Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5 | |
---|---|
Colu | |
Team affiliations | Legion of Super-Heroes |
Notable aliases | Brainiac 5.1 B-5 Brainy |
Abilities |
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Brainiac 5 (Querl Dox) is a superhero appearing in comics published by DC Comics. He is from the planet Colu and is a long-standing member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th and 31st centuries.[1]
The first live-action version of the character appeared as a regular character in
Publication history
Brainiac 5 first appeared in Action Comics #276 (May 1961) and was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney.[2] He was originally written as a descendant of Superman's enemy Brainiac. Several years later, when Brainiac was revealed to be a living computer, Brainiac 5 was retconned to be a descendant of his adopted son.[3]
Fictional character biography
Original continuity (1958–1994)
Brainiac 5 is a teenage Coluan of the planet Colu, who claimed to be descended from the original
As time went on, Brainiac 5 began to be portrayed as unstable. Long attracted to Supergirl, Brainiac 5 created a robot duplicate of her in his sleep, convincing himself this was the real Supergirl.[5] The Legion encountered Pulsar Stargrave, a villain who convinced Brainiac 5 that he was the Coluan's long-lost father.[6] Brainiac 5 joined Stargrave to battle the sorcerer Mordru, but the android's influence would haunt him long after that. It was claimed in Superboy #225 that Stargrave was actually the original Brainiac android, but the truth of this is uncertain.
When Stargrave murders
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Brainiac 5 enters a state of deep melancholy upon the thousand-year anniversary of Supergirl's death at the hands of the
"Five Year Gap"
Five years after the end of the "Magic Wars", things had radically changed for the heroes, most notably the disbanding of the Legion and an ongoing war with the
Brainiac 5 joined other Legionnaires in searching for the space pirate Roxxas, and was present when the team officially reformed. The reassembled Legion repelled a Khund invasion fleet, and confronted Darkseid, but shortly thereafter, was swept into the war against the corrupt Earthgov and the Dominators. During the Dominators' subjugation of Earth, the members of their highly classified "Batch SW6" escaped captivity. Originally, Batch SW6 appeared to be a group of teenage Legionnaire clones, created from samples apparently taken just prior to Ferro Lad's death at the hands of the Sun-Eater. Later, they were revealed to be time-paradox duplicates, every bit as legitimate as their older counterparts. After Earth was destroyed in a disaster reminiscent of Krypton's destruction over a millennium earlier,[8] a few dozen surviving cities and their inhabitants reconstituted their world as New Earth. The SW6 Legionnaires — including their version of Brainiac 5 — remained.
Not long after the destruction of Earth, Brainiac 5 discovered the timestream was extremely unstable, and that Legion history was in a state of constant flux. This was the first indication of
Zero Hour reboot continuity (1994–2004)
Following the Zero Hour event and the rebooting of the Legion, the "new" Brainiac 5 was extremely antisocial and disrespectful of his colleagues. He barely interacted with the other Legionnaires, although he was still somewhat attracted to Laurel Gand, now called
In addition to having a crush on Andromeda, Brainiac 5 had a secret stash of lustful holo-collection featuring Andromeda herself, Dreamer (Nura Nal), Spark (Ayla Ranzz) and another fellow legionary whose alias begins with "In-" (obviously Invisible Kid), and probably others.[11] Before that, in a moment of rare emotional outburst, Brainy kisses Lyle's cheek as he finds him again, and right after he feels embarrassed.[12]
Trapped in the 20th century
Brainiac 5 was one of a number of Legionnaires who were trapped in the 20th century. He spent his efforts trying to find a way back to his own time using 20th century equipment. He finally produced a computer capable of doing this, utilizing a 30th Century Omnicom, a
Upgrade: Brainiac 5.1
Upon his return, he was part of a team that investigated a mysterious space anomaly. The anomaly "upgraded" him: he was now more considerate of others, and had vastly improved people skills. He also internalized his force shield apparatus. Following his return from the space anomaly, he befriended teammate Gates, who dubbed him "Brainiac 5.1".[14]
Shortly after that, the Legion investigated the criminal/terrorist organization called the Dark Circle. Querl learned his mother, Brainiac 4, was the leader of the Dark Circle, having found that mass destruction was the only thing capable of making her feel emotions.[15] The shock of this almost caused him to revert to his former, distant self. Although he did not revert, he began to be somewhat sarcastic and impatient again. He also began researching without considering the consequences again, inadvertently transforming the team into a "Bizarro Legion".[16]
