James Gunn has ended weeks of speculation as to who would play the villain opposite David Corenswet’s Superman in Man of Tomorrow, confirming that Lars Eidinger would step into the role of Brainiac. The German actor is known for the acclaimed series Babylon Berlin and worked on the Shawn Levy miniseries All the Light We Cannot See, as well as Noah Baumbach’s White Noise.

Brainiac is a classic Superman villain, having debuted in Action Comics No. 242 in 1958. Hailing from writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, the issue introduced Brainiac as a hyper-intelligent alien who uses a shrink ray to shrink Metropolis and place the city amongst his collection of alien cities he keeps in bottles.

Corenswet returns to Man of Tomorrow as Clark Kent/Superman, and Nicholas Hoult reprises his role as Lex Luthor. Rachel Brosnahan, Frank Grillo, and Isabela Merced are also expected to return. Sources state the sequel will see Superman and Lex Luthor form an uneasy alliance to take down Brainiac. James Gunn will also return to both write and direct the feature.

Man of Tomorrow is set to release on July 9th, 2027. Before that, there’ll be the releases of Supergirl this summer, and Clayface shortly after.