The one-shot Superman Y2K was published with a cover date of February 2000. The issue took place on December 31, 1620, 1845, 1917 and December 31, 1999 through January 1, 2000. The issue introduced Brianiac 13, which the image was computer generated. Brainiac 13 was created by Joe Kelly and Jackson Guise. ("The End", Superman Y2K, DC Comic Event)
“I will be everything there has ever been, Kryptonian. I will be evolved into perfection.” - Brainiac
Real Name: Vril Dox
Aliases:
Milton Fine, the "Amazing Brainiac”
Brainiac 2.5
Pulsar Stargrave
Gender: Male
Height: 5′ 6″
Weight: 300 lbs (136 kg)
Eyes: Green
Hair: No Hair
Skin: Green
Race: Coluan
Powers:
Enhanced Intellect
Mental Powers
Cybernetic Physiology
Abilities:
Computer Operation
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)
Intimidation
Weaknesses:
Sensory Overload
Link to Ship
Obsession with Control
Anti-social Personality
Equipment:
Brainiac Probe
B13 Technology
Brainiac's Skull Ship
Base of Operations: Mobile
Universe: New Earth
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Scientist
First Appearance: Adventures of Superman #438 (March, 1988)
Last Appearance: Convergence #8 (July, 2015)
Powers
Enhanced Intellect: Brainiac is generally believed to be the most intelligent being in the DC Universe, possessing a twelfth-level intellect. He is capable of storing and processing trillions of minds worth of information in his data banks and Coluan brain and possesses superhuman calculation abilities, enhanced memory, and advanced understanding of mechanical engineering, bio-engineering, physics and other theoretical and applied sciences. He has been shown as being capable of feats such as shrinking entire planets, creating impenetrable force fields, absorbing information from other beings, transferring his consciousness, time travel, and even creating an army of ten thousand similarly powered probes who are each able to rival and even kill Kryptonians. His vast intellect also makes him immune to mind control.
Mental Powers:
Technology Manipulation: Brainiac is able to inhabit and control almost any technological device with little issue, allowing him to become more dangerous.
Telepathy: In the form of Milton Fine, Brainiac has shown the ability to read and control the minds of most beings with little difficulty.
Telekinesis
Possession: Brainiac has been shown to use his mental and telepathic powers to take possession of the bodies of other beings.
Replication: Brainiac has been shown as able to create multiple versions of himself.
Cybernetic Physiology:
Superhuman Strength: Brainiac is frequently shown to possess incredible levels of strength.
Superhuman Durability: Brainiac possesses an extraordinary level of durability to the point that he is able to withstand devastating blows without showing any signs of damage or pain.
Superhuman Speed
Self-Sustenance: As a machine, Brainiac does not require food, water, sleep or oxygen to survive.
Immortality: Brainiac's mechanical body means that he is immune to aging. His exact age has never been specified but he was alive long before Krypton's destruction, making him several thousand years old at the least.
Regeneration: Brainiac is able to heal from most injuries with little issue and has been shown to be able to restore himself to his original state if even a single line of his code exists.
Abilities
Computer Operation
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)
Intimidation: Due to his immense power and utter ruthlessness, Brainiac is feared throughout the universe.
Weaknesses
Sensory Overload: Brainiac has been defeated in the past by forcing him onto Earth's atmosphere where he was overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of human society that his abilities enabled him to experience and the germs and microbes that he is not used to.
Link to Ship: Brainiac has sometimes been portrayed as being linked mentally to his ship and separating him from it without warning can disable him and separating him from it for prolonged periods drains him of much of his strength and causes his body to deteriorate.
Obsession with Control: Brainiac possesses an absolute need for control and power in any situation and is often shown becoming extremely volatile and distressed in situations where he isn't, often resulting in him making mistakes that end up seriously damaging his plans.
Anti-social Personality: Brainiac possesses no empathy or compassion for any other sentient being and almost exclusively works alone in his schemes, aided only by machines and people whose wills he has reprogrammed to serve him. On the rare occasions where he cooperates with others beings who aren't under his mind control, he rules them through fear and will almost certainly betray them at a later date without any hesitancy or remorse.
Equipment
Brainiac Probe
B13 Technology
Brainiac's Skull Ship
Origin
Vril Dox, alias Brainiac is a brilliant Coluan scientist. At some point, he cloned himself to get a lab assistant; the clone would later be called Vril Dox II. He acquired a spaceship and went on a journey through space, acquiring knowledge and using his robotic drones to capture living organisms of various alien species. Along the way, he came to the planet Krypton some time during the lifetime of General Zod, and kidnapped the entire city of Kandor, miniaturizing it in his spaceship for preservation and study. He also created a remote scout unit, which was programmed to think it was the original Vril Dox.