Legion Lost
Brainiac 5.1 was amongst the Legionnaires who were cast into a distant galaxy when the Stargate network was shut down. They spent a year travelling through the "Lost Galaxy". During this time, he felt a great amount of stress, as his teammates all believed he could devise a way of getting them home in addition to all the other responsibilities forced upon him by the circumstances of their situation. As he eventually confessed to
DC One Million
During the Reboot Legion's heyday, they are tangentially involved in the DC One Million crossover, where the audience is shown the "Justice Legion L" of the 853rd Century. Loosely based on members of the Legion of the 31st Century, the Justice Legion L are tasked with protecting the remains of the United Planets, by that point reduced to a small system of worlds joined together by a powerful magnetic core centered on Braal. Several of the planets involved had actually merged to form new, symbiotic worlds, including Colu-Bgztl. The Justice Legion L includes Brainiac 417, a counterpart to Brainiac 5 who is from this particular combined world. As with all members of his race, he combines super-intelligence with an ephemeral, intangible state; Brainiac 417 appears to be a shimmering green brain inside a transparent humanoid body. His race are purported to have become beings of pure intelligence and thought. Brainiac 417 is not the leader of the Justice Legion L (that duty fell to Cosmicbot), but is one of the most valuable members, and is shown to have integrated his technologies to the point where he can jump back a thousand years to recruit an earlier version of Superboy for the purposes of saving the day.
"Threeboot" continuity (2004–2009)
In volume 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes title, Brainiac 5 is portrayed as similar to his ancestor
Brainiac 5 eventually proposes to Dream Girl after spending the night together in which Dream Girl inhabited the body of a spiritualist, however, on the same night, Princess Projectra has her own urges and primal, repressed emotion, viciously attack Dream Girl upon her return to Querl's mind, viciously beating her and gouging out her eyes, leaving the girl blind and powerless, thus hoping to strip Brainiac 5 of her constant counseling.[20] He much later manages to turn their dream into reality when, forced to rebuild new bodies for his teammates, mangled to shreds by a race of digitalized aliens while connected to the cyberspace, creates a new body for Dream Girl, imprinting her personality, into the cloned body. Successful in his attempt, that, despite Nura's previsions, even restored her lost sight, Brainiac 5 happily extends to all the legionnaires his invitation to their marriage, holding hands with his resurrected soon-to-be bride [21] Unbeknownst to Brainiac 5, the dark side of his mind, the avatar of his repressed urges and dark feelings, was granted a physical body by Princess Projectra.[20]
Post-Infinite Crisis (2007)
The events of the
The Lightning Saga
The original Brainiac 5 from the Pre-Crisis universe briefly appeared in the Justice League/Justice Society Lightning Saga crossover. He was revealed as the mastermind behind the Legion's plot to return to the 21st century to retrieve someone connected to the
Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes
In this follow-up story to the Lightning Saga (taking place in Action Comics #858-863), Brainiac 5 is masquerading as a tyrannical dictator of Colu, but only to delay Colu, which is the strategical beachhead of a United Planets attack on Earth, and keep them from completing their calculations. Brainiac still possesses the Lightning Rod, and states that the person inside is crucial to stopping the "Crisis of the 31st century". However, his ruse is discovered, and Brainiac leaves with the Legion, with only four hours until the United Planets go to war.[23] After Superman and the Legion defeat Earthman and his "Justice League of Earth", and convince the armada to stand down, Brainiac 5 tells Superman that the Legion will not forget him this time.
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds
In this
The New 52
Brainiac 5 seems to be largely unaffected by the changes of the Flashpoint miniseries, as is true for the Legion of Super-Heroes as a whole. However, the term "Brainiac" is no longer his name but an honorable title.[26] This adds understanding to the opening arcs of Action Comics vol. 2 (2011) by Grant Morrison, where an alien is stealing and bottling cities, an act usually committed by Brainiac, but is here only named "the Collector".
DC Rebirth
A younger Brainiac 5 appears briefly during Justice League vol. 3 (2017) by Bryan Hitch, though unconnected to the Legion. He is also not referred to by his name, only as the "brainy kid" by Cyborg. After analyzing the Timeless technology with specialized contacts, he lends Cyborg his prototype flight bracelet, marked with the Brainiac sigil, so the League member can reach the weapon.
