James Gunn Confirms ‘Man of Tomorrow’ Villain, Announces German Actor Landed the Role

After a month of rumors in which Claes Bang, Matt Smith and Dave Bautista were all alleged front runners for the role of Brainiac in Man of Tomorrow, DC Studios’ co-chair James Gunn–who recently took to social media to shoot down those rumors–announced the actor who will bring the antagonist to the screen.

Via his Instagram account, Gunn revealed that German actor Lars Eldinger had landed the role after a “worldwide search.”

Man of Tomorrow is “a story about Lex Luthor and Superman having to work together to a certain degree against a much, much bigger threat.“ After months of playing coy, Gunn has finally confirmed that Brainiac will be that threat.

In the comics, Brainiac’s primary motivation is generally a cold, unquenchable thirst for absolute knowledge and self-improvement—which involves collecting and destroying civilizations; however, modern writers have created a more sadistic version of the character, will to torture and experiment on his enemies–or even his own clones in the Absolute Universe–and employ psychological tactics that are more calculated cruelty than logic.

Gunn previously revealed that the villain “was considered” for Superman and with Supergirl hitting theaters in 2026, it wouldn’t take much to give some background to Brainiac’s fascination with Kryptonions and reveal that he visited Krypton before it was destroyed and shrunk and stole the capital city of Kandor.