Henry Cavill Wants Superman to Face Off Against Classic Villain Brainiac

Kim Taylor-Foster
Movies DC
Movies DC

Henry Cavill’s incarnation of Superman in the DC Extended Universe has had his fair share of world-saving to do, protecting the globe from some heavy duty villains. He’s so far been pitted against the likes of General Zod in Man of Steel, Doomsday in Batman v Superman and Steppenwolf in Justice League. Not to mention ongoing foe Lex Luthor, of course. But it’s another classic DC villain that Henry Cavill revealed he wants to see his Superman come up against. At the Mission: Impossible — Fallout press junket, we asked Cavill which big bad he’d most like Superman to fight that he hasn’t faced off against yet. He told us exclusively: “I think a great villain would be Brainiac. I think that would be a good villain to play against. Brainiac is a big threat. He’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot to him, there’s a lot of storylines to him.”

In the comic books, Brainiac is a major enemy of Superman. A cyborg, he was created on the planet of Colu as a humanoid operating system for the planet’s computer network, but he later became sentient. His abilities include miniaturising cities to transport elsewhere and rebuilding his body, allowing him to transmit his mind into electronic devices. Some versions of the character have him responsible for destroying Superman’s home planet, Krypton.

A Change of Direction for Superman?

Brainiac has been realised in live-action on the small screen before – in Smallville, and most recently Krypton — but it would be great to see him face off against Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel on the big screen. This could happen if the next Superman film follows a classic comic-book story – which Cavill could well have been hinting at when he dismissed the notion of playing an evil Superman, like Christopher Reeve in Superman III, in favour of a more “classic” version of the superhero.

“I would be very keen for the opportunity to play a classic comic Supes before playing evil,” he said. “In the comic books, there’s a lot of really, really good stories about being the classic hero — a real beacon of hope and a shining light for everyone to aspire towards — and it would be a lot of fun to play that version of Supes.”

Guess it’s time to start genning up on all those classic comic-book stories featuring Superman going toe-to-toe with Brainiac for clues as to the plot of the next Superman film.

Mission: Impossible Fallout hits screens in the UK on July 25, the US on July 27 and Australia on August 2.

Kim Taylor-Foster
Kim Taylor-Foster is Entertainment Editor for Fandom in the UK. She was raised on an unsteady diet of video nasties and violent action flicks.