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In the latest clip from Supergirl, Earth gets a new hero in the form of Kara Zor-El, cousin of Superman. But did she bring something more sinister with her?
The scene in the clip comes directly from Supergirl’s first appearance in 1959’s Action Comics #252, by Otto Binder and Al Plastino. But where Plastino drew Supergirl emerging from a rocket, not unlike the one that baby Kal-El took to Earth, Milly Alcock arrives via a silver sphere, with a very unsettling pattern. The sphere consists of hexagons, a pattern new to Supergirl’s rocket, but not to DC Comics. In fact, the hexagons bring to mind the villain of the next Superman movie, Brainiac.
Those just paying attention to the images that James Gunn has been sharing to social media may be surprised by the connection. Most often, Gunn and outlets covering Brainiac news (Den of Geek included) use images that portray the villain as a green-skinned humanoid, often in a purple suit. That depiction does indeed come straight from the comics, starting with Brainiac’s first appearance just a year prior to Supergirl, in Action Comics #242, also by Binder and Plastino.
Traditionally, Brainiac hails from the planet Colu, a planet of super-intelligent humanoids who enhance their brains with cybernetic parts. But in 1982, DC Comics revamped Brainiac for the Bronze Age. In Action Comics #544 (1983), by Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane, Brainiac melded with a world-destroying machine to gain a new skeletal form. Not only did he have a hexagon pattern around his skull, sometimes colored silver and sometimes colored gold, but he flew a giant ship with the same design.
Brainiac did not stay in his robotic form for long, soon returning to variations of his green and purple look. But the robot form may be important to Man of Tomorrow, for a few different reasons.
Gunn has described Man of Tomorrow as not just a sequel to Superman, but also a Lex Luthor story, in which Nicholas Hoult plays co-lead as Superman must team up with his archenemy to fight Brainiac. In the influential 1986 Alan Moore and Curt Swan story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Brainiac possesses Lex Luthor to combine his intellect with that of Superman’s greatest enemy. How does he do this? By using his robot form and attaching his hexagons to Luthor’s head.
Recently, set photos from Man of Tomorrow have shown Hoult as Lex wearing his warsuit, a green and purple mech outfit. That suit comes straight from the comics, first appearing in 1983’s Action Comics #544, the same issue that introduced Brainiac’s skeletal form.
Interesting as these connections are, they still leave a question. Why would Kara be in a Brainiac ship? For a possible answer, we need to look past the comics, to the cartoons. Superman: The Animated Series offered a compelling revision to the origins of both Superman and Brainiac. Here, Brainiac was first an AI used on Krypton, who turned against his masters and lied about the dire state of the planet. Brainiac eventually took humanoid form to fight against Superman. Years later, Smallville repeated the plot, casting James Marsters as the human form that Brainiac takes after arriving on Earth from Krypton.
Superman has already established that the Kryptonians of the new DCU aren’t as benevolent as their comic book counterparts. Supergirl will probably give us a slightly more likable take, given that Kara grew up in Argo City, a portion of Krypton that survived the planet’s explosion, and we’ll spend more time with her parents, Zor-El (David Krumholtz) and Alura In-Ze (Emily Beecham). But that doesn’t exempt them from birthing Brainiac, even unintentionally.
If they did, Superman’s happy reunion in Supergirl may turn out to be a nightmare in Man of Tomorrow.
Supergirl arrives in theaters on June 26, 2026.
The post New Supergirl Clip Might Be Hiding a Man of Tomorrow Connection appeared first on Den of Geek.
