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| “ | You ask me such questions? Ridiculous. I am the knowledge and strength of 10,000 worlds. I am flesh and machine. I am becoming everything. And you, your arrival is no more more than a rare opportunity for entertainment. And it presents me the opportunity to correct that error. You shall be integrated into Krypton’s specimen city, where you belong. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
Vril Dox, also known as Brainiac is the main antagonist of the 2013 animated DC film Superman: Unbound.
He is a Coluan scientist who became an artificial intelligence after subjecting himself to cybernetic enhancements in order to collect and become the knowledge of the universe. He sought to gather such knowledge by capturing and bottling cities of the planets he visited, before destroying them, which put him in conflict with Superman and in Earth's sights. He is also the archenemy of Supergirl.
He was voiced by John Noble, who also played Denethor in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Unicron in Transformers: Prime, Scarecrow in Batman: Arkham Knight, Mallus in DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Henry Parish in Sleepy Hollow, Walternate in Fringe, Leland Monroe in L.A. Noire, The Diviner in Star Trek: Prodigy, Ivan Yugorsky in Running Scared, and Sam Butcher in The Boys.
Biography[]
Past[]
Born on the planet Colu, Vril Dox was a scientist who wanted to learn everything there is to know about the universe. In order to do so, he subjected himself to extensive cybernetic and genetic experiments which enhanced his brain and body, until he became the giant alien cyborg known as Brainiac. Using a highly advanced ship he built and bonded to, he traveled the universe discovering different planets and seeking their knowledge. In his research, Brainiac found a flaw in his programming: Life on planets is always changing and adapting and evolving, which would make learning everything about the universe impossible. Unable to accept this, Brainiac sent drones to scout the planets and kill anyone who interfered with his research or just didn't care about them and then captured a capital city to add to his collection, before destroying the planet by firing a missile into the sun and any nearby planet, ending the change.
One of the planets Brainiac visited was the planet Krypton, where he attacked the capital city Kandor, sending drones to kill any resisting Kryptonians, three of which were almost Zor-El, Alura In-Ze, and Kara Zor-El. Despite the sheer effort of the Kryptonian army, Brainiac overpowered them all with his army of drones killing Kryptonians who he found redundant and capturing ones who could be useful. Brainiac then arrived with his ship to capture Kandor, miniaturizing and collecting it along with any Kryptonians still inside. Lastly, Brainiac prepared to fire a missile into the red sun but detected that Krypton was on the verge of destruction anyway, so he left the planet to its fate. Kryptonian scientists, like Zor-El, collected damaged drones that were left behind and decoded their memories to learn more about their creator Brainiac, so they find and fight him to get back Kandor and its people. However, by doing so this, Brainiac was attracted back to Krypton where Kryptonians from Argo City, including Zor-El and Alura In-Ze, arrived to free Kandor and it’s people but were captured and integrated in to the bottled city of Kandor
Once he adds the cities and people to his collection, he uses sentries to keep them from becoming subversive or acting out of his control, that way Brainiac can control the environment and dictate the people, but still gives them what they need to survive. Watching and listening to them constantly, Brainiac keeps the people from becoming subversive so that they could never escape and could keep studying them without any environmental changes.
Superman: Unbound[]
Three Decades after Krypton was destroyed, Brainiac sends more drones to scout for new planets ripe for invasion and one of them manages to reach Earth. Superman then arrives to stop the drone from crashing into Arizona, thinking it is a meteor until the drone transforms and engages Superman in combat. The drone seemed to rival Superman in strength until he knocked it away and just as the drone was about to transmit its coordinates to Brainiac, Superman destroyed the drone and pulled out the transmitter. After analyzing the drone he destroyed and learning from Kara Zor-El about Brainiac, who he is, and what he'd done, Superman sought to go after Brainiac and stop him from capturing cities and rescue Kandor.
Traveling the different star systems, Superman learned more about Brainiac from his uncle Zor-El's notes to the Kryptonian Science Council including how Brainiac's method is to explore the galaxy, upload knowledge into his own neural core the worlds he encounters, and then destroy those worlds. Superman then tracked Brainiac to the planet Laroo where he is currently invading and killing citizens with his drones. Superman arrives and aids the Laru citizens in destroying drones in order to locate Brainiac and Kandor. Brainiac then arrives with his ship and captures the capital city of Laroo, as Superman attempts to breach the ship and stop Brainiac until Brainiac fires a missile into their sun, destroys Laru and incapacitates Superman. Brainiac discovers Superman's survival and captures him for further study.
