Vril Dox

Vril Dox, also known as Brainiac 2, is a fictional character published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Superman #167 (February 1964), and was created by Edmond Hamilton, Cary Bates, and Curt Swan.

Publication history

Vril Dox is the heir of Brainiac, one of Superman's greatest foes, and an ancestor of Querl Dox, Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The character first appeared in Superman #167 (February 1964), by Edmond Hamilton, Cary Bates, and Curt Swan, in a story entitled "The Deadly Duo! - The Team of Luthor and Brainiac!". He was later resurrected in Invasion! #1 (January 1989), by Keith Giffen, Bill Mantlo, and Todd McFarlane. However, rather than being the adopted son of Brainiac, due to changes in post-Crisis continuity, he is now a clone of Brainiac.

He went on to star in L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 (February 1989) through L.E.G.I.O.N. '94 (September 1994) by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, and Barry Kitson. He returned in the follow-up series R.E.B.E.L.S. '94 (October 1994) through R.E.B.E.L.S. '96 (March 1996) by Tom Peyer and Arnie Jorgensen, and the subsequent series R.E.B.E.L.S. (2009–2011).

Fictional character biography

Silver Age

Vril Dox was a young

Vril Dox II is a now a clone of Vril Dox (Brainiac), rather than his adopted son, as he is created by Vril Dox himself. He is still regarded as Brainiac's "

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89-94

Vril Dox is the founder of the interplanetary police force

Vril leads the Earth's heroes in the 1992 Annual crossover, they travel to the Moon and defeat the Eclipso entity.

R.E.B.E.L.S. '94-96

Vril had a son named Lyrl Dox (Brainiac 3) who rebelled and took over his organization. Vril later regains control of L.E.G.I.O.N by bartering with the demon

A new 2009 series features Starro the Conqueror taking control of a now completely automated L.E.G.I.O.N. Dox, along with his old compatriot, Strata, must form a new team to regain his former status. During the Blackest Night crossover, Dox comes into contact with the mother of his son, who had recently been killed by L.E.G.I.O.N. drones, and was subsequently revived as a Black Lantern. Dox was also in an area in which a Sinestro Corps member was murdered by another Black Lantern. When the ring started to search for a new host, it selected Dox, making him a member of the Sinestro Corps.^[2] However, not even the power of the ring was a match for the Black Lanterns, forcing Dox to teleport them to Starro's homeworld, despite the fact that his son, Lyrl (who had recently had his intelligence restored by the warlord) was there also. Soon after, the ring rejected Dox, who had repeatedly refused Sinestro's mandate that all members of the Sinestro Corps were to gather at Korugar, and declared that he had been discharged from the Corps.^[3]

R.E.B.E.L.S. helped to save the Vega system and several galaxies by defeating Starro the Conqueror. The plight of Rann's people was soon resolved by Vril Dox, seeking to restore his reputation after

The restoration of the planet Rann was not Dox's only reason for relocating it into the Vega system. First, by putting

Tamaranian refugees, led by

Dox then went on to mediate the tension between the Rannians and the Tamaranians by proposing that the Tamaranians live on Rann's uninhabited southern continent.

Dox, Adam Strange and other senior commanders of L.E.G.I.O.N. also ensured peace with the Green Lantern Corps and helped create an alliance between Rannians, Tamaranians and L.E.G.I.O.N. after defeating Starro the Conqueror, ensuring security for Rann, the Vega system and the galaxy, with Dox becoming consort to Blackfire.

The New 52

In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. In Superman vol. 3 Annual #2 Vril Dox is shown to be Brainiac's original identity.^[4]

Rebirth

In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". When Brainiac's home planet of Colu falls under the threat of four beings that escaped the Source Wall at the end of Dark Nights: Metal, the teams of heroes and villains realize that their armor is pulling them into four teams towards four different energy sources in the form of trees that coincide with the four entities. Batman's team finds Vril Dox, who claims that his father would never put his faith in the Earth heroes, as he only needed their powers to save Colu, but his plan required him at every step. With Brainiac's death at the hands of Amanda Waller, the planet of Colu and Earth are doomed.^[5]

Other versions

Vril is visited by the time-traveling entity named Waverider, a man on a mission to see which modern-day heroic figure might become a tyrant in ten years' time. This is part of the Armageddon 2001 crossover. Vril captures Waverider and does see his future. Due to power gained by ten years of Waverider's capture, Vril has become a tyrant, killing many innocents. Horrified at this, Vril lets Waverider go so that this future will not come to pass.^[6]

He appeared in the new digital first comic book Adventures of Supergirl series on January 24, 2016,^[7] a tie-in to the Arrowverse Supergirl TV series.

In other media

Film

Vril Dox appears in Legion of Super-Heroes, voiced by Benjamin Diskin.

Video games

• Vril Dox was set to appear as a playable character in
  Sega Genesis.^[8]

• Vril Dox appears in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as the first of thirteen Brainiacs the Suicide Squad must defeat.

Miscellaneous

• Vril Dox appears in DC Universe Online: Legends #1.^[9]
• Vril Dox appears in the Arrowverse tie-in comic
  Winn Schott for funding and aiding terrorism and disguising himself as an A.I. that Win created called V.R.I.L. Vril discovers Supergirl's identity, but she finds and defeats him before he is arrested by the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO).^[10]