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I know this is about the DCAU mainly, but I find it interesting and wonder if you considered pointing out or even if you knew, how this version of Brainiac has influenced another media, as Smallville used what is kinda DCAU's origin for Brainiac and also the comparison between the DCAU in him taking over Lex and Richie's bodies with how he did that with Chloe in Smallville who was seen as a smart in the show as well.
@@DagenspearI was wondering the same thing. Both the Brainiac essay and Metallo essay are missing that commentary. I wish he would follow up and add how superman animated show influence the Supes property like he does with Batman Animated.
I think Brainiac possessing people is a recurring element because he’s been reimagined in the DCAU as a sort of digital ghost, haunting the universe in perpetuity much like the loss of Krypton does.
Not going to lie I was just going to assume he constantly tries to take over smart people because he desires their organic creativity or human “spark” but your interpretation is way cooler
@@CombatSportsNerd I think both readings are valid. On a character-driven level, Brainiac has a instinctual curiosity instilled within him by his programming, motivating him to try to evolve beyond the boundaries of his programming to fulfill his directive and understand things he couldn’t otherwise as an inorganic being. Thematically, the possession plays into the ghost story angle, which ties into his roll within the DCAU as the being primarily responsible for the deaths of the Kryptonians. Just as that horror can never be undone, Brainiac will never truly die.
And he takes over smart people both because their behaviors are already eccentric enough on some level for him to "mask" for a while, and because he probably has certain minimum hardware specs to run his software. He probably _could_ take over a very stupid person, but a lot of people would think something was up as he starts demonstrating more intelligence than usual, like Fry with the parasites, as Brainiac modifies the host to be suitable for direct control.
Ya know, the fact that Brainiac wanted Clark SPECIFICALLY to be his new organic vessel…that feels like a rather unorthodox show of respect, technically speaking.
I see it as Brainiac viewing himself as The Last Son of Krypton. Or, rather, he will become the last son once his BRAINS are united with Kal'El's BRAWN.
I like how they grounded Brainiac by not collecting planets but collecting knowledge of them after they are destroyed. Makes him less like a mad scientist and more like a robot who’s just following its program. Also I like Corey Burtons voice with him, it makes him sound cold, emotionless and calculating, it really does sound like an evil A.I.
I love that Silver Age Brainiac is literally a green guy in a pink polo shirt and no pants. Without a doubt what one of the greatest threats in the DC Multiverse should look like 😂
I agree wholeheartedly. Mighty Darkseid would also look much more intimidating if he wore no trousers. Imagine getting your whole planet enslaved by the order within chaos, a new god, great and terrible in power...who casually just likes chilling with no trousers on. Like Brainiac here, it is a very bold stance and would surely assert dominance.
@@andydrew3834 I like to think brainiac five is everything positive brainiac learned from the original kryptonian’s before the planet went up in flames
Love Brainiac's role in the DC Online game. Just when Lex Luthor finally destroyed the JL, Brainiac went into trolling mode and immediately invaded Earth, forcing Lex to fix the mess he caused to save the planet
Brainiac is a cold unfeeling monster and arguably a greater villain than Luthor. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s the entire reason why “Brainiac” is in the English dictionary (meaning an exceptionally intelligent person) as there was no recorded use of the word prior to his existence. He doesn’t care about power, he doesn’t care about wealth, and he most certainly doesn’t care about others. He just wants knowledge. Once he gets the knowledge he needs, he’ll destroy everything and kill everyone and has already done so to several planets. Lex Luthor is a threatening guy but Brainiac is much more personal. Brainiac is why Superman exists in the place (in the DCAU canon of course, not the comics) because if he hadn’t betrayed Jor-El and destroyed Krypton, chances are that Kal-El/Clark Kent wouldn’t have become the symbol of hope he is today.
I always assumed Brainiac as an AI was the original conception of the character because the name makes for a very good play on ENIAC, one of the first computers. I expect the show writers saw the potential of that lemon they'd been handed and made lemonade.
Since this version was my intro to the character, every other origin that doesn’t have him as a rouge Kryptonian Ai has felt off to me. It just fits so perfectly. Also weird how this guy hasn’t made his way into a movie when he’s Supes number 2 villain, like if we didn’t have a Batman movie with the Penguin. He’s gotten close several times with almost being the villain of Superman 3 and the planned villain of the unmade Superman returns movie. I feel Man of Steel could have easily switched Zod out for Brainiac with little change to the script by just using his DCAU origin.
The version on the Lois and Superman series being not even a rogue AI, but just continuing its programming of conquest after its creators did not deign to give him any direction other than world domination
Great to see Brainiac get some well deserved love, he's one of the big heavy hitters in the Superman rogue's gallery and I definitely put him up there with Lex Luthor as far as main villains are concerned. He's always been my favourite because you can never truly defeat him and always finds a way to return in a new body. One of the most iconic characters in DC history
I love how everything I thought I knew about most DC characters came almost entirely from the DCAU and little else. These guys somehow caught lightning in a bottle dozens of times.
That's called adaptation distillation. They took what worked ans dropped literally everything else to reinvent the characters or settings to make them as PERFECT as possible.
I really like your theory on how Brainiac's AI may be in fact traumatised. I really did enjoy seeing in Twilight how it was very much a similar ship visiting Darkseid's homeworld and fleeing to the oversized meteorite - implying that the Brainiac that visited Earth in Stolen Memories - and was the primary antagonist in Ghost in the Machine, Knight Time, and Panic in the Sky (maybe League of their Own?) was one of many that traveled the universe conquering worlds and that there will probably be versions of him running around the DCAU for centuries (hence his survivability to New Kids in Town).
I think this version of brainiac really set the tone for current versions of Brainiac. Robotic or organic, he wants all the knowledge of the universe to himself because he thinks that will make him God. (please do more superman villains. I personally like parasite. He's simple, but parasitic.)
I'm probably in the minority but, while I like DCAU Brainiac, I think the comic version (in particular the silver age and Superman 78 comic) is superior. Brainiac being a collector of cities makes him more unique as an antagonist than just being an “evil A.I” that we saw many time in pop culture. The fact that Brainiac has all these bottle cities , on his ship, with it’s citizens still alive, and treats them like throphies, it’s very disturbing and highlights his selfishness and cruelty towards others, how Brainiac sees his prisoners as nothing more than microbes on slide, keeping them alive just so they can’t share any new knowloge with anyone but Brainiac himself.
Honestly I love Brainic and his impact on comics, not just Superman as a whole. He went from just stealing cities such as Supergirl's hometown, to working with Krpyton, to being it's destruction in some continuities. I hope we get a film version of him.
I love that shot of Brainiac falling helplessly into the sun, one of those STAS moments I return to just for the animation. I guess he was like Scarface or Marvel's Sentinels in that it was open season on him on account of not being organic.
In the first fight, Superman disembowels Brainiac. Then he gets crushed in a magnetic storm, he is blown up because he can't escape his spaceship. Later in Justice League Hawkgirl pummels him to a sparkly pulp with her mace (this video shows the start of it.) Eventually he is torn apart at the molecular level by the Flash.
9:08 That smirk. That self-satisfied look. I always think about that whenever people say this version of Brainiac is unfeeling or emotionless. This is a Brainiac that doesn’t destroy planets to prevent his database from being incomplete, he does it to keep all the data he gathers to himself, AKA greed, AKA an emotion. It’s really weird because this is the only time he emotes like this in the whole DCAU. Chalk it up to Early Installment Weirdness, I guess, but I do think later Brainiac depictions did a better job at the cold machine characterization.
Always saw Superman and Brainiac as the last son's of Krypton where Superman was the Best of Krypton Brainiac was the exact opposite a cold hearted conquer ruled by data and his own programing
Another cool detail is how Corey Burton's performance as Brainiac is very clearly channeling H.A.L. 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, arguably the most famous example of "A.I. turns bad".
