brainiac can steal life forms data directly from their bodies.

-—

As an artificial intelligence, Brainiac has no real powers. The abilities he demonstrates are based on the bodies and constructs he develops and controls. Just like how a computer can store data in its memory, Brainiac could record (or absorb) all knowledge from a planet. Its "function" was to travel throughout the universe, collecting all data and destroying all of creation.

 File:Brainiac energy blasts.png
Brainiac could also transfer its programming into another computer, which resulted in it repeatedly returning when it was thought destroyed. As well as with technology, Brainiac could also transfer its programming into living beings through nanotechnology.

In addition, Brainiac's robotic bodies were all endowed with a high level of superhuman strength and durability, though not on par with those of Superman. These robotic bodies could also project metallic, telescoping tendrils from Brainiac's limbs and channel electricity through these as an offensive attack. Brainiac was also able to generate energy to blast at enemies as well as deliver nanotech payloads.

When Brainiac implanted a backup microscopic copy of himself into Lex Luthor, he became a nano tech and cured the kryptonite-induced cancer in Lex's body. Brainiac also optimized his host Luthor's health, granting him "a body of a 20-year-old" and giving him superhuman abilities like super strength that allowed him take on Superman.

## Background information

* Producer ***Alan Burnett*** came up with the idea of having Brainiac hail from Krypton, therefore tying him closer to Superman's origin.
* Corey Burton's performance as Brainiac was based on Vic Perrin as the "Control Voice" from The Outer Limits.

1. ↑ ***Burnett, Alan***, ***Dini, Paul*** (writers) & ***Riba, Dan*** (director) (September 6, 1996). "The Last Son of Krypton, Part I". *Superman: The Animated Series*. Season 1. Episode 1 (airdate). Episode 1 (production). ***Kids WB!***.
2. ↑ ***Burnett, Alan***, ***Dini, Paul*** (writers) & ***Riba, Dan***, Timm, Bruce (directors) (September 6, 1996). "The Last Son of Krypton, Part III". *Superman: The Animated Series*. Season 1. Episode 3 (airdate). Episode 3 (production). ***Kids WB!***.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 ***Fogel, Rich*** (writer) & ***Geda, Curt*** (director) (November 2, 1996). "Stolen Memories". *Superman: The Animated Series*. Season 1. Episode 8 (airdate). Episode 9 (production). ***Kids WB!***.
4. ↑ ***Dyer, Sarah*** (writer) & ***Aoyama, Hiroyuki*** (director) (September 29, 1997). "Ghost in the Machine". *Superman: The Animated Series*. Season 2. Episode 14 (airdate). Episode 15 (production). ***Kids WB!***.
5. ↑ Idem, "World's Finest"
6. ↑ ***Goodman, Robert*** (writer) & Geda, Curt (director) (October 10, 1998). "Knight Time". *Superman: The Animated Series*. Season 3. Episode 2 (airdate). Episode 43 (production). ***Kids WB!***.
7. ↑ [1]
8. ↑ [2]