Brainiac (comics)

Brainiac is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain and frequent opponent of Superman. Created by Otto Binder, he first appeared in Action Comics #242 (July 1958). Due to complex storylines involving time travel, cloning, and revisions of DC's continuity, several variations of Brainiac have appeared.

Brainiac has been one of Superman's most important enemies ever since the villain's first appearance, and is responsible for shrinking Kandor, the capital city of Superman's home planet Krypton which the hero has vowed to restore.

Though at his core Brainiac is formless, most incarnations depict him as a bald, green-skinned alien android from the planet Colu, and one of the most intelligent villains in the DC universe, capable of possessing others, creating and manipulating computer systems, and exerting some control over time and space. Brainiac's name derives from the -IAC naming trend among early electronic computers, after ENIAC: ILLIAC, JOHNNIAC, MANIAC, SILLIAC, etc. In the television series Smallville, BRAINIAC is said to stand for "BRAIN InterActive Construct".

Brainiac has been adapted into the Super Friends animated series, as well as the subsequent DC Animated Universe and the live-action Superman adaptation Smallville.