In the "Watchmen" sequel "Doomsday Clock," Brainiac 5 is among the Legion of Super-Heroes members that appear in the present after Doctor Manhattan undid the experiment that erased the Legion of Super-Heroes and the Justice Society of America.[27]
Powers and abilities
Brainiac 5 possesses a twelfth level intelligence which grants him superhuman calculation skills, amazing memory and exceptional technical knowledge. By comparison, the 20th century Earth as whole constitutes a sixth level intelligence, and most of his fellow Coluans have an eighth level intelligence. The 31st century Earth as whole as is a ninth level intelligence. His memory allows him to retain the knowledge of events that all others forget, such as their first meeting with three different Legions.[28]
The Post-Zero Hour version of Brainiac 5 was shown in several issues to be able to ponder twelve lines of thought simultaneously.[29] When a renegade Titanian read his mind, she discovered that his subconscious — usually more active and chaotic part of the mind — was less active than twelve simultaneous conscious thoughts. Whether any other version of Brainiac also exhibits this trait remains to be seen.[10]
Equipment
Since Brainiac 5 processes a superhuman intelligent mind, he built numerous devices to aid himself and his fellow Legionnaires in their missions. His primary role has always been that of a scientist. The Legion Flight Ring is one of his most important inventions, which had significant roles in over these various adventures.[30] Another invention, a force field belt, that proves useful to him and remained his main method for self-defense in cases where he found himself in battle in every version of the Legion.[31]
In some issues of The Legion of Super Heroes, Brainiac 5's signature invention, the force field belt, was now being called as an irreplaceable piece of his family history by Brainiac 5 himself.[32]
In various storylines, another invention of his is the super-computer C.O.M.P.U.T.O. This machine had been included in most versions of the Legion, but always reworked in a storyline to suit the situation required for. Brainiac 5 modified his "Time Sphere" into the "Time Bubble". And with it he can travel through time to send or bring other DC characters to or from the 31st century. Other methods of space travel have included these devices, such as the development on Threshold technology[33] and a wormhole-conduit teleporter.[34]
Not all of Brainiac 5's inventions have proved useful to the Legion. Both versions of C.O.M.P.U.T.O. proved to be among his worst mistakes. While not a product of his own research but rather stolen data, Brainiac 5 also created Bizarro versions of many Legion members.[35]
Other versions
Amalgam
In the
In other media
Television
- Brainiac 5 appears in TV series set in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). Following a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "New Kids In Town", he returns in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Far From Home", voiced by Matt Czuchry.[37] This version is an organic being created by the original Brainiac, who learned to pass his code biologically and created Brainiac 5 to serve him. However, Brainiac 5 joined the Legion instead. After bringing Green Arrow, Supergirl, and Green Lantern to his time to help battle the Fatal Five, he falls in love with Supergirl, who decides to stay in the future to be with him and have a sense of belonging.
- Brainiac 5 appears in Legion of Super Heroes (2006), voiced by Adam Wylie.[37] This version is a young, nanotechnology-based cyborg who sports monochromatic pink eyes as well as transformative abilities, which he primarily uses to extend his limbs and assume a large, mecha-like form. Additionally, he was previously part of the Coluan hive mind before breaking off through unknown means and strives to prove himself to the older Legionnaires, especially new recruit Superman. In the second season, Brainiac 5 grows close to Shrinking Violet, but is unknowingly manipulated by Imperiex into allowing Brainiac to control him until Superman and his clone Superman X help him regain control, in the process becoming fully organic and losing his robotic armor. To cope with this new state of being and his recent actions, Brainiac 5 leaves the Legion, unaware that Brainiac has survived and rebuilt himself using his discarded armor.
- Brainiac 5 appears in the Smallville, portrayed by James Marsters. This version was created by the Legion after they reprogrammed the original Brainiac. He returns to the present to initially cause mischief before preparing Clark Kent for his upcoming battle with Darkseid.[38]
- Brainiac 5, also known as "Brainy", appears in TV series set in the Arrowverse, portrayed by Jesse Rath.[39]
- First appearing in the fifth season, Brainy continues to explore his relationship with Nia, which is strained after an encounter with several of his multiversal doppelgangers leads to him disabling some of his personality inhibitors to maximize his intellectual capabilities and work with Luthor to better combat Leviathan.
