Man of Tomorrow’s Brainiac Needs to Deliver a Thanos-Level Villain for the DCU
Man of Tomorrow has a huge chance to change how comic book movies cast villains and fix a big problem that has existed in the DCU and one that has always hurt the MCU as well. While superhero movies for DC and Marvel have almost always had great casting for heroes and villains, the villains in the movies are often underwritten and disappointing, and they barely match up to the heroes in the stories. Even with the success of James Gunn and his movies, this has also been a problem. The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie remains highly regarded, while its villain, Ronan the Accuser, ranks among the MCU’s most disappointing. Brainiac has to change that in Gunn’s next movie, Man of Tomorrow.
Brainiac has to be closer to Thanos than any other villain in DCU, DCEU, or MCU history, because without a huge threat and a memorable villain, Man of Tomorrow will fall short in the end.
DC Movies Have Struggled With the Same Villain Issue as the MCU
The DC Universe has struggled just as much with villains as the MCU. This goes all the way back to Zack Snyder’s time as the franchise architect, as villains like Ares, Doomsday, Steppenwolf, and even Darkseid were less than impressive when all was said and done. In James Gunn’s DCU, there have been only two movies, and the villains have been mixed. While Nicholas Hoult was fantastic as Lex Luthor in Superman, the villains that Superman actually fought were less than memorable. Supergirl saw Woman of Tomorrow adapted, but Krem of the Yellow Hills had a lot in common with Ronan: an interesting idea that just didn’t pop off the screen the way he should have.
The MCU’s biggest criticism for years was its lack of memorable villains. There were some highlights, such as Loki specifically, but the MCU movies had a plethora of villains that no one really looks back on today with any sort of excitement. Names like Malekith, Whiplash, Kaecilius, Aldrich Killian, Yellowjacket, and Ronan were all great in the comics, but they never hit the right notes in the movies and ended up disappointing comic book fans and moviegoers alike. Heroes are only as good as their villains, and while the MCU somehow overcame that saying with Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and the rest of the Avengers, it could have been so much stronger with better villains.
That is what happened with Thanos. While he was introduced slowly over a few movies, when he did arrive, he was a force of nature. He beat the heroes, he outsmarted them, and he even won in his first appearance. Thanos was a worthy villain, which is a big reason that Avengers: Endgame was such a huge deal. Yes, seeing all these heroes who had been built up over the years teaming up was a selling point, but this was about beating a villain who was built up to look unbeatable. Fans believed that he was a genuine threat, more so than any other villain in Marvel or DC movies. That is what Brainiac has to be.
Brainiac Has to Prove to Be a Threat to Superman
As great as Superman was as a movie, Lex Luthor was not really a threat to the Man of Steel. As good as Hoult is in the role, he wasn’t built up enough to threaten Superman the way he does in the comics. In the comics, he has a lot of power, but that was barely hinted at in the movie, and the film spent most of the run time with Superman fighting Lex’s mostly obscure lackeys. Supergirl was even worse. The movie was a great hero’s tale for Supergirl and Ruthye, but no one thought Krem of the Yellow Hills had any chance to actually beat Supergirl in the end. There wasn’t enough of a threat from the main villain.
While Brainiac is showing up for the first time in a movie where he is the main villain, he has to be a lot more than Ronan the Accuser was in Guardians of the Galaxy. He can’t just come in, deliver some one-liners, and then get beaten. After so many years of waiting for Brainiac to show up on the big screen in a live-action role, that would be the most disappointing end result that Gunn could come up with. Brainiac can’t be used just to build to Lex Luthor and Superman’s next chapter. Brainiac has to be a world-ending threat, and Man of Tomorrow has to make him the threat that Thanos was.
Zack Snyder had a plan to use Steppenwolf to eventually bring Darkseid into the DCEU. It remains disappointing that Steppenwolf was such a poor villain when it comes to character and execution, because Snyder never made it to the movie where he could show Darkseid’s immense powers. Darkseid easily could have been the next Thanos, but it never happened. If James Gunn can’t break the cycle of delivering lackluster villains to superhero movies, his DCU might not last any longer than Snyder’s DCEU. Man of Tomorrow gives Gunn a big chance to build his DCU brand’s future. But to do so, Brainiac has to be a Thanos-level villain, and anything less would be a disappointment.
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