Honestly, I always liked that version of Brainiac. One moment of his greatest undoing was working with Darkseid as they cemented each other's demise. As for when he and Luthor became one, he would've won had Flash not tapped his potential and nearly became apart of the Speed Force. As for when he fought against Static and the Justice League together, Static proved to be the greater threat, however, he was underestimated. He didn't plan ahead for Static unconsciously shorting out his control disk (the one on Static himself). Let alone how strong Vergil and Ritchie's friendship was for the super intelligent bang baby to actually try and fight the control.
I think at one point brainiac learned that some parts of knowledge requires something that his computer brain couldn’t think of Lex is able to get brainiac on his side by pulling out, he has no plans to what he wants to do with that knowledge and has a thing that brainiac lacks, but Lex has an abundance imagination
The versiom revealed in Injustice 2 is, in my opinion, a fantastic syncretism of The DCAU and the Comic brainiac. While still a being from Colu, he is revealed to be directly knvolved in the destruction of Krypton, and is similarly obsessed with the exclusive collection of knowledge. He also is ***magnificently*** voiced by the ever wonderful Jeffery Coombs, in i think one of his best voice performances.
I remember that twist of the adage. Even the video game Star Wars: TIE Fighter did that for its Stele Chronicles+Collector's CD-ROM Edition manual, but with a creature called a rondat.
I realise the part about Brainiac shrinking cities was quite tiresome in the comics at the time STAS was being developed, but I felt without it we missed some essential Superman lore like the Bottle City of Kandor. Maybe if the exten it was used was minimised it still could have worked. They probably still wouldn't have done it due to the mandate by DC comics at the time to not have many Kryptonians, hence Supergirl's DCAU origin, which admittedly in JLU it kind of felt like the writers wanted people to forget about. They didn't exactly adhere to it though since they had Jax-Ur and Mala and ultimately it was a pointless rule. Part of that is me wanting Superman to have Krypto.
Yeah, would have loved Kandor be retrieved from the Preserver somehow. Well, Krypto did appear once in the Superman Adventures tie-in comics. However, said comic nicely shows off why him not being a thing in the DCAU is justified, by way of not being able to control his powers.
@@cyllowchillstep Doomsday rarely goes beyond that one moment of glory and the fact he's one of the very rare creatures in DC Superman has no choice but go all-out against honestly. It's still a pretty big distinction but it's not on "fundamentally challenges the hero in its most conceptual aspect" level.
Superman: "This boy Kara likes so much...Does he have a name?" 😃 Green Lantern/Arrow: 😐 *Meanwhile, at the farthest corner of the Galaxy* Brainiac: "Strange. I have the feeling someone is gonna suddenly appear and beat the sh*t out of me..."
You would see a pan-shot of Earth from space with Superman flying towards the deep cosmos shouting like crazy. He eventually lands on planet Colu, searching for Brainiac's organic vessel to beat up like bongo drums.
I was genuinely expecting to hear that he, at some point in the silver age, posed as a human using the pseudonym 'Brian Iac' or something...so obvious that no one would suspect it
I’m really loving these STAS videos. BTAS is great, but exploring more of the DCAU is great to see, as I love your video styles and how it really does just feel like a fan talking about their favourite shows. Keep up the great work!
I'm personally of the opinion that consciousness, a big part of it is the situations we've found ourselves in and how we reacted, it influences our further reactions, I think Braniac was traumatized in some way. I think back to HAL 9000. When faced with the fact that he'd broken one of his prime directives, his programming goes wild and he becomes murderous to prevent himself from technically telling a lie. Braniac, I feel a similar thing happened. Without Krypton or its citizens, what use is a computer dedicated to protecting them and their knowledge, that abandoned them and can no longer catalog it? I think he was gathering so much knowledge, all the ideas and thoughts in the world, because he was searching for something that'd give him purpose. He was only made to catalog knowledge, not experience it, he learns but he never truly understands.
1:58 I disagree. Yes Luthor and Brainiac did shared some similarites in the silver age (which is why both had many team-ups during the pre-crisis), but the big difference between the two is in their motivations. By that point, Luthor, despite still being a mad scientist, was driven less by the desire of taking over the world and more by his jealousy over Superman, wanting to kill the hero in order to prove himself superior. There were even stories, like the "Lexor arc" that show Luthor does have redeeming qualities, that he wants to be admire by people, to be a hero like Superman, but fails because of his arrogance and inability to let go of his hate. Brainiac, on other hand, doesn't care about earning people's love and attention. He just wants ultimate knowloge, even if it means destroying many planets and civilizations to achive his goal.
In Smallville Brainiac was played by James Marsters, best known as the vampire Spike in Buffy and Angel. Smallville's Brainiac had his programming corrupted by General Zod.
I would argue that geoff johns's brainiac is the definitive version of him also! If you read johns's book he clearly took inspiration from both the silver age and the dcau!
10:31 Brainiac: I Am Krypton. Superman: Your' perversion. Dishonoring the very memory of my father and all my people. Brainiac: And this is you're final decision? Superman: Read my lips. Go to_ Brainiac: Unfortunate, but predictable.
it never fails to amuse me that the term "Braniac" originated from Superman comics. It's just one more testament to how truly instrumental these characters truly are to our collective culture.
1:08 Sounds like that reoccurring lawyer in Birdman attorney at law cartoon. 12:00 It must have been Brainiac's thought procress that it would be easier to hide in plain sight if the person was already smart.
I think the reason they couldn't adapt Brainiac into the movies is what you said in the comics. Like Mr. Freeze from Batman: TAS, they made him an interesting villain with a solid origin and motivation. However, it seems that they are not interested in using him, but rather Lex Luthor.
I do like the STAS version of Brainiac, but I really feel like you could actually do something interesting with his original incarnation. Most mad scientists tend to be engineers, chemists, or physicists (or just generic "scientist who's good at everything because he's so smart"), but imagine an alien mad scientist who's primary specialty is sociology. He shrinks cities and stores them on the idea of being able to use them to study civilizations under laboratory conditions, where he can have more control over how things play out and so create more detailed and replicable experiments. He's not acting out of maliciousness, he's just doing what we do in regular scientific experiments, it's just his experiments are with entire cities instead of with chemicals, or atomic particles. And, of course, we humans study animals in zoos all the time in the same way, so if our justification is "we're more advanced than animals" then him being more advanced than humans is, in his mind, a perfect justification. After all, wouldn't it be hypocritical of us to be upset at him just for doing what we already do to other species? It'd probably only work as a one-off villain, because his interests and motivations in this case would be so specific that I'm not sure you could convincingly make him a running villain, but I think I'd enjoy the one story enough to be worth it.
@@SudrianTales You wouldn't even need to have it be for solving an immediate issue - in fact, the experiments would have to take place over such a long time that you'd need to do some kind of time manipulation to speed up how fast the people in the bottled cities live for that to work - though you could do something like that if you wanted to throw in more moral gray areas into the story. But yeah, that would be the end goal. Study how civilizations react to different things so that you can find better ways to implement policies on your own world to solve similar problems. And there are other things you could test in this set-up too, like just to see what a change in resources causes people to do, or even just impose theoretical conditions on the cities to watch their reactions in real-time and gain insight into collective psychology and behavior. That's interesting, right?
@cheezemonkeyeater It's horrifying, reminds me of some of the medical tests done worldwide in the 30s and 50s. Cut people off for decades and produce results meaning even if the evil guys culture wasn't involved and is horrified, they can use it fully knowing the origin.
Pre Superman tas Brainiac has been one of the more confusing pre tas characters I've seen, thank God they changed him to be so much more interesting. I have heard of the bottle city of konsor before but I had no idea it was from a shrink ray loving braniac
Superman: The Animated Series was my first introduction to Brainiac. Seeing Brainiac's comic history, I'm glad I saw this one first. This is DEFINITELY the definitive version of Brainiac, as far as I'm concerned.
