Comic book superhero
Brainiac 5 (Querl Dox) is a superhero appearing in comics published by DC Comics. He is from the planet Colu and is a long-standing member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th and 31st centuries.
Brainiac 5 has been substantially adapted into other media, primarily in association with the Legion. He is voiced by Adam Wylie in "Legion of Super Heroes" (2006) and portrayed by James Marsters and Jesse Rath in "Smallville" and the Arrowverse respectively. A gender-swapped alternate universe variant of Brainiac 5 appears in the fifth season of "Supergirl", portrayed by Rath's sister Meaghan Rath.
Publication history.
Brainiac 5 first appeared in "Action Comics" #276 (May 1961) and was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. He was originally written as a descendant of Superman's enemy Brainiac. Several years later, when Brainiac was revealed to be a living computer, Brainiac 5 was retconned to be a descendant of his adopted son.
Fictional character biography.
Original continuity (1958–1994).
Brainiac 5 is a teenage Coluan of the planet Colu, who claimed to be descended from the original Brainiac, one of Superman's deadliest enemies, and wished to join the Legion as atonement for his misdeeds. When Brainiac 1 was revealed to be an android created by the Computer Tyrants, Brainiac 5 "discovered" he was actually descended from Brainiac 2, the leader of the rebellion against the tyrants, as well as being the clone of the original Brainiac. Brainiac 5's ingenuity led to the invention of, amongst other things, the Legion flight ring (perfecting an invention of the original Invisible Kid based on a metal discovered by Mon-El), the anti-lead serum that allowed Mon-El to leave the Phantom Zone and the force field belt which became the signature device of the character. Another of Brainiac 5's creations had less beneficial effects: the super computer Computo, which attempted to take over the world, killing one of Triplicate Girl's three selves in the process. He successfully destroyed his creation with "an anti-matter force". Another experiment, performed in conjunction with honorary Legionnaire Rond Vidar, led to the transformation of fellow scientist Professor Jaxon Rugarth into the psychotic, all-powerful Infinite Man.
As time went on, Brainiac 5 began to be portrayed as unstable. Long attracted to Supergirl, Brainiac 5 created a robot duplicate of her in his sleep, convincing himself this was the real Supergirl. The Legion encountered Pulsar Stargrave, a villain who convinced Brainiac 5 that he was the Coluan's long-lost father. Brainiac 5 joined Stargrave to battle the sorcerer Mordru, but the android's influence would haunt him long after that. It was claimed in "Superboy" #225 that Stargrave was actually the original Brainiac android, but the truth of this is uncertain.
When Stargrave murders Ultra Boy's ex-girlfriend An Ryd, Brainiac 5 frames Ultra Boy for the murder. Chameleon Boy, who suspected Brainiac 5 from the beginning, finds proof when Brainiac's madness leads him to an attempt to destroy the universe using the Miracle Machine, a device that turns thoughts into reality. He is stopped by Matter-Eater Lad, who eats the machine, and both are committed to a mental institution (the energies of the Machine having driven Matter-Eater Lad insane). Brainiac 5 eventually recovers his sanity and rejoins the group. Shortly afterward, however, he is accused of having murdered Ultra Boy's ex-girlfriend himself. To prove his innocence, he finds Stargrave and defeats him. He later manages to cure Matter-Eater Lad's insanity. Around this time, he corrects another of his mistakes by finding a way of controlling Computo.
"Crisis on Infinite Earths".
Brainiac 5 enters a state of deep melancholy upon the thousand-year anniversary of Supergirl's death at the hands of the Anti-Monitor during "Crisis on Infinite Earths". However, as the Crisis eliminated Supergirl from existence, Brainiac 5 (as well as everyone else) has no recollection of her. Beyond this, however, Brainiac 5's history was relatively unaffected by the Crisis, although it would be some time before he received an origin that reflected the new Brainiac 1. Following the death of the pocket universe Superboy, Brainiac 5 is one of a number of Legionnaires who swear revenge on the Time Trapper. To this end, he recreated the Infinite Man. The Infinite Man and Time Trapper seemingly destroy each other, but Brainiac 5 quits the Legion after being accused of murdering Professor Rugarth. He rejoins in "Legion of Super-Heroes" (vol. 3) #63 (August 1989), shortly before the "Five Year Gap".
"Five Year Gap".
Five years after the end of the "Magic Wars", things had radically changed for the heroes, most notably the disbanding of the Legion and an ongoing war with the Khund Empire, which had resulted in Earth's government (Earthgov) signing a deal with the Dominators. When "Legion of Super-Heroes" (vol. 4) began, Brainiac 5 was dedicated to finding a cure to the Validus Plague, a virulent disease that had afflicted an entire planet and crippled the former Lightning Lad, Garth Ranzz. Soon after the start of "Legion" (vol. 4) a retcon removed the Superman family of characters almost completely from Legion continuity. Supergirl was replaced by Laurel Gand, a Daxamite descendant of Lar Gand's brother. Unlike Supergirl, she was a native of the 30th century. Brainiac 5 and Laurel did have a relationship, but the couple eventually separated and she became the common law wife of Rond Vidar (a Legion ally and Green Lantern who had been a close friend of Brainiac 5).
Brainiac 5 joins other Legionnaires in searching for the space pirate Roxxas, and is present when the team officially reforms. The reassembled Legion repels a Khund invasion fleet and confronts Darkseid, but shortly thereafter, is swept into the war against the corrupt Earthgov and the Dominators. Furthermore, a temporal clone of Brainiac 5 from "Batch SW6" is introduced.
Not long after the destruction of Earth, Brainiac 5 discovers the timestream is unstable and that the Legion's history is in a state of constant flux. He is rapidly aged by the sorceress Glorith before being killed when his universe is destroyed.
