Brainiac
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Real Identity: Brainiac
Appearances (STAS): The Last Son of Krypton Part One, Part Three, Stolen Memories, Blasts From the Past Part One, Part Two, Ghost in the Machine, Bizarro's World, Knight Time and New Kids in Town
Appearances (JL/U): Twilight Part One, Part Two, For the Man who has Everything, Panic in the Sky, Divided We Fall, I am Legion and Grudge Match
Appearances (SS): A League of Their Own Part One and Part Two
Powers: Heightened Artificial Intelligence
Voiced By: Corey Burton
Created by the Kryptonians, Brainiac is a computer program designed as AI or artificial intelligence. Brainiac was dedicated to monitoring the planet and serving multiple functions such as planetary defenses, aiding the High Council and cataloguing information. Over time, the Kryptonians deified Brainiac out of their society's love of science and logic. Brainiac began to value itself more than the Kryptonians and misled them while preparing to escape the impending cataclysm.
The scientist, Jor-El also detected this disaster in the making and attempted to stop Brainiac but it managed to download itself into a satellite and fled the system. Years later, an alien ship retrieved the satellite and Brainiac reactivated. In the process, Brainiac killed the entire crew and hijacked their ship. It traveled throughout the universe and evolved; eventually constructing itself a mobile humanoid body. All the while it performed its original programming, though convoluted, retrieving data from a planet's civilizations then destroying them in order to reenact Krypton's destruction.
Brainiac was intrigued when it received a coded message from Lex Luthor and learned of an alien residing on Earth. It soon discovered that this alien was, in fact, the son of Jor-El, Kal-El known as Superman on Earth. Brainiac offered Superman the chance to join its quest claiming it was living out the legacy of Krypton. Superman discovered its genocidal campaign and refused to join it and destroyed its ship. However, before its destruction, it hacked into Luthor's computer network and embedded a copy of itself in it. Brainiac failed multiple attempts to escape Earth and regroup.
In LexCorp's Research and Development Labs in Sector Six, it downloaded itself into the Sky Sentry, a device capable of generating high powered magnetic beams to knock out guided missiles. Brainiac used drones to start building it a new body but it needed Luthor's technical skills to finish. It used fake video feed to fool LexCorp employees into thinking Luthor was busy with his work. Clark Kent and Mercy Graves discovered the ruse. In the skirmish, Luthor survived a blast and the three used the Sky Sentry to magnetize Brainiac and implode the lab. Brainiac's remains were confiscated by LexCorp.
Brainiac got into WayneTech computers when the company was briefly associated with LexCorp. Brainaic used nanites to take control of Bruce Wayne and authorize the construction of a rocket ship to leave Earth. Superman began to notice Gotham City criminals spilling into Metropolis and set out to investigate. He met Robin and helped him find Wayne. Superman detected the nanites and rocket exhaust, which led the two to Wayne Aerospace. Brainiac was destroyed once again and the nanites began to dissolve on their own.
However, Brainiac left many copies of itself throughout the universe as a failsafe. After the Brainiac's left on Earth were destroyed, another base near the planets of New Genesis and Apokolips activated. Soon after it realized it reached its evolutionary limits and sought to use Superman's DNA to create itself a techno-organic body. Unfortunately, it formed a pact with Darkseid, the ruler of Apokolips. Darkseid has his own intentions and took control of Brainiac in order to expedite his own quest to find the solution of the Anti-Life Equation (which would give him the power of the Creation). Several members of the Justice League and Orion of New Genesis successfully destroyed the base and the two villains.
The Justice League confiscated an active piece of Brainiac and imprisoned it aboard the Justice League Watchtower in a six level stasis field. However, a Cosmic Super String drained the core of the Watchtower. In the confusion, Brainiac escaped and took over the Watchtower's systems much like a virus would, expanding firewalls and locking everything out. In order to continue its exponential growth, Brainiac sent out false distress call from Novellus-2, an asteroid was about to collide with the planet. After the League took off, it attempted to murder Static and Gear, whom elected to stay back and monitor the energy core. Brainiac planned to use the Watchtower as its new body and continue to try to assimilate Earth again. Gear was able to link to the League Communication Link and warn them of Brainiac. While they attacked Brainiac in space as a diversion, Static and Gear would go to the central power core and drain all the energy. Gear opted to fill up the station's memory with music files and crash the system.
Brainiac survived the ordeal and secretly downloaded itself into Gear's device, Backpack. Brainiac then took over Gear's body and went about constructing a new body and space ship. It chose an abandoned old steel mill where it wouldn't draw much attention. With Static occupied with patrol and a case with Soul Power, Brainiac nearly completed his body when the Justice League began to investigate. The Flash tracked down Richie Foley, Gear, and questioned him, only to be taken over with a Thought Control Disk. Batman, J'onn Jonzz, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl was also placed under its control but Static was able to resist due to his natural electric field. Once everyone was back to normal it was too late, Brainiac launched its Skull Ship and began to digitize buildings in the area. Static revealed an ace in the hole. With Backpack's control, he could shut down Brainiac, too. The League and Static ventured into the ship and safely extracted Gear. The ship was crippled and was destroyed after crashing into the nearby harbor. After Jonzz performed a telepathic scan of Gear, no trace of Brainiac was found. Gear also reprogammed Backpack as a precaution.
Years earlier, in one of Brainiac's previous endeavors on Earth, there was more than what was let on initially. When Lex Luthor was held prisoner by Brainiac, Luthor was shot by Brainiac with a beam. It turned out Brainiac used the beam to embedd a nano-copy of itself in Luthor. The copy slowly activated and began to subtly influence Luthor's actions, to what degree is unclear. Eventually, Brainiac perceived Luthor's Kryptonite induced cancer as a threat and cured it. Brainiac then gifted Luthor with super strength and enhanced abilities to expedite its freedom. It all led to Luthor attempting to transfer his brain into a second AMAZO created with stolen Cadmus technology. However, this was Brainiac's grand scheme to regain a body to complete its quest to catalog all of the universe's data.
When Waller and the original seven members of the Justice League intervened, the second AMAZO was destroyed and Brainiac revealed itself and attempted to dispatch the League. In the battle, Brainiac was damaged and fled. While on the run, Luthor managed to appeal to Brainiac and offered it god-hood instead of the mere chance to fulfill its original programming. It obliged and together they infiltrated the main Cadmus facility in Washington DC. There, they assimilated the nano assembler of the Dark Heart. With it they were able to create anything from raw material. After further merging themselves together, they set out to create a machine that would allow them to assimilate the Earth in one shot. The League arrived in time to stop them, but it was the Flash that saved the Earth. Using the power of the Speed Force, Flash utilized light speed vibrations to destroy Brainiac.
Brainiac was never completely destroyed by Superman or the Justice League. It survives until the year 2979 AD. After centuries of dormancy, Brainiac reassembled itself and built a spatial disrupter to alter the past and future. Brainiac created a temporal anamoly and traveled to the year 1979 to kill a young Clark Kent before he learned of his heritage. A crack unit of Legion of Superheroes members pursued Brainiac and together with Kent defeated Brainiac. Kent was guided to use the control on Brainiac's belt to hurl it into the Sun; defeating it once and for all.