Brainiac

He shrinks cities to preserve them, believing knowledge is most valuable if possessed alone.

Brainiac is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino. He first appeared in Action Comics #242 in July 1958, quickly enduring as one of Superman's greatest enemies. Commonly depicted as a superintelligent android or cyborg from the planet Colu, Brainiac is obsessed with collecting all knowledge in the known universe. He travels the galaxy to shrink cities into bottle size for preservation on his skull-shaped spaceship before destroying their source planets. Among these shrunken cities is Kandor, the capital of Superman's home planet Krypton. In some continuities, he is even responsible for Krypton's destruction. Regarded as one of the most dangerous threats in the DC Universe, he has repeatedly clashed with Superman and the Justice League.

Quick Facts

Publisher

DC Comics

Debut

Action Comics #242 (July 1958)

Creators

Otto Binder (writer); Al Plastino (artist)

Species

Coluan artificial intelligence

Homeworld

Colu

Alliances

Anti-Justice League; Legion of Doom

Also known as

Collector of Worlds
Terror of Kandor
Milton Fine
Pulsar Stargrave

Lore & Background

In his initial appearance in Action Comics #242 (July 1958), Brainiac was a bald, green-skinned humanoid who traveled with a white alien monkey named Koko. This story was based on a 1958 comic strip arc featuring Romado and Koko shrinking cities like Dur-El-Va. Early stories saw him stealing the bottle city of Kandor from Superman #141 (November 1960) and attempting to defeat Superman using red-green kryptonite in Action Comics #275 (April 1961).

The iconic red diodes on his head appeared on the cover of his first issue but were not shown inside until this 1961 story. Initially, he was said to come from Bryak, a planet where everyone died from a plague, leading him to seek repopulation via shrunken cities. Later, Superman #167 (February 1964) retconned his origin: he became a robot created by the Computer Tyrants of Colu. To mask this, the tyrants gave him an assistant, Vril Dox (Brainiac 2), to pose as his son. Lex Luthor later freed Brainiac from imprisonment and increased his intellect to a twelfth-level one.

Reader's Guide

To defeat Brainiac, one must understand that he is essentially a living computer program capable of transmitting his consciousness into new forms if destroyed. This artificial nature allows him to be resurrected in various physical bodies, some robotic and others more organic-based. While stories often end in his apparent destruction, his survival is guaranteed by this ability to inhabit different vessels. His intellect varies; the Computer Tyrants originally gave him only a tenth-level intellect so he would not dominate them, but Lex Luthor later upgraded him to a twelfth level.

Brainiac 5, his descendant from the 30th century, uses his own "twelfth-level intellect" for good and joined the Legion of Super-Heroes alongside Supergirl. The character's name is a portmanteau of "brain" and "maniac," believed by etymologists to inspire the informal noun "brainiac," which entered common use in the 1970s.