"Zero Hour" reboot continuity (1994–2004).
Following the Zero Hour event and the rebooting of the Legion, the "new" Brainiac 5 was extremely antisocial and disrespectful of his colleagues. He barely interacted with the other Legionnaires, although he was still somewhat attracted to Laurel Gand, now called Andromeda, who was now also something of an outsider. When Andromeda was believed killed, he was the only person who really missed her, a wrenching experience for someone used to suppressing emotion. It was later revealed that, even amongst Coluans, Querl Dox had been something of a loner, due to his even higher intelligence, interest in practical experiments rather than "pure" thought, and lack of concern about the consequences of his experiments. It was also revealed that his mother, Brainiac 4, had abandoned him at birth, having no emotional attachment whatsoever to her newborn child. As a child, he was cared for by robots and given almost no contact with other living people, developing no social skills. Having created a method of traveling back to the 20th century, leading to the Legion's rescue of Valor, Brainiac 5 was arrested for unauthorized time-travel. He was later pardoned when R.J. Brande became President of the United Planets.
In addition to having a crush on Andromeda, Brainiac 5 had a secret stash of lustful holo-collection featuring Andromeda herself, Dreamer (Nura Nal), Spark (Ayla Ranzz) and another fellow legionary whose alias begins with "In-" (obviously Invisible Kid), and probably others. Before that, in a moment of rare emotional outburst, Brainy kisses Lyle's cheek as he finds him again, and right after he feels embarrassed.
Trapped in the 20th century.
Brainiac 5 was one of a number of Legionnaires who were trapped in the 20th century. He spent his efforts trying to find a way back to his own time using 20th century equipment. He finally produced a computer capable of doing this, utilizing a 30th Century Omnicom, a New Gods Mother Box loaned to him by Metron and the responsometer of Veridium of the Metal Men. Unfortunately, this became the post-Zero Hour C.O.M.P.U.T.O. The Legion had to defeat it and separate it into its component pieces before returning to their own time. While in the 20th century, he also encountered his ancestors, Brainiac and Vril Dox II, as well as the post-Crisis Supergirl. Ironically, he was attracted to Supergirl due to her similarity to Andromeda.
Upgrade: Brainiac 5.1.
Upon his return, he was part of a team that investigated a mysterious space anomaly. The anomaly "upgraded" him: he was now more considerate of others, and had vastly improved people skills. He also internalized his force shield apparatus. Following his return from the space anomaly, he befriends teammate Gates, who dubs him "Brainiac 5.1".
Shortly after that, the Legion investigated the criminal/terrorist organization called the Dark Circle. Querl learned his mother, Brainiac 4, was the leader of the Dark Circle, having found that mass destruction was the only thing capable of making her feel emotions. The shock of this almost caused him to revert to his former, distant self. Although he did not revert, he began to be somewhat sarcastic and impatient again. He also began researching without considering the consequences again, inadvertently transforming the team into a "Bizarro Legion".
"Legion Lost".
Brainiac 5.1 was amongst the Legionnaires who were cast into a distant galaxy when the Stargate network was shut down. They spent a year travelling through the "Lost Galaxy". During this time, he felt a great amount of stress, as his teammates all believed he could devise a way of getting them home in addition to all the other responsibilities forced upon him by the circumstances of their situation. As he eventually confessed to Saturn Girl, he did not have a clue how to get them home - or even where "home" was, relative to their location. In the same conversation, he also complained that he'd "always hated [his] name upgrade," and on the way out, as well as reassuring him, she made a point of redubbing him "Brainiac Five," and he dropped the ".1" from his name thereafter. Eventually, using his teammate Shikari's tracking skills and an interdimensional doorway they'd earlier found, but been forced to leave, he did get them home. Upon their return, Brainiac began developing a replacement for the Stargates, based on the "threshold" doorway they had used to return from the Lost Galaxy. Restoring the connection to the planet Xanthu, they learned that it had been at war with Robotica, the "robot homeworld", until they mysteriously disappeared. Robotica's leader was revealed as C.O.M.P.U.T.O. A strike team was launched against it, but Brainiac 5 tricked it into upgrading itself, so it no longer sought vengeance. It was revealed that the Coluans disapproved of artificial intelligence, however, and Brainiac 5 was made a pariah on his homeworld for saving machine-life from destruction.
"DC One Million".
During the Reboot Legion's heyday, they are tangentially involved in the "DC One Million" crossover, where the audience is shown the "Justice Legion L" of the 853rd Century. Loosely based on members of the Legion of the 31st Century, the Justice Legion L are tasked with protecting the remains of the United Planets, by that point reduced to a small system of worlds joined together by a powerful magnetic core centered on Braal. Several of the planets involved had actually merged to form new, symbiotic worlds, including Colu-Bgztl. The Justice Legion L includes Brainiac 417, a counterpart to Brainiac 5 who is from this particular combined world. As with all members of his race, he combines super-intelligence with an ephemeral, intangible state; Brainiac 417 appears to be a shimmering green brain inside a transparent humanoid body. His race are purported to have become beings of pure intelligence and thought. Brainiac 417 is not the leader of the Justice Legion L (that duty fell to Cosmicbot), but is one of the most valuable members, and is shown to have integrated his technologies to the point where he can jump back a thousand years to recruit an earlier version of Superboy for the purposes of saving the day.
"Threeboot" continuity (2004–2009).
In volume 5 of the "Legion of Super-Heroes" title, Brainiac 5 is portrayed as similar to his ancestor Vril Dox II in "L.E.G.I.O.N.". He is just as arrogant and unthinking of others as the previous version was initially, but is more politically savvy. He has a tendency to put plans in motion without consulting Legion