Brainiac

1969 - Brainiac
On Earth, the Kryptonian Noble House of El is known primarily for giving us Superman and Power Girl, but few earthlings realize that House El also desgined Brainiac. The sinister A.I.’s code was originally written by the parents of Kara Zor-el, Zor-El and Alura. Though, I am obligated to point out that much of the fault for his crimes and xenocidal tendencies lies not with House El but with the Kryptonian military who gave the nascent A.I. more power and freedom that it was ever intended to have.

For whatever reason, Vril-Dox (the Kryptonian word for “know it all” or “Brainiac”), took control of the Kryptonian space fleet and decimated the entire planet of Krypton and nearly eliminating the entire Kryptonian species in one fell swoop.

Immediately following the destruction of Krypton, Brainiac used his slaved fleet to continue his xenocidal campaign, hunting down off-world Kryptonians and other alien species he deemed worthy of “archiving”. One such species was the Coluans, whose physiology intrigued Brainiac enough for him to preserve several specimens aboard his mothership, eventually using them for experimentation in giving him a physical form by way of merging technology and organics into a new lifeform. We can call his first successful fusion Brainiac 2.0 if you’d like.

What brought Brainiac to Earth was Clark Kent’s activating of an old Kryptonian outpost in the Arctic. Brainiac had apparently underestimated the intervention of the “super friends” during his initial invasion, as we totally ripped him a new one (though not before he literally tore Victor Stone to pieces) as we thought was the end of Brainiac.

Then the next year we met Brainiac 3.0 with a new advanced “battle build” designed specifically to combat Kal-El. This form proved formidable, often taking on the entirely of the JLA, until it was eventually destroyed by Superman in retaliation for Brainiac murdering Dr. Emil Hamilton. Brainiac would return, this time as Brainiac 4.0 or “Milton Fine”, Hamliton’s replacement as director of S.T.A.R. Labs. The League eventually discovered the truth behind Fine and wrecked him up. Now, we’re on Brainiac 7.0… Not sure what happened with 5.0 and 6.0 exactly.

Trivia and Notes

 * Brainiac has a process he calls "archiving". He digitally converts cities, landmarks, and even sentient beings. He also maintains a "menagerie" of live specimens from the world's he archives. He puts most of these in cryo storage, but on occasion he likes to keep some imprisoned aboard his ship... or at least, he used to... when he had a ship. Indigo sort of destroyed it.

Links and References

 * Appearances of Brainiac
 * Character Gallery: Brainiac