Earth
The remote scout unit came to Earth as a cloud of nanotechnological robots, and took over the body of sideshow mentalist Milton Fine, who worked under the alias "Brainiac". Needing cranial fluid to maintain his possession of Fine, Dox went on a murder spree. He discovered Fine had genuine psychic powers, which he frequently used on Superman.
Brainiac was later captured by Lex Luthor, but used his powers to wrest control of Lexcorp away from him. Under his mental domination, Lexcorp scientists recreated his Coluan form. The diodes in his head now increased and stabilized his mental powers, as well as allowing him direct access to computer banks. He continued to plague Superman, using a combination of mental powers and computer control. On one occasion, he began to shrink cities.
Following the loss of Milton Fine's body, Vril Dox would place his consciousness in a robot body he called Brainiac 2.5. He became briefly obsessed with gaining Superman's form.
Brainiac revealed he had placed a sleeper virus in Lexcorp's Y2K bug safeguards. This was intended to dramatically boost his abilities. Instead, it allowed Brainiac 13 to arrive from the 64th century. Brainiac 13 stole Brainiac's body and placed Brainiac's mind in the body of Lena Luthor. Brainiac 13 then converted Metropolis into a futuristic replica of itself; Lex Luthor traded his daughter, Lena Luthor, to Brainiac 13 in exchange for being given control of his B13 Technology. Brainiac 2.5 left with Brainiac 13.
During the Imperiex attack, Brainiac 13 and Brainiac 2.5 became involved. Although initially working against Imperiex with the heroes of Earth, they tried to double-cross them later on. However, this plan backfired; Brainiac 13 was sent back through time to die in the Big Bang and Brainiac 2.5 lost control of Lena Luthor. This copy of Brainiac is now considered dead.
Alliance with Brainiac 8
Later, a copy of Brainiac teamed up with a future descendant of the Brainiac line, Indigo aka Brainiac 8 sent to kill Donna Troy and ensure Colu's future. This version of Brainiac was trying to clone its body using a secret Lexcorp facility. He was killed by Starfire when she destroyed his ship with him in it.
The Nanotech copy
After the Infinte Crisis, a copy of Brainiac composed of nanoscale robots invaded a Waynetech robotics facility and tried to gain a new body - a prototype OMAC unit built with B13 Technology. Controlling Metallo and the Metal Men, he fought Superman and Batman for the OMAC, but was ultimately defeated.
Superman: Brainiac
A drone unit came to earth and fought Superman, drawing blood for research by Brainiac. After Supergirl informed Superman of Brainiac's true nature, Superman tracked Brainiac down, intending to retrieve Kandor. Brainiac beat the Man of Steel down, though, and then headed his ship towards Earth. Supergirl fought his drones fiercely, but they managed to capture her and take her on boards. Then Brainiac shrunk Metropolis and fired a missile at the Sun, planning to blow the Sun up and take the rest of the Earth with it. Supergirl stopped his missile, while Superman broke free in his ship and carried him to the surface of the Earth, where he knocked him out. However, as Superman was distracted with saving Metropolis & Kandor, Brainiac attacked the Kent farm; Jonathan Kent died as a result.
New Krypton
Brainiac was captured by the United States government and turned over to Project 7734. Lex Luthor attempted to flee the Project with Brainiac, but Brainiac resisted, citing a plan that he had.
Last Stand of New Krypton
Brainiac and Luthor attacked New Krypton, the former looking to steal the city back again. The battle against Brainiac involved Superman, Supergirl, the Legion of Super-Heroes, General Zod and his army and several thousands of Kryptonians. At the end, Brainiac 5 put a stop to his evil grand-grand-grandfather, and Vril Dox was taken to Colu and jailed.
Ultimate Fate
Around the time of Flashpoint, Brainiac surpassed the Source Wall and departed the boundaries of the Multiverse and linear time. At the conclusion of Flashpoint, Brainiac was technically transformed by the rewriting of the timeline into a new version of himself, for all intents and purposes. Paradoxically, the Brainiac of New Earth remained a distinct existence outside of time and reality, unto himself, until he bore witness to the secrets of the Multiverse. The expansion of his consciousness into the past and future timelines, both before the Crisis and beyond Flashpoint, had the effect of amalgamating the Brainiacs of these realities into an omnipotent being surpassing yet incorporating all of them. This "god-machine" Brainiac would go on to act as the driving force behind the events of Futures End and Convergence, before ultimately using his power to circumvent the first Crisis and retroactively preventing the collapse of the Pre-Crisis Multiverse.
Fun Facts
Superman speculates that Brainiac had some direct hand in the destruction of Krypton.