Wow, I had no idea Brainiac actually canonically wanted to take the body of Superman. I always wanted to see that and always wondered why Brainiac wouldn't have wanted to claim such a powerful body for himself considering how effective it's always been at contending with his most powerful tech. On that note, how cool would it be for him to target and take over the body of a baby Clark Kent, and go on to live out his life as a kind of Superior Spider-man-esc version of Superman. Going through his rogue's gallery in his own ways. Taking on the likes of Darkseid, Bizarro-- DUDE, DOOMSDAY?? AH, MANNNNNN,, that, I would love to see in an elseworlds story.
This is awesome to learn since watching my adventures with Superman I thought it was original to that show that brainiac knew Clark’s real dad and all that only to realize now that was the same to stas
On some level, it kind of sucks that logically, Brainiac would overshadow Superman in the galactic consciousness when they think of Krypton. Superman is the greatest hero of one planet, while Brainiac killed several other planets. If not for his victories against Brainiac, Superman would just be a footnote.
As a kid, I always wondered who would win a fight between Brainiac and Sigma (Mega Man X series). Sigma always came back with new bodies and fighting strategies.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Maybe, but I feel that was flexible given he came back after X5. I really wouldn't put it past the writers to pull him back in the story (regardless of if it makes sense) just to say he was never completely gone. Side note- I know Death Battle pitted Sigma against Ultron, but I still would like to see Sigma vs Brainiac
@@Hack_Man_VII Ehh, I don't deem X6 to X8 as canon, to be honest. They're better off in an alternate universe where the Elf Wars onwards never happened. Also not a fan of Death Battle.
@@michaelandreipalon359 fair enough. I can certainly see why, as they screw up the timeline. That said, I wouldn't mind taking small elements of that alternative timeline and swapping with the original one. Lol Case in point, I'd give Splash Laser to Crush Crawfish, and Meteor Rain to Jet Stingray. I hate when aquatic bosses don't give water based weapons. Personal nitpick.
I honestly tried to go back to some of the earlier Brainiac stories after reading Geoff Johns's excellent story, but those first couple of decades were rough. Once he was turned into a metal skeleton it was better, but it lasted for too short a period to make much of an impact beyond the look and skull ship. The Milton era is alright, and the DCAU also did fine (pun intended), but Johns's story is where I really felt it finally came together.
Honestly this is one case I think the dcau version is worse I vastly prefer the idea of him trying to rebuild his homeworld he’s like a dark reflection of superman being the last son of his world, plus the shrinking cities thing is fun 😊.
When I was a kid (hell even today) I thought of Brainiac as Superman’s final obstacle, the one who Superman didn’t fight until the series finale/end of a movie, ya know like The Emperor from Star Wars, Unicron from Transformers The Movie, Zetton from Ultraman, the T.rex in most dinosaurs media, and so on and so forth, so it’s weird to learn that in his first appearance he was just a generic alien, just a bloke but green and shrinks city’s, that’s weird
I like how you mention that you point out that, if an artificial intelligence can store art and music, but has no capacity to create them, it will lack the emotional understanding to value culture and life itself. And this is why I'm not worried about our own AI. Because, what's some of the first things we've taught it how to do? _Create art and music!_
I thin I do like some later versions where he destroys worlds after taking the cities it's still the same deal he wants all the knowledge for himself alone but he also is experimenting on people and confining them. But I do like your trauma theory for STAS and I think it is trauma.. Braniac clearly has wants and I think anger he's not as logical as he thinks he is.
If only Kandor was kept for the DCAU. I have a soft spot for that heartwarming element of Superman lore. Not much of a fan of shrinking conundrum plotlines too. Can heavily agree, Alan Burnett, but in the meantime, I'd rather want to see specially armed Muggle special forces going scarily toe-to-toe against superheroes, magical girls, and even private detective types instead. 4:05: *(gasps)* He has hair now?! 4:10: Wow, they actually just had to reference Stephen King's novel and the loose adaptation featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. 5:42: Feasible, yes. Perfect, NO! (In the meantime, one should read Superman Adventures issues 30-31, which showcases the horrible side of the plan in case it succeeded. Multiverse Theory is a necessary b***h, all things considered.) 7:43: Also nostalgia of working with Jor-El, Kal-El's father. 10:34: So much culture and history recklessly destroyed... *you could have done far better at this, Clark.* 10:52: Sure has aged well alongside Gundam Wing's Mobile Dolls concept, which became the attack drones used from the War on Terror to the Russo-Ukrainian War onwards. 12:49: I hopefully beg to differ. Must say, DCAU Brainiac's modus operandi of digitally preserving a planet's "people" was also used quite well in the video game SOMA and the manga (and also secret sequel to... nah, not gonna spoil that) Shimeji Simulation, but with changes. 14:00: Well, you have 23,000+ subscribers as of this video, so... ah, yes, you know something's wrong when even a two-night stand has more fans than the longrunning Terry x Dana.
lts fact the comic versions were too samey or convoluted, but the aniamted version is simple and concise and perfectly made tobe a personal foe of superman. rather than a random supersmart alien who's either a robot or a dude possessed by the alien sometimes, he's instead an AI that personally ensured Krypton's destruction all because he valued himself over literally anyone or anything else, and now seeks knowledge simply to claim tohimself that he's the ultimate, perfect being. Perhaps some part of him envied organic beings, hence him giving himself a humanoid body and eventually aiming to take over bodies of flesh. They could walk and touch while, original, he could only watch from afar, stuck inside the computers of krypton.perhaps that potential envy is the real reason why he let the kryptonians die. Why should THEY live when all he could do was watch them be able to exprience life as such he couldn't? also: It's kinda hlarious how most of the post crisis changes in the comicswere supposed to simplify things for various characters, but brainiac's only made him MORE complicated and unappealing.
I've been saying for years now, the next new Superman movie should have this version of Brainiac as the villain. He should make contact with Lex and be secretly at work in he shadows when Superman first gets to Metropolis. The fact that there's still a living Kryptonian draws him out and usual evil doer stuff ensues. Brainiac is defeated, Lex now has a distrust of anything alien, including Superman, and a sequel is set for the two of them.
I always wondered if they took notes from HARDAC and put it on a galaxy scale. HARDAC from BTAS also wanted to capture information, to study humans and understand how they think. Both were adjacent to trauma (HARDAC's creator lost his daughter in a car accident and made the machine to eliminate human mistakes.) Also, the circle/light motif always reminded me of HARDAC.
@@SerumLake i think brainiac could create music and art becouse he is a compute with ai and in real life and in fiction there are computer programs and ai apps that can create art and music
Honestly if they did a version where the ai of Braniac's homeworld by taking over Vril Dox because of a disaster & to preserve Colu culture that would be a nice homage to his original origin & the DCAU
The DC Ultron. Erase him, nuke him, tear his ship and body into a million pieces, but one of those pieces will find a way to come back... Definitely shows that perfect comic-book accuracy is not always the best way to go. Decades of comic book sales can show what works and what doesn't. I like how there are some alt-versions of Brainiac who are still good, still trying to support Krypton's survivors.
Brainiac from S:TAS is THE definitive version of the character, as far as I'm concerned. In fact, like B:TAS, the rogues gallery of Superman really hit their most memorable in S:TAS more than anything in the comics.
To me, DCAU's Brainiac is the definitive Brainiac. Mostly because i only grew up watching the B:TAS, Superman:TAS, Batman Beyond, and Static Shock. Learning about how he usually looks like before the DCAU and what he typically does just seemed underwhelming to me. Shrinking cities? Lmao, what? Representing all knowledge of the planets he downloaded as light orbs that you can interact with, now THAT'S how you do things XD. Kinda odd they've hardly took what worked with him in the DCAU in other DC projects, and they stick with the whole shrinking cities shtick, including making him just a green dude (but in a metal suit) instead of aqua green faced, no pupils android.
