DC Has Made Brainiac Vs Superman More Complicated In A Way That’s Almost Impossible For The Hero To Beat

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DC"s newest show has reimagined the Brainiac vs Superman conflict in a way that makes it currently almost impossible for the Man of Steel himself to win. Brainiac has been one of the most interesting antagonists in Superman"s villain roster ever since his debut in 1958, and his prominence has only grown in the many decades since this comic introduction. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a range of different adaptations of Brainiac both in animated and live-action Superman releases, each enriching the history of the character yet further.
However, what"s seldom changed is Brainiac"s focus - namely, that of being an enemy of Superman, and someone who is entirely opposed to the DC hero in basically every sense, allowing his rigid and robotic perspective on the world to further underline Superman"s humanity and hope for mankind. That said, one of 2025"s newest DC releases has presented a different version of the Superman vs Brainiac conflict in which it"s hard to see the Man of Steel ever winning against the calculated plans of his foe.
Superman Faces A Unique Form Of Challenge Via Harley Quinn's Brainiac Close Harley Quinn season 5, episode 1 introduces a new version of the Superman villain Brainiac when Harley and Ivy move to Metropolis, with the first part of the new story unveiling how the Man of Steel has struggled thanks to the antagonist"s latest machinations. The story shows that Metropolis has become basically crime free, with Brainiac"s drones - shown to be under his control in the episode"s ending - ensuring that any problem big or small is instead dealt with by them rather than the DC hero himself.
Harley Quinn season 5, episode 1 debuted January 16, 2025, with episode 2 set to release January 23, 2025.
While this sounds like the opposite of Brainiac"s usual schemes, it works effectively to shake the Man of Steel, who"s revealed to be having something of a meltdown over the fact that he no longer feels he serves a purpose to the people of his city and thus in his life. This challenging of Superman"s core beliefs is so profound he decides to take what appears to be his first ever vacation at Harley"s prompting, meaning Brainiac essentially wins control of Metropolis over from the hero - though it doesn"t seem Superman is necessarily aware of who controls the automatons yet.
Why Brainiac's Schemes In Harley Quinn Season 5 Are Almost Impossible For Superman To Beat Close Usually, Brainiac presents an obvious problem for Superman and the people he cares about that necessitates the hero entering the fray, defeating the villain, and destroying any tools he"s using to do evil deeds. However, creating robots that appear to be helping better the city - even if there appears to be something more at play underneath this excuse - naturally is a more complicated matter, since there"s no obvious danger for Superman to confront, even as the robots drive the hero increasingly into an existential breakdown.
Even if Superman worked out that Brainiac was behind the machines, it"s not as though he"d be able to then simply destroy them and put an end to any complications there. The people of Metropolis seem to like the convenience of having helping robots around to ostensibly protect and serve them - as shown by Jimmy Olsen"s grateful response to having one of the robots help free his bowtie from a closed door - and so unless Superman could prove they were intended for sinister purposes, he is effectively stuck unable to get rid of them without causing greater issues for himself.
Harley Quinn Season 5 Is Set Up For Another DC Character To Beat Brainiac Close With Superman having gone on a vacation, it"s currently actually much more likely that Harley Quinn will be the one to deal with Brainiac, since the ending of the episode suggests the villain has Harley and Ivy in his crosshairs following his robots previously scanning the Gotham duo when they arrived at the opening gala of the Metropolis Museum. Since Brainiac"s ethos here appears to be keeping a meticulously "tidy" Metropolis - which is a version of the city that conflicts with Ivy"s vision of a more nature-rich Metropolis - this conflict does seem par for the course.
The Harley Quinn series focusing on its titular protagnist also makes it seem likely that either she or Ivy will be the one to deal with Brainiac, much as they were involved in the defeat of Lex Luthor towards the end of season 4 after he kidnapped and seemingly almost killed Superman himself. Given Harley is also characterized as essentially the opposite of Brainiac already, the stage does seem set for her to end up serving as his direct antagonist in this part of her show, whether the Man of Steel himself comes back in the DC story or not.

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