Marks the first time the character Brainiac has appeared in a live-action Superman film. The character has a long history of being pitched as the main antagonist for Superman sequels which later either dropped him or were cancelled outright. He was in an early version of
Superman III (1983), alongside Supergirl and fellow Superman villain Mr. Mxyzptlk, but all three were scrapped in later drafts. He was also planned to appear in a fifth Superman film with Christopher Reeve but it was cancelled after Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) underperformed and Cannon Films filed for bankruptcy. Brainiac was later planned to appear in
Tim Burton's unmade "Superman Lives" film, with
Christopher Walken tapped for the role, but the film would go on to be cancelled. He was also to have been the main antagonist in certain versions of the aborted sequel to
Superman Returns (2006), along with General Zod, and
Zack Snyder originally wanted to use him in his original plans for a sequel to
Man of Steel (2013), but that was dropped when the studio instead chose to focus on developing
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