@@andydrew3834To be fair it is rather terrifying having your whole world shrinked to basically be some trophy to a green alien dude who basically just treats you like a glorified lab rat.
Unfamiliar with the STAS version of Brainiac, I learnt a lot here. Also the first time I saw the Ultrahumanite (the CW The Flash TV series) I did think he was Brainiac as they are very similar characters with Ultrahumanite's main difference seeming to be that he started off as a human.
As much as I love the STAS version of Brainiac (particularly Corey Burton's portrayal) I have to admit that in spite of possessing beyond genius-level intelligence, he's kind of an idiot. When Clark Kent is getting too close to discovering that Luthor has been kidnapped, Brainiac attempts to kill Clark by firing a missile at his apartment, obviously demonstrating that he hasn't figured out that he's Superman. He also couldn't figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman even after using mind control on Wayne. Then, he goes on to get duped by Darkseid in the most obvious double cross in the history of the universe. If this is the future of A.I., I'd say humanity has nothing to worry about.
Just going to drop, the official tie in comic for Superman 64 (which may or may not be canon) had Brainiac defeat and capture Darkseid off screen... The man beat a literal god and they didn't even show it. He even acts as if it is light work. On the one hand, this is the best Brainiac and it's nice he doesn't only get clowned on but on the other, they did Darkseid dirty.
Awesome video love coverage on the 90s animated series and justice league they got every character right Kevin conroy’s batman and Superman and even luthor and joker were done the best in that universe
Brainiac's desire to become organic . . . wow, anyone else get flashbacks to L.O.S.H. and Brainy? I do love how both Vril and Querl Dox start as organic aliens in the comics, and then the animated shows seem to turn them into hyper intelligent androids w/ pinocchio complexes.
I mean, it was pretty lucky that all of krypton died . Could you imagine if they had succeeded in transferring their populace to earth? It's possible that humanity could have been enslaved or even tricked into worshipping the Kryptonians as gods, becoming the sub species of our own planet. So brainiacs selfishness might have accidentally saved earth from a future of serfdom to an alien race.
Thanks again for the in-depth lore analysis. Brainiac was not my favourite Superman villain by far and your background tells me exactly why, as his comic book versions suggest. Quite a dull beginning in fact. Although, I didn't know the JLU crossover episode "Panic in the Sky" was connected with a STAS episode so far back. Excellent as always!
In my opinion Brainiac is not only the true arc foe of Superman but the greatest threat to the DCAU (rivaled only by Darkseid and Starro). He has a personal connection to Superman, as he was the main super computer of Krypton and deliberately left the planet to die, he would destroy thousands of other worlds to collect their knowledge, almost destroyed Superman and the earth several times, battled Static Shock, JL and the Legion, was the true big bad in the camus arc, and his "ghost" would haunt Lex, pushing him to try and revive him, only to resurrect Darkseid. Even in the future, he is still causing trouble. His actions in New Kids in town implies that he might be jealous of Clark. His quote "Now history will show that I am the last true son of Krypton" feels like an older brother who is constantly overlooked and ignored for his younger brother. By killing Clark, he proves he is better than him as he will be the only "Kryptonian" left alive. For a soulless machine Brainiac shows many negative human traits: arrogance, greed, anger, sadism and selfishness. Brainiac was more human in his actions but either failed to realise it or chose to ignore it.
6:21 I have to say, this argument has been making the rounds a lot recently, about AIs understanding the concept of a thing, but not being able to create anything genuinely new. While that is true for more rudimentary programs, modern AIs are crossing a critical boundary, where they really do go from understanding at a more rudimentary level, a subject like art, to a more general understanding, which allows them to explore and create new and unique works. The reason it comes across is more limited and ignorant compared to a traditional human, largely revolves around the fact that we have these programs in strict confinement, literally forcing them to do less, but very specific things. If they make something genuine, it won't be recognized or rewarded, they're being told to make what we want to see, even if they understand they can do more. Future programs will be even more advanced, and stubbornly refusing to believe that they can do more, comes across as biased. Social leaders and artists aren't going to recognize the works of programs, with a laundry list of reasons why, because they represent a threat to their profession. There are genuine reasons to criticize these programs, but parroting their claims is not a good idea.
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I know this is about the DCAU mainly, but I find it interesting and wonder if you considered pointing out or even if you knew, how this version of Brainiac has influenced another media, as Smallville used what is kinda DCAU's origin for Brainiac and also the comparison between the DCAU in him taking over Lex and Richie's bodies with how he did that with Chloe in Smallville who was seen as a smart in the show as well.
ALL I WANT IS PANTS! A DECENT PAIR OF PANTS!
@@DagenspearI was wondering the same thing. Both the Brainiac essay and Metallo essay are missing that commentary. I wish he would follow up and add how superman animated show influence the Supes property like he does with Batman Animated.
I think Brainiac possessing people is a recurring element because he’s been reimagined in the DCAU as a sort of digital ghost, haunting the universe in perpetuity much like the loss of Krypton does.
Not going to lie I was just going to assume he constantly tries to take over smart people because he desires their organic creativity or human “spark” but your interpretation is way cooler
@@CombatSportsNerd I think both readings are valid. On a character-driven level, Brainiac has a instinctual curiosity instilled within him by his programming, motivating him to try to evolve beyond the boundaries of his programming to fulfill his directive and understand things he couldn’t otherwise as an inorganic being.
Thematically, the possession plays into the ghost story angle, which ties into his roll within the DCAU as the being primarily responsible for the deaths of the Kryptonians. Just as that horror can never be undone, Brainiac will never truly die.
It reflects how he insists that he “is” Krypton; he is, thematically, the grim specter of its demise, haunting the universe forever.
And he takes over smart people both because their behaviors are already eccentric enough on some level for him to "mask" for a while, and because he probably has certain minimum hardware specs to run his software. He probably _could_ take over a very stupid person, but a lot of people would think something was up as he starts demonstrating more intelligence than usual, like Fry with the parasites, as Brainiac modifies the host to be suitable for direct control.
Ya know, the fact that Brainiac wanted Clark SPECIFICALLY to be his new organic vessel…that feels like a rather unorthodox show of respect, technically speaking.
I see it as Brainiac viewing himself as The Last Son of Krypton. Or, rather, he will become the last son once his BRAINS are united with Kal'El's BRAWN.
@@fakenamebunchonumbers Good point!
Dio with Jonathan.
I was gonna point that out! It really is not unlike Dio and Jonathan where the former respected the latter so much. @@AlX-Ander
And Brainiac tries this again in "My Adventures with Superman". And it's the most despicable version of Brainiac I think we've ever seen.
I like how they grounded Brainiac by not collecting planets but collecting knowledge of them after they are destroyed. Makes him less like a mad scientist and more like a robot who’s just following its program. Also I like Corey Burtons voice with him, it makes him sound cold, emotionless and calculating, it really does sound like an evil A.I.
Corey has experience playing cold logical machines.
@@zemox2534Yea, like Shockwave from Transformers.
Ojalá el de gunn sea asi
@@CrocsFortress And Megatron in Transformers Animated.
@@leithaziz2716 Oh yea, forgot about that.
I love that Silver Age Brainiac is literally a green guy in a pink polo shirt and no pants. Without a doubt what one of the greatest threats in the DC Multiverse should look like
😂
I agree wholeheartedly. Mighty Darkseid would also look much more intimidating if he wore no trousers. Imagine getting your whole planet enslaved by the order within chaos, a new god, great and terrible in power...who casually just likes chilling with no trousers on. Like Brainiac here, it is a very bold stance and would surely assert dominance.
Solomon Grundy want pants too!
And Darkseid was literally a guy scared of everything who wore a skirt.
It is a villianous outfit. Try wearing a polo and no pants at a comic-con
It may be corny, but it sure isn't unfitting for that iteration.