Taking Superman to his examination room, Brainiac probes him and uploads his knowledge to his own neural core as his drones prepare to dissect him. When Superman wakes up, he destroys his drones before they can subdue him. Seeing three unconscious Laroo citizens, Superman attempts to free them, but Brainiac completes their analysis and creates pods for them as he stores them away and Superman flies through the ship. Superman then discovers his collection room where each bottled city is placed according to the planet it came from as Superman enters to find Kandor and Brainiac discovers his presence as he awakens from his downloading process. Superman then confronts Brainiac as he towers over Superman and Brainiac proceeds to attack him and reveals to him that he knew Krypton was going to be destroyed, so he did not need to destroy it himself. After a struggle, Brainiac gets the upper hand on Superman and restrains him. Using Superman's mindscan, Brainiac discovers he's been living on the planet Earth and charts a course for Earth using the coordinates from his spacecraft, before integrating Superman into the bottled city of Kandor.
In Kandor, Superman discovers that Brainiac has completely dominated the Kandorians, forcing them to give up any hope of escape accept, while also keeping them the same age as they were over thirty years ago. Meeting with his uncle and aunt, Zor-El and Alura In-Ze, Superman learns more about Brainiac and the flaw in his programming and plots to escape by using his sentries and using what little strength he has due to the red sun. Superman escapes, but promises to come back and free the Kandorians.
Superman then returns to Brainiac's collection room where he recharges himself and then attacks Brainiac as he is downloading information from his pod. Restrained and wounded, Brainiac rants about his undefeated superiority and how he will conquer Earth, before Superman knocks him unconscious and destroys his engine room to disable his ship. Superman then takes Kandor and returns to Earth, despite knowing that Brainiac won't stay down for long. His assumption was right as Brainiac regains consciousness and repairs his ships as he aggressively travels to Earth to reclaim Kandor, collect a major city, and kill Superman.
Brainiac then arrives on Earth and hovers over Metropolis as he sends drones to attack the citizens, capturing the valuable ones and killing the redundant ones. Despite the best efforts of the US military and the Daily Planet employees, the robots overpowered them all, until Superman and Supergirl arrived to destroy them. Brainiac then activates a beam that bottles up Metropolis and then captures Superman and Supergirl as they were about to attack him.
Superman then wakes up in Brainiac's pod and Brainiac tortures him by attaching cables to his head and overloading the knowledge his collected into his head, causing him pain. Brainiac then scolds Superman for trying to stop him and his ship, while also confessing that Earth had nothing to offer him and regretted capturing it, but places it in his collection anyway. He also had his drones prepare to study and dissect Supergirl. As he tortures Superman, Brainiac locates Kandor from Superman's mind and prepares to retrieve it from his Fortress, revealing that he hasn't destroyed Earth yet. Brainiac mocks Earth and questions why Superman and Supergirl would call it home, Superman retorts that it is and that it gives him strength as he breaks out of the pod and crushes Brainiac skull and throws him in a hole.
Superman then takes Metropolis and rescues Kara from being dissected, but Brainiac returns with an army of drones and swears to take back Kandor and destroy Earth as he belittles Superman and Supergirl slugs him in the face and orders his army to attack them. As Superman prepares to attack Brainiac, he launches cables at him which Superman catches and shocks Brainiac's neural core and knocks him out, while also shocking and pushing back Superman. Even when knocked out, Brainiac orders a missile to be fired into Earth's sun, destroying the sun, Earth, and any other nearby planet. Supergirl then flies to destroy the missile as Superman continues to battle Brainiac. Growing tired and aggravated, Brainiac declares that he no longer needs Kandor and will use whatever knowledge he has from Krypton and will use Superman as specimen. Brainiac punches Superman into his collection room and restrains him with shock cables.
Brainiac laments it is pointless to resist as Superman remembers Zor-El's theory about Brainiac and freezes him out of his ship as they continue to fight. They land in a nearby swamp and engage in a brutal fight which Brainiac almost wins, until he is overwhelmed by everything that is on Earth: The sounds, the sights, the smells, the feeling, etc... Superman tells him that he knows nothing about these worlds, only what he collected and controlled, but now has to experience the chaos of life itself. Supergirl then catches the missile and launches it away from the sun and it explodes, saving the planets from Brainiac. The strain of experiencing life itself proves to be too much for Brainiac and Superman beats him, and then Brainiac's cybernetics begin to burn and fall apart until only his neural core remained.
After Metropolis and Kandor were restored, Brainiac's remains were taken to the Fortress of Solitude, and just then his neural core was powered up again, revealing Brainiac is still alive.
Personality[]
Like most versions of his mainstream counterpart, Brainiac is megalomaniacal, amoral, psychopathic, emotionless, analytical, and narcissistic as he uses his power and technology to understand the universe better because he believes knowledge is everything as is the universe and so, by learning and creating his own universe, he is becoming everything. To further his megalomania, Brainiac places his pod in the center of his collection room to make it seem like he is the center of the galaxy, which Superman regards as egocentric. He tends to not understand things he cannot control as he prefers to keep the species he collects in line.