- Meaghan Rath portrays a female alternate reality version of Brainy in the fifth season, in addition to Jesse portraying several alternate reality versions in "The Bottle Episode".[41]
- Brainy also appears in the crossover events "Elseworlds" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths".
- First appearing in the
- Brainiac 5 appears in the Young Justice episode "Death and Rebirth", voiced by Benjamin Diskin.[37] This version sports pink eyes, similar to his Legion of Super Heroes (2006) incarnation.
Film
- Brainiac 5 appears in Justice League vs. the Fatal Five, voiced by Noel Fisher.[42] This version is bald and has monochromatic purple eyes.
- Brainiac 5 appears in films set in the Tomorrowverse, voiced by Harry Shum Jr.:[43]
- Introduced in Mon-El and the Dark Circle.
- Brainiac 5 appears in Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One (2024).[44]
- Introduced in
Video games
Brainiac 5 appears in Brainiac's ending in Injustice 2, voiced by Liam O'Brien. He travels back in time and disguises himself as the original Brainiac to defeat him and ensure Coluans are not feared in the 31st century.
Miscellaneous
- Brainiac 5 appears in Adventures in the DC Universe #10.[45]
- Brainiac 5 appears in the one-shot comic Batman '66 Meets the Legion of Super-Heroes.[46]
References
- ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1
- ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
- ISBN 9781893905610.
- ISBN 978-1-4012-1389-3.
- ^ Superboy #204 (September–October 1974)
- ^ Superboy #224 (February 1977)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 3 #16 (November 1985)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #38 (Late December 1992)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #72 (September 1995)
- ^ a b c Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #77 (February 1996)
- ^ Legion #31 (May 2004)
- ^ Legion #27 (January 2004)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #108 (September 1989)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #104 (May 1998)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #108 (September 1998)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #114–115
- ^ Legion Lost #9 (January 2001)
- ^ The Legion #14 (January 2002)
- ^ The Legion #15 (February 2004)
- ^ a b Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 #47 (December 2008)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 #50 (March 2009)
- ^ IGN: Superman/Green Lantern interview Archived 2012-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Action Comics #862 (March 2008)
- ^ Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1 (August 2008)
- ^ Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #2 (October 2008)
- ^ Legion: Secret Origin #2 (November 2008)
- ^ Doomsday Clock #12 (December 2019). DC Comics.
- ^ Legion of Three Worlds #3 (April 2009)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes #107 (Aug. 1998)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes #267 (September 1980)
- ^ Adventure Comics Vol 1 #334(July 1965)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 2 #273 (March 1981)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 4 #104 (May 1998)
- ^ Legion Lost Vol 1 #1-12 (May 2000-April 2001)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 1 #114-115 (March–April 1999)
- ^ Spider-Boy Team-Up #1
- ^ a b c "Brainiac 5 Voices (Legion of Super Heroes)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved December 15, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
- ^ Ausiello, Michael (26 July 2010). "Exclusive video: 'Smallville' execs, Erica Durance drop major S10 intel and weigh in on an 11th". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
- ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (November 6, 2017). "Supergirl Casts the Legion's Brainiac 5 With Defiance Alum Jesse Rath". TVLine. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ^ Swift, Andy (June 15, 2018). "Supergirl Promotes Jesse Rath to Series Regular for Season 4". TVLine. Archived from the original on June 24, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
- ^ Webber, Tim (2019-07-20). "Supergirl: Meaghan Rath Joining Series as Female Brainiac-5". CBR. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
- ^ Couch, Aaron (January 7, 2019). "'Justice League vs. The Fatal Five' Sets Voice Cast (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ Dar, Taimur (November 17, 2022). "Release details for LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES animated movie announced". The Beat.
- ^ Harvey, James (December 4, 2023). ""Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths, Part One" Official Trailer Released". The World's Finest. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
- ^ "Adventures in the DC Universe #10 - The Blobs (Issue)". Comic Vine. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
- ^ "Batman '66 Meets the Legion of Super-Heroes #1 - Atomic Batteries To Power, Flight Rings To Speed (Issue)". Comic Vine. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
External links
- Brainiac 5 at Comic Vine