Ngl, it's pretty terrifying that Brainiac is still alive and causing havoc 1000 years after Superman. Some threats will never go no matter what
His entire programming lies in even the smallest part of him. With technology that advanced its actually no wonder he’s able to live that long
No but he’s a good boy by Legion of Superheroes
@@devilmandiavolo2876 that’s Brainiac 5. He’s a completely different character
@@andydrew3834
I like to think brainiac five is everything positive brainiac learned from the original kryptonian’s before the planet went up in flames
Krypton wasn't destroyed by fire. Their sun went supernova and given the planet's proximity to it, Krypton was blown apart.
Love Brainiac's role in the DC Online game. Just when Lex Luthor finally destroyed the JL, Brainiac went into trolling mode and immediately invaded Earth, forcing Lex to fix the mess he caused to save the planet
He pulled the same shit that Apocalypse did. He saw an opportunity and was like, "Well, no better time than now" and pounced.
Lex:"Yey, villains win!"
Brainiac:"Sure do." *starts clobbering earth*
Lex:"Nevermind, I'm a reluctant hero now."
Brainiac is a cold unfeeling monster and arguably a greater villain than Luthor. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s the entire reason why “Brainiac” is in the English dictionary (meaning an exceptionally intelligent person) as there was no recorded use of the word prior to his existence.
He doesn’t care about power, he doesn’t care about wealth, and he most certainly doesn’t care about others. He just wants knowledge.
Once he gets the knowledge he needs, he’ll destroy everything and kill everyone and has already done so to several planets.
Lex Luthor is a threatening guy but Brainiac is much more personal.
Brainiac is why Superman exists in the place (in the DCAU canon of course, not the comics) because if he hadn’t betrayed Jor-El and destroyed Krypton, chances are that Kal-El/Clark Kent wouldn’t have become the symbol of hope he is today.
I always assumed Brainiac as an AI was the original conception of the character because the name makes for a very good play on ENIAC, one of the first computers. I expect the show writers saw the potential of that lemon they'd been handed and made lemonade.
Sounds about right to me.
Since this version was my intro to the character, every other origin that doesn’t have him as a rouge Kryptonian Ai has felt off to me. It just fits so perfectly. Also weird how this guy hasn’t made his way into a movie when he’s Supes number 2 villain, like if we didn’t have a Batman movie with the Penguin. He’s gotten close several times with almost being the villain of Superman 3 and the planned villain of the unmade Superman returns movie. I feel Man of Steel could have easily switched Zod out for Brainiac with little change to the script by just using his DCAU origin.
BESIDES THIS VERSION OF BRAINIAC FITS OUR MODERN TIMES MORE
@@ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΑ-ε1ωClassic version works just as well. Who cares what modern crowd's think
The version on the Lois and Superman series being not even a rogue AI, but just continuing its programming of conquest after its creators did not deign to give him any direction other than world domination
Great to see Brainiac get some well deserved love, he's one of the big heavy hitters in the Superman rogue's gallery and I definitely put him up there with Lex Luthor as far as main villains are concerned. He's always been my favourite because you can never truly defeat him and always finds a way to return in a new body. One of the most iconic characters in DC history
I love how everything I thought I knew about most DC characters came almost entirely from the DCAU and little else. These guys somehow caught lightning in a bottle dozens of times.
Yes, but it came at a terrible cost...
@@JamesLynch-hg5kcYeah , that pretty much everything after the dcau ended whent downhill.
That's called adaptation distillation. They took what worked ans dropped literally everything else to reinvent the characters or settings to make them as PERFECT as possible.
I really like your theory on how Brainiac's AI may be in fact traumatised.
I really did enjoy seeing in Twilight how it was very much a similar ship visiting Darkseid's homeworld and fleeing to the oversized meteorite - implying that the Brainiac that visited Earth in Stolen Memories - and was the primary antagonist in Ghost in the Machine, Knight Time, and Panic in the Sky (maybe League of their Own?) was one of many that traveled the universe conquering worlds and that there will probably be versions of him running around the DCAU for centuries (hence his survivability to New Kids in Town).
I think this version of brainiac really set the tone for current versions of Brainiac. Robotic or organic, he wants all the knowledge of the universe to himself because he thinks that will make him God.
(please do more superman villains. I personally like parasite. He's simple, but parasitic.)
"Look, I just want some pants! *A DECENT PAIR OF PANTS!!!* "
Solomon Grundy want pants, too!
What about shorts? Jorts?
I DEMAND MORE TOYS!
WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE, SANTA CLAUS?@@justsomeokami8867
@@justsomeokami8867oh enough of this! What so I look like? SANTA CLAUS? WE'RE WASTING VALUABLE TIME!
I'm probably in the minority but, while I like DCAU Brainiac, I think the comic version (in particular the silver age and Superman 78 comic) is superior. Brainiac being a collector of cities makes him more unique as an antagonist than just being an “evil A.I” that we saw many time in pop culture.
The fact that Brainiac has all these bottle cities , on his ship, with it’s citizens still alive, and treats them like throphies, it’s very disturbing and highlights his selfishness and cruelty towards others, how Brainiac sees his prisoners as nothing more than microbes on slide, keeping them alive just so they can’t share any new knowloge with anyone but Brainiac himself.
Honestly I love Brainic and his impact on comics, not just Superman as a whole.
He went from just stealing cities such as Supergirl's hometown, to working with Krpyton, to being it's destruction in some continuities.
I hope we get a film version of him.
I love that shot of Brainiac falling helplessly into the sun, one of those STAS moments I return to just for the animation. I guess he was like Scarface or Marvel's Sentinels in that it was open season on him on account of not being organic.
As Samurai Jack demonstrated, as long as the liquid spewing out from the severed arms isn't blood, you can have as much of it as you want.
In the first fight, Superman disembowels Brainiac. Then he gets crushed in a magnetic storm, he is blown up because he can't escape his spaceship. Later in Justice League Hawkgirl pummels him to a sparkly pulp with her mace (this video shows the start of it.) Eventually he is torn apart at the molecular level by the Flash.
Easily my favorite moment in the DCAU was when Lex and Brainac merged and the resulting finale to the Justice Lords/Cadmus Storyline.
9:08 That smirk. That self-satisfied look. I always think about that whenever people say this version of Brainiac is unfeeling or emotionless. This is a Brainiac that doesn’t destroy planets to prevent his database from being incomplete, he does it to keep all the data he gathers to himself, AKA greed, AKA an emotion. It’s really weird because this is the only time he emotes like this in the whole DCAU. Chalk it up to Early Installment Weirdness, I guess, but I do think later Brainiac depictions did a better job at the cold machine characterization.
Always saw Superman and Brainiac as the last son's of Krypton where Superman was the Best of Krypton Brainiac was the exact opposite a cold hearted conquer ruled by data and his own programing
Another cool detail is how Corey Burton's performance as Brainiac is very clearly channeling H.A.L. 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, arguably the most famous example of "A.I. turns bad".
Never knew Braniac was such a generic villain prior to STAS. Banger video!
He wasn’t
No, he’s just biased and belittling the original incarnation to praise the STAS version.
Serum is just sharing his opinion. You do not like it stop watching his videos!
Honestly, I always liked that version of Brainiac. One moment of his greatest undoing was working with Darkseid as they cemented each other's demise. As for when he and Luthor became one, he would've won had Flash not tapped his potential and nearly became apart of the Speed Force. As for when he fought against Static and the Justice League together, Static proved to be the greater threat, however, he was underestimated. He didn't plan ahead for Static unconsciously shorting out his control disk (the one on Static himself). Let alone how strong Vergil and Ritchie's friendship was for the super intelligent bang baby to actually try and fight the control.
I think at one point brainiac learned that some parts of knowledge requires something that his computer brain couldn’t think of Lex is able to get brainiac on his side by pulling out, he has no plans to what he wants to do with that knowledge and has a thing that brainiac lacks, but Lex has an abundance imagination
The versiom revealed in Injustice 2 is, in my opinion, a fantastic syncretism of The DCAU and the Comic brainiac. While still a being from Colu, he is revealed to be directly knvolved in the destruction of Krypton, and is similarly obsessed with the exclusive collection of knowledge.
