Brainiac 5
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Brainiac 5 (Querl Dox) is a fictional character who exists in the future of the DC Comics universe. He is a long standing member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Brainiac 5 is from the planet Colu.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Silver Age
Brainiac 5 made his first appearance in Action Comics #276 (May 1961). A green-skinned, blond-haired teenager, dressed in a purple jumpsuit, he claimed descent from the original Brainiac, a Superman villain. He wished to join the Legion as atonement for his great-great-grandfather's 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, whom Brainiac had briefly "adopted").
Brainiac 5's ingenuity led to the invention of, amongst other things, the Legion flight ring (perfecting an invention of 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 shield belt which became the signature device of the character.
Another of Brainiac 5's creations would have less beneficial effects. The super-computer Computo, which he created, attempted to take over the world, killing one of Triplicate Girl's three selves. He successfully destroyed his creation with "an anti-matter force", but this highlighted one of his major flaws: a habit of initiating projects without considering the dangers. A much later example was his transformation of fellow scientist Professor Jaxon Rugarth into the psychotic, all-powerful Infinite Man (in conjunction with honorary Legionnaire Rond Vidar).
In fact, as time went on, Brainiac 5 began to be portrayed as downright unstable. Long attracted to Supergirl, Superboy #204 (Sept/Oct 1974) showed him building a robot duplicate of her in his sleep, and convincing himself this was the real Supergirl. He seemed to recover from this, but a few years later would become even more unbalanced.
In Superboy #224 (Feb 1977), 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 murdered Ultra Boy's girlfriend An Ryd, Brainiac 5, driven mad by Stargrave, framed Ultra Boy for the murder. Chameleon Boy, who suspected this from the beginning, finally found proof when Brainiac's madness led him to an attempt to destroy the universe, utilizing the Miracle Machine, a device that turned thoughts into reality. He was stopped by Matter-Eater Lad, who ate the machine, and both were committed to a mental institution, the energies of the Machine having driven Matter-Eater Lad insane as well.
Brainiac 5 eventually recovered his sanity and rejoined the group. Shortly afterward, however, he was accused of having murdered Ultra Boy's girlfriend himself. To prove his innocence, he went after Stargrave and finally defeated him. He later managed to cure Matter-Eater Lad's insanity as well. Around this time, he also undid another of his mistakes by finally finding a way of controlling Computo.
[edit] Post-Crisis
In Legion of Super-Heroes vol.3, #16 (Oct 1985), published simultaneously with Crisis on Infinite Earths #10, Brainiac 5 was melancholic, reflecting it was the thousand-year anniversary of Supergirl's death. However, as the Crisis eliminated Supergirl from existence, Brainiac 5 (as well as everyone else) had 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. Supergirl's place in his story was taken by Laurel Gand, a Daxamite and possible descendant of Mon-El. Unlike Supergirl, she was a native of the 30th century.
Following the death of the pocket universe Superboy, Brainiac 5 was one of a number of Legionnaires who swore revenge on the Time Trapper. To this end, he recreated the Infinite Man. The Infinite Man and Time Trapper seemingly destroyed each other, but Brainiac 5 quit the Legion after being accused of murdering Professor Rugarth. He rejoined in Legion of Super-Heroes vol.3, #63 (Aug 1989), shortly before the Five Year Gap.
[edit] The Khund War
The Gap was a jump in the Legion timeline, during which 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 (also known as 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.
Brainiac 5 joined other Legionnaires in searching for the space pirate Roxxas, and was present when the team officially reformed.
After the war, Brainiac 5 discovered the timestream was extremely unstable, and that Legion history was in a state of constant flux. This was the first indication of Zero Hour, the event that would lead to the Legion's whole history being rebooted.
[edit] Zero Hour
Following the Reboot, the "new" Brainiac 5 was practically unemotional. 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.
Having created a method of travelling 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.
[edit] 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 then 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 New Gods Mother Box and a responsometer from the Metal Men. Unfortunately, this became the post-Reboot 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 (some stories suggested that Brainiac 5's attraction for tall blonde women was linked to his desire to find his mother, a tall blonde who had abandoned him at birth).
[edit] Upgrades: 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. His friend Gates dubbed the improved Querl Dox "Brainiac 5.1", a name he adopted.
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".
[edit] Legion Lost
Brainiac 5.1 was one of a number of 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, however, he didn't 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.
[edit] Waid Reboot
In Mark Waid's new Legion of Super-Heroes book, 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 LSH leader Cosmic Boy, who suspects him of planning a coup. He also has problems with Dream Girl--he hates that she is able to predict the future without scientific means. "Brainy" was also unnerved when she told him that they would one day marry. When she was killed during Terror Firma's attack on the Legion HQ on Earth, he became obsessed with "outthinking death".
[edit] Powers & Abilities
Brainiac 5 possess a "12th-Level Intellect," which grants him superhuman calculation skills, amazing memory and exceptional technical know-how. By comparison, 20th century Earth as a whole constitutes a "6th-Level" intelligence, and most of his fellow Coluans have "8th-Level" ones. 31st century Earth as a whole is a "9th-Level" intelligence.
[edit] Elseworlds and other appearances of Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5 appeared in the Amalgam Comics title Spider-Boy Team-Up. He was merged with Guardians of the Galaxy member Martinex to form the character Martinex 5. He was a member of the Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099.
In Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #5, an Elseworlds pastiche of The Wizard of Oz, Brainiac 5 takes the role of the Scarecrow.
[edit] Other media
In Superman: The Animated Series, Brainiac 5 made an appearance in the episode "New Kids In Town", chatting with fellow teammate Triplicate Girl. Its unclear if he, in fact, uses the name Brainiac 5 or has any connections to Brainiac. However, his costume included a chest symbol comprising three circles forming an inverted triangle. This closely resembled the discs on the animated Brainiac's forehead (and his icon when he was a computer program), suggesting some kind of connection between them.
He reappeared in an episode of Justice League Unlimited voiced by Matt Czuchry. It is revealed that Brainiac learned to pass its code biologically and created Brainiac 5 as an organic being; unfortunately for Brainiac, Brainiac 5 rejected evil and joined the Legion of Super Heroes. Here, he brings Green Arrow, Supergirl and Green Lantern into the future to help him battle the Fatal Five. He and Supergirl fall in love and she elects to stay in the 30th century with him.
He is part of the core Legion team, and also the youngest in the Legion of Super-Heroes series. The voice actor portraying Brainiac 5 is Adam Wylie. In addition to level 12 intelligence, Brainiac 5 is also able to initiate robotic transformation.
[edit] External links
- Alan Kistler's Profile On: Brainiac! - Comic book historian Alan Kistler explores the entire history of this Superman villain all the way up to the present day, with in-depth discussions of how and why parts of the character's history were changed and how he's been interpreted in other media. Includes information on Brainiac 5 and how he's changed over the years.
- Supermanica: Brainiac 5 Supermanica entry on the Pre-Crisis Brainiac 5
- Comic Book Awards Almanac
