One of the most iconic supervillains in the DC Comics universe is making his way to SYFY's KRYPTON this March, and now we have our first official look at the character in all of his sinister glory.
Portrayed by Blake Ritson, Brainiac is a vastly-intelligent alien being from the planet Colu, who has acted as a foil to Superman's greatest efforts on several occasions. His uniquely-powered mental prowess permits for him to wield psychic abilities that allow him to control both robotic and human hosts. Throughout his history on the comic book page, Brainiac has often been able to elude capture thanks to the many beings he can control serving as a proxy for his evil desires.
When speaking to USA Today about the upcoming supervillain role, Ritson explained to the outlet, "I've played characters who've objectively committed monstrous actions, but feel entirely justified, as they've acted from a misplaced sense of a noble cause," says Ritson. "Generally speaking, people cast themselves as the hero in their own narrative," he then added.
Then, while continuing to speak about the role, Ritson began talking about several different aspects of the character's commanding demeanor. "Yes, he traverses the universe in a gigantic skull ship, ripping cities out of planets, miniaturizing them and placing them on board. But he does so in the spirit of conservation. In his mind, he's committed to the ultimate philanthropic act: saving all of creation. In many ways it's analogous to Noah plucking out two of every animal to ensure their survival, even while knowing that others must perish."
Set two generations before the destruction of Superman’s home planet, KRYPTON follows Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), the legendary Man of Steel’s grandfather — whose House of El was ostracized and shamed. With Krypton’s leadership in disarray, Seg-El encounters Earthly time-traveler Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) who warns he’s under the clock to save his beloved world from chaos. Fighting to redeem his family’s honor and protect the ones he loves, Seg is also faced with a life and death conflict – save his home planet or let it be destroyed in order to restore the fate of his future grandson.
"It's something of a blank canvas that has allowed a lot of freedom for the writers to world-build," says Ritson while referring to KRYPTON's place in Superman's history. "This is a major expansion of the Superman universe and mythology and the civilization that fostered the greatest hero that ever lived."
If I'm being completely honest, I wasn't at all interested in KRYPTON before the release of this new video. Ritson looks to be doing the character some major justice here, and I can't help but love both Brainiac's page-perfect makeup as well as the representation of his iconic skull-shaped ship. If the rest of KRYPTON comes together as well as Brainiac appears to have, we could be looking at yet another solid Superman-related TV series to look forward to.
KRYPTON will make its SYFY debut on March 21st.