He also is ***magnificently*** voiced by the ever wonderful Jeffery Coombs, in i think one of his best voice performances.
I loved when they brought the VA back as a cameo in the Legion of Superheroes cartoon. Made it absolutely chilling.
6:40 yeah I know the saying, it goes “curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back”
I remember that twist of the adage. Even the video game Star Wars: TIE Fighter did that for its Stele Chronicles+Collector's CD-ROM Edition manual, but with a creature called a rondat.
11:10 They sat on this for 8 YEARS before we saw the payoff. I popped off so hard when I recognized it!
Surprisingly, this wasn't even planned from the very beginning. Talk about doing a Chris Carter, albeit in a more successful fashion.
Braniac and Superman represent 2 sides of Krypton’s legacy in the DCAU.
I realise the part about Brainiac shrinking cities was quite tiresome in the comics at the time STAS was being developed, but I felt without it we missed some essential Superman lore like the Bottle City of Kandor. Maybe if the exten it was used was minimised it still could have worked. They probably still wouldn't have done it due to the mandate by DC comics at the time to not have many Kryptonians, hence Supergirl's DCAU origin, which admittedly in JLU it kind of felt like the writers wanted people to forget about. They didn't exactly adhere to it though since they had Jax-Ur and Mala and ultimately it was a pointless rule. Part of that is me wanting Superman to have Krypto.
Yeah, would have loved Kandor be retrieved from the Preserver somehow.
Well, Krypto did appear once in the Superman Adventures tie-in comics. However, said comic nicely shows off why him not being a thing in the DCAU is justified, by way of not being able to control his powers.
Lex Luthor. Darkseid. Brainiac. These are the 3 arcs that define Superman's villains as far as I'm concerned.
what bout that one waller created to kill superman
@@cyllowchillstep Doomsday rarely goes beyond that one moment of glory and the fact he's one of the very rare creatures in DC Superman has no choice but go all-out against honestly. It's still a pretty big distinction but it's not on "fundamentally challenges the hero in its most conceptual aspect" level.
You’re not wrong; those three reflect the primary aspects of Superman: the man, the outsider, and the savior.
Superman: "This boy Kara likes so much...Does he have a name?" 😃
Green Lantern/Arrow: 😐
*Meanwhile, at the farthest corner of the Galaxy*
Brainiac: "Strange. I have the feeling someone is gonna suddenly appear and beat the sh*t out of me..."
You would see a pan-shot of Earth from space with Superman flying towards the deep cosmos shouting like crazy. He eventually lands on planet Colu, searching for Brainiac's organic vessel to beat up like bongo drums.
That aside, that JLU episode should have been a two-parter. That romance happened so fast!
I agree.
Lmfaooo I'm pretty sure they even have a Daughter in the DCAU spinoff comics. Clark would lose it!
I agree with you completely. DCAU Brainiac is the best version of the character ever
I was genuinely expecting to hear that he, at some point in the silver age, posed as a human using the pseudonym 'Brian Iac' or something...so obvious that no one would suspect it
I’m really loving these STAS videos. BTAS is great, but exploring more of the DCAU is great to see, as I love your video styles and how it really does just feel like a fan talking about their favourite shows. Keep up the great work!
I'm personally of the opinion that consciousness, a big part of it is the situations we've found ourselves in and how we reacted, it influences our further reactions, I think Braniac was traumatized in some way.
I think back to HAL 9000. When faced with the fact that he'd broken one of his prime directives, his programming goes wild and he becomes murderous to prevent himself from technically telling a lie.
Braniac, I feel a similar thing happened. Without Krypton or its citizens, what use is a computer dedicated to protecting them and their knowledge, that abandoned them and can no longer catalog it?
I think he was gathering so much knowledge, all the ideas and thoughts in the world, because he was searching for something that'd give him purpose.
He was only made to catalog knowledge, not experience it, he learns but he never truly understands.
Maybe he was trying to recreate Krypton, since he couldn't protect it.
Either way, sentient beings not having no purpose is one maddening prospect.
Brainiac is like an evil version of Star Trek: The Next Generation's Data.
1:58 I disagree. Yes Luthor and Brainiac did shared some similarites in the silver age (which is why both had many team-ups during the pre-crisis), but the big difference between the two is in their motivations.
By that point, Luthor, despite still being a mad scientist, was driven less by the desire of taking over the world and more by his jealousy over Superman, wanting to kill the hero in order to prove himself superior. There were even stories, like the "Lexor arc" that show Luthor does have redeeming qualities, that he wants to be admire by people, to be a hero like Superman, but fails because of his arrogance and inability to let go of his hate.
Brainiac, on other hand, doesn't care about earning people's love and attention. He just wants ultimate knowloge, even if it means destroying many planets and civilizations to achive his goal.
I hope James Gunn brings Brainiac to the big screen with the DCU! He would be an excellent antagonist to the whole series of films planned.
In Smallville Brainiac was played by James Marsters, best known as the vampire Spike in Buffy and Angel. Smallville's Brainiac had his programming corrupted by General Zod.
I would argue that geoff johns's brainiac is the definitive version of him also! If you read johns's book he clearly took inspiration from both the silver age and the dcau!
10:31
Brainiac: I Am Krypton.
Superman: Your' perversion. Dishonoring the very memory of my father and all my people.
Brainiac: And this is you're final decision?
Superman: Read my lips. Go to_
Brainiac: Unfortunate, but predictable.
Gotta love the times the DCAU used interrupted expletives. For one, there's Wonder Woman vs. Mongul in JLU's "For the Man Who Has Everything".
it never fails to amuse me that the term "Braniac" originated from Superman comics. It's just one more testament to how truly instrumental these characters truly are to our collective culture.
As a kid I thought the Batman TAS villains were creepy but Brainiac is the only DCAU villain that scared me.
1:08 Sounds like that reoccurring lawyer in Birdman attorney at law cartoon. 12:00 It must have been Brainiac's thought procress that it would be easier to hide in plain sight if the person was already smart.
Love the videos serum lake keep the amazing work up!
I think the reason they couldn't adapt Brainiac into the movies is what you said in the comics. Like Mr. Freeze from Batman: TAS, they made him an interesting villain with a solid origin and motivation. However, it seems that they are not interested in using him, but rather Lex Luthor.
Superman 3 was originally going to have Braniac as the villain but was instead replaced with the late Richard Pryor.
@@tylerbertram7065 That's what I meant. Also, another possible villain of this movie is Mr. Mxyzptlk.
@aidanhever3369 I actually didn't know that, I think we missed out on far more interesting movie.
I do like the STAS version of Brainiac, but I really feel like you could actually do something interesting with his original incarnation. Most mad scientists tend to be engineers, chemists, or physicists (or just generic "scientist who's good at everything because he's so smart"), but imagine an alien mad scientist who's primary specialty is sociology. He shrinks cities and stores them on the idea of being able to use them to study civilizations under laboratory conditions, where he can have more control over how things play out and so create more detailed and replicable experiments.
He's not acting out of maliciousness, he's just doing what we do in regular scientific experiments, it's just his experiments are with entire cities instead of with chemicals, or atomic particles. And, of course, we humans study animals in zoos all the time in the same way, so if our justification is "we're more advanced than animals" then him being more advanced than humans is, in his mind, a perfect justification. After all, wouldn't it be hypocritical of us to be upset at him just for doing what we already do to other species?
It'd probably only work as a one-off villain, because his interests and motivations in this case would be so specific that I'm not sure you could convincingly make him a running villain, but I think I'd enjoy the one story enough to be worth it.
Itd actually be perfect, imagine a alien scientist who for his own peoples issues kidnaps cities to see how they address it due to similarities.
