James Gunn explains his comic influences for Man of Tomorrow's Brainiac, including the classic story he won't be adapting

James Gunn is opening up about his inspirations for his upcoming interpretation of Superman's arch-enemy Brainiac in upcoming sequel Man of Tomorrow. The filmmaker says he's drawing straight from Brainiac's comic history, but not necessarily adapting a single story.

"Fun story but not really, no," Gunn says on social media when asked if '90s Superman crossover story Panic in the Sky, in which Brainiac is the main villain, would be adapted in Man of Tomorrow. "More specifically: I read almost every Brainiac story to put Brainiac in MoT together and used bits and pieces I thought worked best. But PitS wasn't a key influence on the story."

Panic in the Sky took place all the way back in 1992, with Superman leading a veritable army of heroes against Brainiac as he attempts to seize control of the planet-sized battle station War World.

That's just one aspect of Brainiac's history, which has included the super-intelligent villain taking on numerous identities and origins over the years. In most stories, he's a super-evolved form of computer intelligence combined with a physical body, though there have been a few twists on that concept.

At the time of Panic in the Sky, Brainiac was in his Milton Fine incarnation, a human man whose mind is taken over by Brainiac's intelligence, warping his body to more closely resemble Brainiac's physical appearance.

That said, given what Gunn has revealed about his comic influences, it seems likely he'll be adapting a version of Brainiac who most closely resembles his core origin as a super-intelligent world conqueror who steals cities from planets across the universe in his pursuit of devouring all knowledge in existence.

Man of Tomorrow focuses on Superman and Lex Luthor overcoming their differences to take on Brainiac. That's got plenty of precedent in comics and other media, where Luthor and Brainiac have often joined forces, with Brainiac usually betraying Luthor and forcing him to team up with Superman to take on the greater threat.

While we wait for Man of Tomorrow to hit theaters on July 9, 2026, you can stay up to date on all the upcoming DC movies and shows that are in the works.