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Scoot Allan is a Comics Jr. Editor at CBR. He has worked in the industry for over a decade and has written for print and online media sources like ScreenRant, The Gamer, GameRant, Movieweb, EGM's Geek Magazine/GeekExchange, GrizzlyBomb (where he penned The Slushoverse Theory), WhatCulture, RoguePlanet.tv and the Urban 30 before joining CBR.
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After months of teases and rumors, James Gunn revealed on X that Man of Tomorrow has finally found its villain.
Lars Eidinger has been cast as Brainiac in James Gunn's follow-up to 2025's Superman, which was further confirmed by Deadline. The German actor and rapper was most recently seen in films like Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly and White Noise, though he might not be familiar to most fans.
The casting of an actor who is largely unknown to Western theater audiences comes as a bit of a surprise, given the huge selection of names that have been rumored. However, it generally fits with Gunn's casting style. You can check out his post welcoming Lars to the DCU below:
Gunn first teased Brainiac as the sequel's villain with an anatomical diagram of a human brain that was attached to the script for Man of Tomorrow. Since then, fans have been dropping their own fan casts for the villain while Gunn has been shutting down rumors left and right. The reveal of Lars Eidinger as Brainiac will keep Man of Tomorrow moving forward at a fast pace as one of the DCU's key releases after Supergirl.
This is also an important cinematic reveal for the Superman movie franchise in all its forms, as fans have never seen a live-action Brainiac on the big screen yet. Animated adaptations have explored the villainous character a few different times. Live-action TV series like Smallville and Krypton have also each introduced their own takes, played by James Marsters and Blake Ritson, respectively. Yet fans have been anxiously waiting to see Brainiac in theaters since they first started believing that a man could fly in 1978.
Brainac has been around since 1958, when he debuted in Action Comics #242 by Otto Binder and Al Plastino. Brainiac was originally an alien from Colu who shrank and stored captured locations from alien planets that included the Kryptonian city of Kandor. Fans have seen a few different versions of the villain over the years, from alien collectors to android overlords to possessed human scientists. Yet one thing has remained consistent, and that is Brainiac's potential as a larger threat to the DC Universe as a whole, and not just a Superman villain.
Man of Tomorrow will be many fans' first introduction to Brainiac. The casting of Lars Eidinger is an exciting step in bringing one of Superman's best villains to the big screen, especially one who could make such a huge impact after the Superman sequel. Brainiac has taken part in multiple Crises and other multiversal events over the years as well, so expect big things from the villain in James Gunn's developing cinematic universe.
Man of Tomorrow is scheduled to hit theaters on July 9, 2027.
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