Ranking the 15 greatest DC Comics rivalries of all-time

10. Superman and Brainiac

Don’t expect to see Doomsday and Superman make the list.  Doomsday lacks the depth to make him a rival. Brainiac, on the other hand, is the perfect counter to Superman. This is brain versus bran to the extreme.

Lex is one the smartest villains Superman had to face, but pales in comparison. Brainiac isn’t just smart, he can transfer his conscious into any device or person. The alien Vrill Dox, from the planet Coluan wanted to conquer inferior beings. The superior, Twelfth-Level Intellect made life difficult for Superman in many tragic ways.

Brainiac shrank Kandor and Krypton and carried them around as his souvenirs. He and Superman faced off, but the genius proved too much for the Man of Steel. Beating Superman wasn’t that bad if you consider what he did next.

In one arc, Brainiac had Superman distracted which opened the door for him to kill Johnathan Kent. There’s also the time he teamed with Lex to take New Krypton. Superman and Supergirl teamed with General Zod, it got that serious, yet it wasn’t enough. Brainiac 5 and the Legion of Superheroes helped save the day.

Brainiac forces Superman to tap into an underrated aspect of his heroism, his intellect. Let’s hope, that someday we can once again see this rivalry play out on the big screen.