What's Brainiac's best design? Out of all media.

[L.R Johansson]

Yeah, I've been doing some fan-ficting, and I've found myself wanting to REMAKE Brainiac, but I'm finding myself somewhat lost when it comes to picking a direction to go in...

This guy has certainly had a TON of different designs, that's for sure!

I'll try and list most of them, in chronological order, to let you in on the craziness that is the intense changing of Brainiac!


1. Brainiac of Bryak
The first iteration is similar to the classic Silver Age-variant, but not quite - he is a BIOLOGICAL being, and he has a pet monkey.
I always imagined this was in reality Earth-TWO Brainiac.





2. Brainiac of Colu
Classic Silver-Age Earth-1 Brainiac - curiously enough, this design debuted on the COVER of his first appearance...! But that wasn't the Brainiac-design actually featured on the inside, and wasn't so, for some time.

[L.R Johansson]

3. The NEW Brainiac
Earth-1 Brainiac travelled to the very birth of the Universe, in the form of energy, and when he returned... he was deadlier, colder, yet also more religiously fervent than ever before! This was the first iteration to use the iconic skull-ship.



4. Brainiac - Milton Fine
The first Post-Crisis Brainiac - was a man with mental disease and immense MUTANT powers - the first Brainiac to possess psionic abilities.
It was always left unclear whether he was truly Milton Fine with delusions, or if Fine truly WAS possessed by the ghost of Vril Dox, Coluan master-scientist.

[TheCape]

Luthor: Crush him Braniac!. But do it slowly.... i want to wacth him squirm
Braniac: You see? a man after my own heart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7hjdC8-jbw

[L.R Johansson]

5. Brainiac - Green Milton
Following an altercation which left him catatonic and with the lack of spinal fluids, Brainiac somehow turned green... (fill me in here folks...) This was the version which conquered Warworld and instigated the crossover "Panic in the Sky"
http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/...Brainiac-A.jpg

6. Brainiac 2.5
Following Zero Hour, Brainiac's history was changed, and he was once more Vril Dox, a powerful alien - except now he was originally organic, and all Coluans were no longer extinct. This was the first Brainiac to be clearly a fusion between cybernetics and organics.



7. Brainiac 13
A future Brainiac from the 64th Century, who sent his mind back through time, and possessed Brainiac 2.5, later upgrading him with 64th century tech, into a SUPREMELY powerful form.
Almost conquered the entire universe, by merging with Imperiex.

[JAK]

I like the Green Milton or New Brainiac designs, myself. But the one from Johns's run was good, too.

[Doctor Know]

Superman TAS/JL and Legion of Superheroes Brainiac. Corey Burton did the voice for Brainiac on all 3 shows.

[Jim Kelly]

I just can't bring myself to think of the Brainiac inside ACTION COMICS No. 242 (July '58) as one Brainiac (of Earth-Two) while the one on the outside is another Brainiac (of Earth-One). Granted the two versions are drawn differently--by Al Plastino story artist and by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye cover artists--but that happened quite a lot and still does.

Many regard ACTION COMICS No. 241 as the beginning point for the "Silver Age" or Earth-One Superman, and No. 242 really builds on what that issue started. And I think of the shrinking and expansion of Kandor as the two book-ends that really define the Earth-One Superman.

Moreover, Koko the Space-Monkey was Brainiac's pet through many an adventure. In fact, I prize Koko above Brainiac. The Space-Monkey is the crowning glory of Brainiac's act. Everything about Brainiac is an act. He is a computatonal higher intelligence beyond human comprehension--and he wears many hats. Taking a pet completes his guise.

It's therefore easy to fit all of the Brainiacs into one. It's the same intelligence that is using all these forms for its inscrutable design. I would just make sure that any writer respects the whole history of the character and allows room for all these interations to exist. I think that Geoff Johns nullfied the earlier Brainiac's existence with some events surrounding New Krypton--but best not to think about it.

I personally like the Curt Swan version of the character--but the beauty of Brainiac is that you need not reject any conception of the computer criminal.

[Sacred Knight]

The "new" Brainiac (robot) I think has been his best look. Green Milton was a good look too, even if the character himself had a terrible retooled origin.

[Zero Hunter]

I liked the version Johns gave us. It was a great idea to say all the other versions are probes of the original. I have never been a big fan of the complete AI version since I like my Brainiac to be at least somewhat organic so as to not lose that great relationship between him and his "son" Vril Dox.

[Zero Hunter]

I love this story with 3 generations of the Brainiac line in one story.

[Kuwagaton]

5. Brainiac - Green Milton
Following an altercation which left him catatonic and with the lack of spinal fluids, Brainiac somehow turned green... (fill me in here folks...)

His last move in the withering Milton body was having the green body created from mechanical and genetic engineering. This is my favorite Brainiac by way of plots (The Brainiac Trilogy, Panic in the Sky, Dead Again, LEGION, the annual 1990 crossover) but my favorite design is easily Swan. My biggest rule, and my idea with sophisticated technology, is sleek design. Looking rough and haggard doesn't fit someone so mentally powerful imo, the thumbs down for anything more than the prong doo-dad.

[Sacred Knight]

I've always thought if they're going to go the humanoid route, Brainiac should have a lanky, wizened sorcerer look. That's part of the reason why I liked the Green Milton look, as the sideshow magician base fit that preference a bit. He looked cool in the Brainiac arc while he was in the black cocoon thing. That look would have rocked if it had been a permanent feature as a cloak. But then Johns ruined it by revealing when he's out of it he's all bulked up and Hulk looking.

[Jim Kelly]

It was a great idea to say all the other versions are probes of the original. I have never been a big fan of the complete AI version since I like my Brainiac to be at least somewhat organic so as to not lose that great relationship between him and his "son" Vril Dox.

But isn't the original the computer intelligence itself? Any body is just a vessel for carrying that intelligence. I like to see Brainiac walking around and acting like a Coluan, but I understand that the real Brainiac is something you can't really see. He's not an organic lifeform.

[Netherman14]

I have somewhat of an affinity to the alien computer Brainiac of the New 52.

Superman_Vol_3_23.2_Brainiac_Textless.jpg

[Robotman]

I prefer Brainiac to look like a mix of organic and alien tech. His design in the DC Universe Online game was pretty good.

I liked the version Johns gave us. It was a great idea to say all the other versions are probes of the original.

I wasn't a huge fan of that design because he looked too much like a green Lex Luther.