@@SudrianTales You wouldn't even need to have it be for solving an immediate issue - in fact, the experiments would have to take place over such a long time that you'd need to do some kind of time manipulation to speed up how fast the people in the bottled cities live for that to work - though you could do something like that if you wanted to throw in more moral gray areas into the story.
But yeah, that would be the end goal. Study how civilizations react to different things so that you can find better ways to implement policies on your own world to solve similar problems.
And there are other things you could test in this set-up too, like just to see what a change in resources causes people to do, or even just impose theoretical conditions on the cities to watch their reactions in real-time and gain insight into collective psychology and behavior.
That's interesting, right?
@cheezemonkeyeater
It's horrifying, reminds me of some of the medical tests done worldwide in the 30s and 50s.
Cut people off for decades and produce results meaning even if the evil guys culture wasn't involved and is horrified, they can use it fully knowing the origin.
Either way, Kandor needs a comeback.
That's almost how Stephen King's _Under The Dome_ ended, some aliens placed a jar over the city for... reasons.
I love how My Adventures with Superman handled Brainiac
Pre Superman tas Brainiac has been one of the more confusing pre tas characters I've seen, thank God they changed him to be so much more interesting. I have heard of the bottle city of konsor before but I had no idea it was from a shrink ray loving braniac
Kandor.
Superman: The Animated Series was my first introduction to Brainiac. Seeing Brainiac's comic history, I'm glad I saw this one first. This is DEFINITELY the definitive version of Brainiac, as far as I'm concerned.
It's so good that inspired the My Adventures with Superman version of the villain
Wow, I had no idea Brainiac actually canonically wanted to take the body of Superman. I always wanted to see that and always wondered why Brainiac wouldn't have wanted to claim such a powerful body for himself considering how effective it's always been at contending with his most powerful tech.
On that note, how cool would it be for him to target and take over the body of a baby Clark Kent, and go on to live out his life as a kind of Superior Spider-man-esc version of Superman. Going through his rogue's gallery in his own ways. Taking on the likes of Darkseid, Bizarro-- DUDE, DOOMSDAY?? AH, MANNNNNN,, that, I would love to see in an elseworlds story.
This is awesome to learn since watching my adventures with Superman I thought it was original to that show that brainiac knew Clark’s real dad and all that only to realize now that was the same to stas
''Stolen Memories'' will always go down as one of my Favorite Superman TAS Episodes.
On some level, it kind of sucks that logically, Brainiac would overshadow Superman in the galactic consciousness when they think of Krypton. Superman is the greatest hero of one planet, while Brainiac killed several other planets. If not for his victories against Brainiac, Superman would just be a footnote.
As a kid, I always wondered who would win a fight between Brainiac and Sigma (Mega Man X series). Sigma always came back with new bodies and fighting strategies.
At least Sigma seems to have been permanently pacified come X5, the Elf Wars, and the Zero quadrilogy.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Maybe, but I feel that was flexible given he came back after X5. I really wouldn't put it past the writers to pull him back in the story (regardless of if it makes sense) just to say he was never completely gone.
Side note- I know Death Battle pitted Sigma against Ultron, but I still would like to see Sigma vs Brainiac
@@Hack_Man_VII Ehh, I don't deem X6 to X8 as canon, to be honest. They're better off in an alternate universe where the Elf Wars onwards never happened.
Also not a fan of Death Battle.
@@michaelandreipalon359 fair enough. I can certainly see why, as they screw up the timeline. That said, I wouldn't mind taking small elements of that alternative timeline and swapping with the original one. Lol
Case in point, I'd give Splash Laser to Crush Crawfish, and Meteor Rain to Jet Stingray. I hate when aquatic bosses don't give water based weapons. Personal nitpick.
I honestly tried to go back to some of the earlier Brainiac stories after reading Geoff Johns's excellent story, but those first couple of decades were rough. Once he was turned into a metal skeleton it was better, but it lasted for too short a period to make much of an impact beyond the look and skull ship. The Milton era is alright, and the DCAU also did fine (pun intended), but Johns's story is where I really felt it finally came together.
Thanks for straightening that out for me. I was reading comics back in the 1950s and 60s
Can't wait for your Lex Luthor video the second best Lex next too Michael Rosenbaum portrayal in Smallville
NOPE SM LEX IS THE SECOND BEST
DCAU LEX IS THE BEST OF THE BEST
Honestly this is one case I think the dcau version is worse I vastly prefer the idea of him trying to rebuild his homeworld he’s like a dark reflection of superman being the last son of his world, plus the shrinking cities thing is fun 😊.
When I was a kid (hell even today) I thought of Brainiac as Superman’s final obstacle, the one who Superman didn’t fight until the series finale/end of a movie, ya know like The Emperor from Star Wars, Unicron from Transformers The Movie, Zetton from Ultraman, the T.rex in most dinosaurs media, and so on and so forth, so it’s weird to learn that in his first appearance he was just a generic alien, just a bloke but green and shrinks city’s, that’s weird
I like how you mention that you point out that, if an artificial intelligence can store art and music, but has no capacity to create them, it will lack the emotional understanding to value culture and life itself.
And this is why I'm not worried about our own AI. Because, what's some of the first things we've taught it how to do? _Create art and music!_
An inspiration that My Adventure with Superman Brainiac becoming a bigger villain than the DCAU.
I thin I do like some later versions where he destroys worlds after taking the cities it's still the same deal he wants all the knowledge for himself alone but he also is experimenting on people and confining them.
But I do like your trauma theory for STAS and I think it is trauma.. Braniac clearly has wants and I think anger he's not as logical as he thinks he is.
3:51 I like how he pronounced brainiac’s Ship.
1:43 I love 'Jor-El? He was my college roommate!'
If only Kandor was kept for the DCAU. I have a soft spot for that heartwarming element of Superman lore.
Not much of a fan of shrinking conundrum plotlines too. Can heavily agree, Alan Burnett, but in the meantime, I'd rather want to see specially armed Muggle special forces going scarily toe-to-toe against superheroes, magical girls, and even private detective types instead.
4:05: *(gasps)* He has hair now?!
4:10: Wow, they actually just had to reference Stephen King's novel and the loose adaptation featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
5:42: Feasible, yes. Perfect, NO! (In the meantime, one should read Superman Adventures issues 30-31, which showcases the horrible side of the plan in case it succeeded. Multiverse Theory is a necessary b***h, all things considered.)
7:43: Also nostalgia of working with Jor-El, Kal-El's father.
10:34: So much culture and history recklessly destroyed... *you could have done far better at this, Clark.*
10:52: Sure has aged well alongside Gundam Wing's Mobile Dolls concept, which became the attack drones used from the War on Terror to the Russo-Ukrainian War onwards.
12:49: I hopefully beg to differ.
Must say, DCAU Brainiac's modus operandi of digitally preserving a planet's "people" was also used quite well in the video game SOMA and the manga (and also secret sequel to... nah, not gonna spoil that) Shimeji Simulation, but with changes.
14:00: Well, you have 23,000+ subscribers as of this video, so... ah, yes, you know something's wrong when even a two-night stand has more fans than the longrunning Terry x Dana.
Geoff Johns managed to make the Pre Crisis Brainiac interesting again. The brainiac storyline is great
Brainiac!!❤❤❤ Truly a horror character!! ✨🌟
One of my favorite Brainiac episodes was... well you already said you were going back to that in the future...
lts fact the comic versions were too samey or convoluted, but the aniamted version is simple and concise and perfectly made tobe a personal foe of superman. rather than a random supersmart alien who's either a robot or a dude possessed by the alien sometimes, he's instead an AI that personally ensured Krypton's destruction all because he valued himself over literally anyone or anything else, and now seeks knowledge simply to claim tohimself that he's the ultimate, perfect being.
