DC Confirms a Major Superman Villain Exists in the Arrowverse

The CW’s universe of DC Comics-inspired shows has continued to grow and evolve, introducing heroes and villains that fans have developed strong feelings towards. One of the most recent entries among that list has been Superman & Lois, which is about to wrap up its sophomore season on the network. The series has already seen the Man of Steel go up against new versions of characters like Parasite and Bizarro, while the existing lore from Supergirl has teased his rivalry with other iconic villains. This week’s Earth-Prime comic, which united many of the characters from the Arrowverse and beyond in a surprising crossover, confirmed that another major villain is also part of that list. Spoilers for Earth-Prime #6 from Jeff Hersh, Thomas Pound, Will Robson, Alex Sinclair, and Tom Napolitano below! Only look if you want to know!

Across the issue, Bart Allen / Impulse (Jordan Fisher) and Nora Allen / XS (Jessica Parker Kennedy) attempted to recruit other heroes in the fight against Magog and his gang of assembled supervillains, taking them all across their Earth in 2049. This briefly takes them to Smallville, Kansas in an effort for them to recruit Clark Kent / Superman (Tyler Hoechlin). Clark refused, assuring Bart and Nora that they could fight Magog on their own. As Clark was giving them advice, Bart confirmed that Clark “took down Brainiac when [he was] only a teenager.” This seemingly confirms that a version of Brainiac existed in the Arrowverse — and seemingly predated a lot of the universe’s superheroic exploits, something previously hinted by the introduction of characters like Indigo and Brainiac-5 on Supergirl.

Of course, there’s the question of how that line canonically fits into the Arrowverse and Superman & Lois, as fans have speculated for months that the show actually exists on a separate Earth, following the events of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” The series has remained narratively disconnected from the other projects within The CW’s Arrowverse of shows, despite initially being interpreted as existing within the same universe. According to showrunner Todd Helbing, the narrative reason behind that will explained in next week’s Season 2 finale.

“All I’ll say is I think everybody has this question why we don’t bring up Supergirl or The Flash or any other heroes and aside from us not being able to do crossovers and wanting to put our own stamp on this property, I’ll just say at the end of this season you guys will get the answer to the questions you have,” Helbing said during an appearance at WonderCon earlier this year.

What do you think of the Arrowverse’s Superman having fought Brainiac? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Earth-Prime #6 is now available wherever comics are sold.