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For some comic book fans, the news that Lars Eidinger had been cast as Brainiac for James Gunn‘s follow-up to Superman brings one phrase to mind: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? The uninitiated would answer, “Nothing! Man of Tomorrow is the name of the Superman sequel and obviously it’s coming along fine!” But comic book fans know “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” as the title of a monumental two-part story by Alan Moore.
Published in 1986, “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” was intended to be the final story of the Silver Age Superman, who was rebooted along with the rest of the DC Universe with the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. The story features art by George Pérez and Silver Age Superman penciller Curt Swan and contains many elements from the Man of Steel’s most outrageous stories, including an incredibly upsetting subplot in which Brainiac possesses Lex Luthor.
Lex Luthor and Brainiac are just two of the villains who show up in “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”. In fact, the story reads like a grisly survey of Silver Age Superman concepts. Once light-hearted characters like Bizarro and Toyman become murderers, and we watch as Lana Lang and Krypto get brutally killed. Eventually, we learn that everything has gone wrong because the fifth dimensional imp Mister Mxyzptlk, usually a gleeful trickster who uses his reality-warping abilities to play pranks on Superman, has grown bored with being mischievous and has decided to become evil. His first act of evil is turning all of Superman’s enemies into sadistic killers.
Upsetting as all of those elements are, they have nothing on two scenes involving Lex Luthor and Brainiac. It begins with Luthor traveling across the arctic, not unlike he did in Superman, this time to find the body of Brainiac, who was portrayed as a skeletal alien during the Silver Age. Thinking Brainiac had died, Luthor lifts the robot’s head and monologues about looking forward to dismantling his one-time ally in evil. But then, machine parts begin swarming over Luthor’s body and his shouts of defiance turn into pleas for mercy. “I welcome you to the new Brainiac-Luthor team-up,” declares Brainiac in a cold, robot voice.
Whether drawn by Perez or Swan, the combination is horrifying. The team-up creature wears Brainiac’s expressionless metal face over Luthor’s own human face, a horrified and helpless look visible beneath, reminding us that he remains alive but unable to control his own body. It gets worse when Luthor’s body dies, but Brainiac keeps it animated, resulting in a terrifying image of Luthor’s limp and lifeless body still walking and firing a gun to kill Jimmy Olsen.
The Brainiac-Luthor team-up has been referenced many times since that story, most memorably in the Justice League animated series. And with Brainiac now officially confirmed to be the villain in Man of Tomorrow, it’s hard to imagine that Nicholas Hoult‘s Luthor won’t at least attempt to partner with the Coluan villain. But Gunn has been clear that Man of Tomorrow will find Luthor joining forces with David Corenswet’s Superman, perhaps after Rick Flag Sr. sends them both to Salvation, so any Brainiac-Luthor team-up will be short-lived.
Which is a good thing. Man of Tomorrow is just the second adventure for the new DCU Superman, still at the start of his story. “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” was the end of an entire era of Superman stories, closing out on a note both horrifying and hopeful. Until the DCU has matched the Silver Age Superman in terms of longevity and quality, even an upsetting supervillain team-up is still premature.
Man of Tomorrow is slated for release on July 9, 2027.
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