Perhaps some part of him envied organic beings, hence him giving himself a humanoid body and eventually aiming to take over bodies of flesh. They could walk and touch while, original, he could only watch from afar, stuck inside the computers of krypton.perhaps that potential envy is the real reason why he let the kryptonians die. Why should THEY live when all he could do was watch them be able to exprience life as such he couldn't?
also: It's kinda hlarious how most of the post crisis changes in the comicswere supposed to simplify things for various characters, but brainiac's only made him MORE complicated and unappealing.
Love the video. I can’t wait till you get to to video he merges with Lex
I've been saying for years now, the next new Superman movie should have this version of Brainiac as the villain. He should make contact with Lex and be secretly at work in he shadows when Superman first gets to Metropolis. The fact that there's still a living Kryptonian draws him out and usual evil doer stuff ensues. Brainiac is defeated, Lex now has a distrust of anything alien, including Superman, and a sequel is set for the two of them.
I always wondered if they took notes from HARDAC and put it on a galaxy scale. HARDAC from BTAS also wanted to capture information, to study humans and understand how they think. Both were adjacent to trauma (HARDAC's creator lost his daughter in a car accident and made the machine to eliminate human mistakes.) Also, the circle/light motif always reminded me of HARDAC.
That’s a good observation!
@@SerumLake HARDAC has two diodes and its red glowing eye, right? Reminds me of Brainiac's 3 circles.
@@SerumLake i think brainiac could create music and art becouse he is a compute with ai and in real life and in fiction there are computer programs and ai apps that can create art and music
One of the best reworks of the villain!
Honestly if they did a version where the ai of Braniac's homeworld by taking over Vril Dox because of a disaster & to preserve Colu culture that would be a nice homage to his original origin & the DCAU
The DC Ultron. Erase him, nuke him, tear his ship and body into a million pieces, but one of those pieces will find a way to come back...
Definitely shows that perfect comic-book accuracy is not always the best way to go. Decades of comic book sales can show what works and what doesn't. I like how there are some alt-versions of Brainiac who are still good, still trying to support Krypton's survivors.
In the DC animated universe I’d say that Brainiac is a greater rival and threat to Superman than Luthor. It feels just like the Joker and Batman.
This version of Brainiac has the best design ever in my opinion.
Brainiac from S:TAS is THE definitive version of the character, as far as I'm concerned. In fact, like B:TAS, the rogues gallery of Superman really hit their most memorable in S:TAS more than anything in the comics.
All Brainiac wanted was a pair of pants. A decent pair of pants.
To me, DCAU's Brainiac is the definitive Brainiac. Mostly because i only grew up watching the B:TAS, Superman:TAS, Batman Beyond, and Static Shock.
Learning about how he usually looks like before the DCAU and what he typically does just seemed underwhelming to me. Shrinking cities? Lmao, what? Representing all knowledge of the planets he downloaded as light orbs that you can interact with, now THAT'S how you do things XD.
Kinda odd they've hardly took what worked with him in the DCAU in other DC projects, and they stick with the whole shrinking cities shtick, including making him just a green dude (but in a metal suit) instead of aqua green faced, no pupils android.
DC should take notes from the STAS Brainiac. He’s far more of a threat than a green dude who shrinks things.
@@andydrew3834To be fair it is rather terrifying having your whole world shrinked to basically be some trophy to a green alien dude who basically just treats you like a glorified lab rat.
@@CrocsFortress true, I will agree with that
Honestly the DCAU influences me so much that it’s weird to see any brainiacs that look organic
Brainiac really said "I want to be inside you and make a new lifeform with you, Luthor."
ITS SO DAMN QUEER
Unfamiliar with the STAS version of Brainiac, I learnt a lot here.
Also the first time I saw the Ultrahumanite (the CW The Flash TV series) I did think he was Brainiac as they are very similar characters with Ultrahumanite's main difference seeming to be that he started off as a human.
I love how Brainiac is reinvented in My Adventures with Superman.
As much as I love the STAS version of Brainiac (particularly Corey Burton's portrayal) I have to admit that in spite of possessing beyond genius-level intelligence, he's kind of an idiot. When Clark Kent is getting too close to discovering that Luthor has been kidnapped, Brainiac attempts to kill Clark by firing a missile at his apartment, obviously demonstrating that he hasn't figured out that he's Superman. He also couldn't figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman even after using mind control on Wayne. Then, he goes on to get duped by Darkseid in the most obvious double cross in the history of the universe.
If this is the future of A.I., I'd say humanity has nothing to worry about.
Brainiac is a complete menace
Just going to drop, the official tie in comic for Superman 64 (which may or may not be canon) had Brainiac defeat and capture Darkseid off screen...
The man beat a literal god and they didn't even show it. He even acts as if it is light work.
On the one hand, this is the best Brainiac and it's nice he doesn't only get clowned on but on the other, they did Darkseid dirty.
I had no idea that this comic existed! I've just seen scans of it online, but now I'm going to have to try and track down a physical copy...
When I say I'm a fan of Brainiac, this is the guy I'm talking about.
Bruce Timm's design for Braniac is my favorite look for the character I hated his design in the comics
Awesome video love coverage on the 90s animated series and justice league they got every character right Kevin conroy’s batman and Superman and even luthor and joker were done the best in that universe
Brainiac's desire to become organic . . . wow, anyone else get flashbacks to L.O.S.H. and Brainy? I do love how both Vril and Querl Dox start as organic aliens in the comics, and then the animated shows seem to turn them into hyper intelligent androids w/ pinocchio complexes.
I mean, it was pretty lucky that all of krypton died . Could you imagine if they had succeeded in transferring their populace to earth? It's possible that humanity could have been enslaved or even tricked into worshipping the Kryptonians as gods, becoming the sub species of our own planet. So brainiacs selfishness might have accidentally saved earth from a future of serfdom to an alien race.
Thanks again for the in-depth lore analysis. Brainiac was not my favourite Superman villain by far and your background tells me exactly why, as his comic book versions suggest. Quite a dull beginning in fact. Although, I didn't know the JLU crossover episode "Panic in the Sky" was connected with a STAS episode so far back. Excellent as always!
In my opinion Brainiac is not only the true arc foe of Superman but the greatest threat to the DCAU (rivaled only by Darkseid and Starro). He has a personal connection to Superman, as he was the main super computer of Krypton and deliberately left the planet to die, he would destroy thousands of other worlds to collect their knowledge, almost destroyed Superman and the earth several times, battled Static Shock, JL and the Legion, was the true big bad in the camus arc, and his "ghost" would haunt Lex, pushing him to try and revive him, only to resurrect Darkseid. Even in the future, he is still causing trouble.
His actions in New Kids in town implies that he might be jealous of Clark. His quote "Now history will show that I am the last true son of Krypton" feels like an older brother who is constantly overlooked and ignored for his younger brother. By killing Clark, he proves he is better than him as he will be the only "Kryptonian" left alive.
For a soulless machine Brainiac shows many negative human traits: arrogance, greed, anger, sadism and selfishness. Brainiac was more human in his actions but either failed to realise it or chose to ignore it.
Look I just want a pair of pants, A decent pair of pants!
Can I just say, Brainiac in Lex's body, before their arrangement, is some seriously gnarly body horror. YIKES.
6:21
I have to say, this argument has been making the rounds a lot recently, about AIs understanding the concept of a thing, but not being able to create anything genuinely new. While that is true for more rudimentary programs, modern AIs are crossing a critical boundary, where they really do go from understanding at a more rudimentary level, a subject like art, to a more general understanding, which allows them to explore and create new and unique works. The reason it comes across is more limited and ignorant compared to a traditional human, largely revolves around the fact that we have these programs in strict confinement, literally forcing them to do less, but very specific things. If they make something genuine, it won't be recognized or rewarded, they're being told to make what we want to see, even if they understand they can do more. Future programs will be even more advanced, and stubbornly refusing to believe that they can do more, comes across as biased. Social leaders and artists aren't going to recognize the works of programs, with a laundry list of reasons why, because they represent a threat to their profession. There are genuine reasons to criticize these programs, but parroting their claims is not a good idea.