Brainiac also thinks very little of other species, only as specimens for him to capture, analyze, experiment, and/or kill. He thinks of lesser species and their strength to continue as a sign of weakness and believes only in intelligence and logic. He was also disgusted by Superman's affection for humans as he viewed him as weak and them as redundant. Once he captured Metropolis, he saw humanity as worthless savages who have accomplished nothing worth noting and plotted to destroy Earth right away.
He also shows a sadistic side to him as he thanks Superman for giving him coordinates to his next target and even smiles with glee when places Superman into Kandor before he could stop him. He can even program his robots to be sadistic as well, when one of them is killing a human, it's face could almost appear as if it is smiling before it kill the human. Brainiac isn't even afraid to stoop to petty cruelty as he places as he hooks cables to Superman's head and overloads him with information to torture him.
Quotes[]
| “ | Brainiac: Identify. Superman: Try asking nice. Brainiac: Kryptonian. |
„ |
| ~ Brainiac upon first meeting Superman. |
| “ | You should not exist outside my control. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | Brainiac: I did not destroy Krypton after uploading my specimens because the planet was about to destroy itself. You exist because I allowed you to be. Superman: I hope you’re not expecting a thank-you. Brainiac: It was an error. Superman: Got that right. |
„ |
| ~ Brainiac and Superman. |
| “ | It was not a request. Your struggle is pathetic. You are weak. Your mind has been fully scanned. Your skills and limitations are mine to read. Ahhh... You've been living on another planet with intelligent life. Earth. The Kryptonian rocket I found adrift: Yours. Yes. Its guidance system contains Earth’s location. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | You have brought me another gift, Kryptonian. Perhaps letting you live was not such an error after all. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | Fool. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | You underestimate me. You will die. And your new world will be mine just like your old world is. You're meaningless compared to me. I am everything. You are nothing but fists. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | The impudence. I have been claiming worlds for centuries before you were born. You thought it would help you to disconnect me from my ship. You fail to comprehend. This ship is me. Constructed around me. An extension of me. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | Forget Earth. It was unexceptional. It had nothing to offer me. I found it redundant. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | Disgusting. Your affection for humans is nauseating. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | Yes. The other Kryptonian I will keep. I'll need at least one. And you may not survive. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | Now you will see a glimpse of what I am. How many worlds do you think your feeble mind can process before it turns to sludge? I'd say less than one. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | Good. Fight it. I need your brain to function long enough to tell me one more thing. Where you've put Kandor. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman. |
| “ | Superman: Then you haven’t destroyed Earth? Brainiac: Soon. Superman: And Metropolis? Brainiac: Here, but not for long. |
„ |
| ~ Superman and Brainiac. |
| “ | Your sentimental attachment is grotesque. Even you must realize how worthless they are. Such a savage world. Its scientific achievements paltry. Its weapons unimpressive. To think that two Kryptonians chose to call this planet home sickens me. What could Earth have possibly offered you? | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman and humanity. |
| “ | Kryptonian trash, you have already failed. I am the knowledge and strength of 10,000 worlds. Neither you nor Metropolis will ever leave this ship. Soon, I will have Kandor and then I will destroy your world with a thought. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman and Supergirl |
| “ | You will see nothing. You are nothing. A specimen to dissect. A genus to analyze. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac to Superman |
| “ | ENOUGH! I will forego Kandor. I have Krypton’s knowledge. And for a specimen, you will do. | „ |
| ~ Brainiac's villainous breakdown to Superman |
| “ | Brainiac: All of your efforts have been futile. Even if she catches the missile, I'll fire another. Superman: I've figured you out you know. Brainiac: Have you? I find that highly unlikely. Superman: You never leave this ship. Brainiac: There is no need. Everything I require is here. Superman: My uncle was right. You've got a bug. Brainiac: Very well, Kryptonian. I'll humor you. Tell me. Superman: Better if I show you! |
„ |
| ~ Brainiac and Superman. |
| “ | Brainiac: You hear it all, too? You see it all? Huh? Superman: Something, ain't it? Brainiac: All this activity. All this chaos! How do you block it out? Superman: I learned to live with it. But you can't, can you? You can't face things you can't control. |
„ |
| ~ Brainiac and Superman |
| “ | No! Get it off. Get away! | „ |
| ~ Brainiac's last words before combusting into flames. |
Trivia[]
- This is one of the few versions of Brainiac to be closely related to his comic book counterpart in terms of background and motives.
External Links[]
- Brainiac on the DC Database Wiki
