It’s been confirmed by Deadline that German actor Lars Eidinger will be playing Brainiac in James Gunn’s “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” — he’ll be the main villain.
It was only a few months ago that Gunn teased Brainiac with a not-so-subtle image of the script featuring a brain sketch on the cover. This will be the character’s live-action debut. He hasn’t appeared in any of the 10 or so Superman movies Hollywood has released since 1978’s “Superman.”
Eidinger has starred in plenty of arthouse fare. I know him primarily for his collaborations with Olivier Assayas on “Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Personal Shopper,” and the “Irma Vep” TV series, as well as in the Netflix Noah Baumbach–directed movies “Jay Kelly” and “White Noise.”
Longtime fans will remember that Brainiac was nearly included in the first film before Gunn chose to hold him back, likely to ensure the character received the spotlight he deserved.
Gunn has already suggested that the new film will see “Lex Luthor and Superman” forced into an uneasy alliance against a “much bigger threat.” Given the history of both the comics and “Superman: The Animated Series,” it isn’t hard to connect the dots: Brainiac has often clashed with both Superman and Luthor, making him the logical candidate.
For those unfamiliar, Brainiac ranks as one of Superman’s most enduring adversaries. Over the decades, he’s been reinvented as everything from an alien overlord to a rogue AI and, more recently, as a creation of Jor-El himself — a sort of dark brother figure to Kal-El.
“Superman” fared well for Warner Bros., earning strong reviews (83% on Rotten Tomatoes) and pulling in $354M domestically for a $615M global total — despite softer overseas numbers. The official narrative the studio is putting out claims they made $120M from Gunn’s film.
Warner Bros. is already targeting an April 2026 production start, with a July 9, 2027 release date locked in for “Superman: Man of Tomorrow.”
There's a lot of talent. Julianne Moore, Elle Fanning, Josh Hartnett, Emma Thompson, Sally Hawkins, Danny Huston, Robert Aramayo and Chloe Pirrie will all be part of the sprawling ensemble.