After months of speculation toward the end of 2025, DC Studios’ co-head James Gunn confirmed that Brainiac would be the villain in Man of Tomorrow, his follow-up to Superman. The alien villain AI is often viewed as Superman’s second most famous foe, and fans have been wondering which DC Comics stories Gunn is pulling from for inspiration. Well, Gunn has now confirmed which Brainiac story he won’t be pulling from. And it’s actually a fan-favorite Superman story from the 1990s, “Panic in the Sky.” James confirmed this in his response to a fan’s question on Threads (via Comic Book Movie).
“Panic in the Sky” was a story that ran through the four main Superman titles in 1992. It featured Brainiac invading Earth and Superman needing to pull in every available DC hero to stop him. This was during the celebrated “Triangle Era” of the Superman titles, when the four Superman comics by different creative teams were all interconnected. This story preceded “The Death of Superman” by several months. It was a big “blockbuster alien invasion movie” of a story and one that seems perfect to adapt as an actual film. But it seems that James Gunn has other plans for the alien despot from the planet Colu.
Since “Panic in the Sky” is a de facto Justice League story, maybe Gunn isn’t ready to go there just yet. And it’s not like there aren’t plenty of other great Brainiac stories to pull from. After all, the character has been around since 1958. Geoff Johns’ “Brainiac” saga from 2008 is one of the best ones, and an easy one to draw inspiration from. Warner Animation already adapted it as the animated film Superman: Unbound. Speaking of animation, the Brainiac stories from Superman: The Animated Series are ripe for adaptation as well. Our hunch is that Gunn’s Brainiac will have heavy Silver Age influences, with some nods to modern age comics. We imagine we’ll learn more when Man of Tomorrow starts shooting this year.