James Gunn has found a very brainy actor to play the villain of Man of Tomorrow, his sequel to this summer’s Superman.
“In our worldwide search for Brainiac in Man of Tomorrow, Lars Eidinger rose to the top. Welcome to the DCU, Lars,” writer-director Gunn wrote on X Saturday.
The casting ends weeks of rumors about who would step into the role. The German actor is largely known for work in Europe, such as the acclaimed German series Babylon Berlin, but he worked with Shawn Levy on the Netflix miniseries All the Light We Cannot See and Noah Baumbach on White Noise.
Brainiac is the classic Superman villain who debuted in 1958’s Action Comics No. 242. The issue, from writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, introduced Brainiac as a super-intelligent alien who uses a shrink ray to shrink Metropolis and place the city in a collection of alien cities he keeps in bottles. The villain is considered a chief antagonist of Superman’s, and has been a threat big enough to force Lex Luthor to team up with the Man of Steel to stop him.
David Corenswet once again stars as Superman, with Nicholas Hoult playing Lex Luthor, with the duo rumored to form an uneasy alliance to face a bigger threat.
Man of Tomorrow is following quickly on the heels of Superman, and has a release date of July 9, 2027. With Hollywood hit by the pandemic and labor strikes, sequels have often taken longer than two years to materialize in recent years. Gunn will direct and write the script. He will produce with his DC Studios co-chief, Peter Safran.