Man Of Steel Secretly Set Up A Superman Villain Perfect For Gunn’s DC Reboot

Man of Steel hid a DC villain easter egg that may inspire Superman: Legacy to use some scrapped ideas from the canceled Man of Steel 2. Despite his popularity, Henry Cavill’s now-retired Superman starred in only one DCEU solo movie, after which he appeared in crossovers and team-ups that featured some of Superman’s most famous antagonists. Cavill’s Superman faced Zod, Lex Luthor, Batman, and Doomsday during his short-lived DCEU run, but left out many other classic Superman villains who are yet to make the jump from the comic books to the big screen.

A key DCEU sequel almost changed that, as one scrapped Man of Steel 2 script featured Superman fighting Brainiac. Plot details from this script written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight are unknown, but Brainiac’s DCEU introduction suggests that Superman’s Kryptonian backstory would have been developed further. After all, Brainiac is inherently tied to Krypton’s history before its destruction in the source material, and Man of Steel secretly teased the hyper-intelligent villain’s influence on General Zod and the invading Kryptonians. Although the DCEU’s version of Brainiac may never be shown on screen, Man of Steel‘s Brainiac easter egg could be revisited by the DCU’s upcoming Superman: Legacy.

Brainiac’s Emblem Appears in Man of Steel’s Final Battle

When the World Engine charges up during Zod’s invasion in Man of Steel‘s third act, three glowing circles can be spotted beneath. This pattern isn’t just the functional design of its lasers, but also a subtle reference to Brainiac’s three-circle symbol. The World Engine’s shapeshifting, AI-controlled nanobot arms also resemble Brainiac’s highly advanced weapons, which suggests that Brainiac played an important role in the creation of Krypton’s terraforming machines, and either sold his weapons to Krypton or directly led Krypton’s interplanetary conquest efforts prior to Krypton’s destruction.

Before Stephen Knight’s script for Man of Steel 2 was revealed to feature Brainiac, Man of Steel director Zack Snyder acknowledged his interest in Brainiac as Man of Steel 2’s main villain. Given that Snyder built the foundations for the DCEU with Man of Steel, the three-circle pattern on the Kryptonian World Engine seems more likely to be a deliberate reference to Brainiac, and perhaps even a set-up to Brainiac’s main villain role in Man of Steel 2. However, Man of Steel 2 never progressed past the development stage, and Doomsday seems to have been the last DCEU villain directly related to the Kryptonians that Superman faced.

What Superman vs Brainiac In Man of Steel Would Have Looked Like

Brainiac has often been depicted both as an alien and as a sentient supercomputer. Although the green-skinned Coluan is the most famous version of the villain, the DCEU might have been heading down the evil AI route. Apart from the World Engines’ Brainiac symbol and nanotechnology, all the Kryptonian ships in Man of Steel possess an AI system so advanced that Superman is able to talk with a virtual representation of Jor-El as if he were still alive. It would have been easy for Man of Steel 2 to reveal that Brainiac has secretly arrived on Earth as a dormant AI system who’s waiting for the right moment to invade.

When Lex Luthor orders the Kryptonian AI to turn Zod’s corpse into Doomsday in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it mentions that “the Kryptonian archive contains knowledge from a hundred thousand different worlds”. While this could have been the achievement of many generations of Kryptonians, it could also have been Brainiac’s. In DC lore, Brainiac’s main goal is to collect cities from all over the universe by shrinking them down and bottling them. Perhaps Brainiac’s classic method of conquest would have been too fantastical for the DCEU, but his wish to add Earth to his collection could have remained.

Man of Steel 2 would have also been a very different movie depending on its release date. Had it been released shortly after Man of Steel, Man of Steel 2 would have probably explored part of the storyline that ultimately became Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Superman’s divided public perception, criticisms towards the Battle of Metropolis’ collateral damage, and debate about metahumans’ accountability could have been an important part of Man of Steel 2. If Man of Steel 2 had been released after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it could have followed a more confident and powerful Superman, enhanced physically and psychologically by his resurrection in Justice League.

Why The DCU Reboot Is Good News For Brainiac

Henry Cavill’s Superman never got to face Brainiac in the DCEU, but James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU reboot might give the DC villain another chance to make his big-screen debut soon. Superman: Legacy is presenting a fresh start for Superman and his enemies. The fact that it will follow an already established Superman makes it possible for previously overlooked villains to receive their time in the spotlight. The DCU is unlikely to repeat the DCEU’s storylines, so antagonists like Zod, Lex Luthor, and Doomsday may take a backseat, and characters like Brainiac may finally get their main villain role.

Besides, Superman-centric releases like Superman: Legacy aren’t the only places where Brainiac can appear. DCU titles like Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, The Authority, and Lanterns can also deal with extraterrestrial threats that either have Brainiac as the main antagonist or slowly set him up for a future movie or show. Unlike the DCEU and its inconsistent interconnectivity, the DCU can keep revisiting characters and storylines later down the line in order to build up anticipation for bigger events. This way, Superman’s battle with Brainiac can be a more epic showdown that it would have been in a hypothetical Man of Steel sequel.