Brainiac has always been one of Superman's greatest enemies, and his reinvention in the New 52 continuity came with a secret identity nobody could have predicted. With his reboot, Brainiac infiltrated a part of society that everyone takes for granted, and proved that the villain still has a place in modern comics.
Created in 1954 by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, Brainiac has remained one of Superman’s most prominent foes since his very first appearance. Either an alien invader or a sentient AI with a robotic body, Brainiac has taken many forms over DC’s various continuities. What’s remained constant is that Brainiac shrinks cities down and stores them in bottles, most famously with the Kryptonian city of Kandor. With his prominence as a villain, it was all but guaranteed that Brainiac would be reinvented once more with DC’s 2011 continuity reboot, the New 52. In this incarnation, Brainiac is known as Brainiac 1.0 on Krypton. On Earth however, Brainiac has a different identity.
Brainiac is the Most Powerful Force on Earth
In Action Comics Vol. 2 #7 by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales, Brainiac reveals that it is in fact the internet itself. When Metropolis is shrunk, Superman takes his first trip to space in order to confront Brainiac, who says, "We are the colony of the Collector of Worlds...On Krypton...we were Brainiac 1.0. On Earth...we were internet." If this Brainiac is simply the "colony" of the true collector, then it leaves room for a more "classic" Brainiac to also exist, especially since the exact nature of Brainiac is never revealed in Morrison’s run. This leaves some uncertainty as to how literal Brainiac’s declaration really is. Is Brainiac literally the internet given sentience, or planted in human society as a corrupting influence? Or is Brainiac simply an outside force that’s infiltrated it?
It’s not until Superman Vol 3. #23.2: Brainiac by Tony Bedard and Pascal Alixe that New 52 Brainiac’s backstory is revealed and these questions are answered. Originally the amoral alien scientist Vril Dox of Yod-Colu, the banished Dox merged himself with his advanced AI, C.O.M.P.U.T.O., and set about shrinking and preserving cities of civilizations in the path of the 5th dimension weapon known as the Multitude. To do so, Brainiac subdivided himself, infiltrating technological systems on different planets like the internet and Krypton’s own Brainiac AI. Brainiac therefore isn’t exactly the internet, but this feels like a distinction without difference. If Brainiac has the full knowledge of the internet, then what makes it different from it? His declaration in Action Comics #7 is still technically correct, it’s just that the scope of Brainiac, as implied in that same story, is far greater than is shown.
This reinvention of Brainiac is one of the best changes of the entire New 52. Linking Brainiac to the internet works perfectly with Morrison’s melding of Golden Age Superman aesthetics with the modern age in their run. Bedard’s origin then serves to combines the Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths robot AI Brainiac with the alien conqueror of post-Crisis continuity. What’s left is a version of the classic Superman villain that’s at once recognizable to long-term fans, while still having the potential to surprise, as proved by the revelation of Brainiac’s connection to the internet in the New 52.