Brainiac

Brainiac was a supervillain and an antagonist of the fifth season of Harley Quinn.

Biography[]

Background[]

Hundreds of years ago, on planet Colu, Brainiac, known as Vril Dox, was an information and technology collector of other worlds for the Coluian government with a wife and son. Having been promoted to a position that no longer required traveling, his last mission was to obtain a shrinking weapon, the Hyper-Ray, from an uninhabited planet. After successfully returning home with the Hyper-Ray, he was devastated to find that Colu's entire population had been destroyed, including his family. Blaming himself for not calculating with the planet's minimal imperfections, he spent centuries traveling the galaxy, shrinking and collecting civilizations that he perfected. To keep himself company, he constantly talked to the skeletal remains of his pet monkey Koko. When Vril arrives on earth, he joins forces with Lena Luthor, who is renamed "Brainiac" (much to his annoyance). Lena agrees to help him perfect Metropolis in exchange for making her ruler once the city is miniaturized. Brainiac lent Leana his drone army to help her prepare for his latest project of perfection.

Season 1[]

"So You Need a Crew?"[]

Brainiac was briefly featured among prominent supervillains during the 1980s in Queen of Fables' flashback, alongside villains like The Joker, Lex Luthor, Bane, and many others.

Season 5[]

"The Big Apricot"[]

After Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy decide to move to Metropolis, Brainiac watches them with disdain as their chaotic traits start ruining the city's perfection.

"Floronic Man"[]

After Harley and Ivy killed Jason Woodrue, Brainiac sent his drones to teleport the two women to his Skull Ship.

"Breaking Brainiac"[]

Brainiac finds Harley and Ivy's unpredictable nature too risky to deal with, so he decides to eliminate them. When Harly begins using psychology to make Brainiac question his actions, he begins attacking her mind. Just then, Leana shows up and claims he can keep Harley and Ivy in line. Brainiac agrees and returns them to Metropolis, erasing their memories of their captivity.

"Bottle My Heart"[]

Brainiac ends his partnership with Lena due to their constant disagreement, angering Lena into seeking the Daily Planet and revealing Brainiac's plot to them while covering up her own part in it. Harley, Clayface, and Bane decide to stage a musical to make the citizens aware of the situation without causing panic. The play dramatically tells Brainiac's backstory and his desire to make everything perfect, gaining him sympathy among the people, much to Lena's annoyance. Brainiac also watches the play from his Skull Ship, making him accept that Coco is dead, and he has been talking to his pet's skeletal remains this whole time. As Brainiac finally realized he was truly insane, he became frustrated as he thought that nobody knew the pain and loneliness he felt for centuries. After the play ends, Brainiac sees Leana kill Frank in front of Ivy. After witnessing her grieving, Brainiac claims she now knows what it feels like.

"Frankette"[]

Claiming that Brainiac killed Frank, Lena helps Harley and Ivy get on his Skull Ship so they can avenge Frank. Harley and Ivy find a depressed Brainiac and learn that in his misery, he programmed the Automaton Security Robots to destroy Metropolis. They shrink him with the Hyper-Ray and intend to kill him, but Brainiac shows them footage that reveals Lena stabbed Frank to death. Unable to shut down the robots herself, Harley asks for Lena's help, who saves the city from destruction but asks for something in return. With Brainiac now her prisoner, Lena takes over Brainiac's Skull Ship and begins her reign over Metropolis.

"Family Feud"[]

Brainiac was indirectly mentioned by a somber and depressed Bruce who was reeling over Lena's double life with him.

On his ship, Brainiac pleads to Lena to stop her from overriding his ship by becoming its new admin, but Lena scoffs at the minuscule Brainiac for trying to stop her and does so anyway. She'd say that Brainiac had it coming due to his depressive episode, and Brainiac gives her a thumbs up, which is considered the most offensive hand gesture in the Colu galaxy. So, Lena gives him a double thumbs up, which Brainiac finds appalling, and tries to give a peace sign toward Lena, but she slaps his jar, causing him to fall backward.

Later, Brainiac tells Lena that she doesn't need to verbalize her commands to his automatons, but he gets rebuked for trampling on her fun.

"Bottle Episode"[]

Brainiac begs Leana to kill him, but as much as she would like to, she still needs his technological expertise.

After Harley, Ivy, and Sharon are shrunk and captured, they are put in the same bottle as Brainiac. Harley then breaks down in tears, saying that she only wants her life with Ivy to be perfect, which Brainiac can empathize with.

"The Mess is the Point"[]

Ivy stops her verbal attacks after Frankette hits her head and bleeds on the container. However, the bottle is close to falling off the side of the table, and Harley's team works together to knock it down. In the process, Sharon convinces Brainiac to get involved, getting him to repeat her mantra that “The Mess is the Point” of life. Fed up with Lex, Lena sets the ship to collide with the planet Colu. Because they are not paying attention, Team Harley succeeds, and Brainiac shrinks the Luthors. Harley and Ivy knock out the Luthors. Brainiac then returns Harley, Ivy, Sharon, and himself to their regular size. Ivy tosses the Luthors over to the shrunken train tracks.

When they try to escape, Frankette eats them. Harley and Ivy try to convince Brainiac to stop the ship collision with Colu, but he has now fully bought into the “The Mess is the Point” mantra. Harley tells Brainiac that he should turn off the collision because it is what happened at the end of the musical. Brainiac never saw the end because of Frank’s death and does not believe her. However, he will agree to do it if they speak to the playwright, Bane, who is initially confused by Harley’s requests because that is not how the musical ends. However, the other member of Team Harley whispers that he should update the story. Bane sings about the tragedy of Brainiac’s life, and while Harley tries to adjust to it, she cannot convince him otherwise. He admits his life is a tragedy and readies for the collision.

As he prepares to die, Brainiac’s wife, his son Vril, and Koko the monkey visit him. Harley and Ivy realize what is happening, but when Brainiac looks at the three of them, he only sees his family. He has a hallucination where he has dinner with his family. Eventually, Koko and his family tell Brainiac to help Harley, and he agrees to help them. He sends them to an escape pod, allowing Harley, Ivy, Sharon, and Frankette to return home. After sending Harley and the family home, Brainiac powers down to spend his remaining minutes with his family. Harley, Ivy, and Sharon ride the escape ship home as Brainiac’s ship explodes.

Episode appearances[]

Season 1

"So You Need a Crew?" (cameo; pictured)

Season 5

Kite Man: Hell Yeah!

"Hero Stuff, Hell Yeah!" (cameo; ship)