James Gunn Casts His Brainiac: Lars Eidinger to Star in ‘Man of Tomorrow’

Lars Eidinger has been tapped to star as Brainiac in James Gunn’s Superman follow-up “Man of Tomorrow,” the filmmaker announced on Saturday.

Gunn said on social media: “In our worldwide search for Brainiac in ‘Man of Tomorrow,’ Lars Eidinger rose to the top. Welcome to the DCU, Lars.”

The fact that Brainiac remains such an integral aspect of Superman canon despite lacking a big-screen adaptation speaks to the lasting popularity of the character. Created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, the villain first appeared in 1958’s “Action Comics #242” — making him even older than Superman mainstays like General Zod and Kara Zor-El’s Supergirl.

This story introduced the green-skinned alien Brainiac, who travels through space with a white, monkey-like creature named Koko, shrinking cities and bottling them for his own collection. In the same story, Superman discovers that Brainiac had previously bottled Kandor, the Kryptonian capital — with one of Jor-El’s college roommates among its captives — before Krypton itself was destroyed.

The character of Brainiac would greatly evolve over the years, becoming a much more menacing threat than his original Silver Age conception while still maintaining some of the villain’s essential components. In most interpretations, Brainiac is a green-skinned, bald, world-conquering foe of Superman’s who rivals the Man of Steel’s strength with a massive wealth of intelligence. Brainiac (or Vril Dox of the planet Colu) is a cyborg who roams the universe looking to dominate and expand his knowledge base, often possessing the ability to transfer his consciousness into new bodies to preserve his own life.

The Bottle City of Kandor also remained an integral element of the Superman mythos, with the Man of Steel often taking care of the civilization as he searches for a way to safely restore it to full size. This allows Kandor to represent both Superman’s loneliness (with his home civilization bottled up as a reminder of the life he never had) and an example of challenges even Superman cannot overcome. Kandor likewise has ties to Supergirl, with her parents in some continuities becoming residents of Kandor for a time.

Despite not being depicted in live-action films, Brainiac has appeared in a number of high-profile DC projects over the years, including shows like “Superman: The Animated Series,” “Smallville” and “Krypton,” as well as video games such as “Injustice 2” and “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.”

Eidinger’s credits include Olivier Assayas’ “Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Personal Shopper” and Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise.” He earned a European Film Award nomination for European Actor last year for Matthias Glasner’s “Dying.”

Eidinger is repped by UTA.

The “Superman” follow-up opens July 9, 2027.

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