The Superman family are staring down an entire army of Brainiacs, but Lena Luthor is the one who might lose her life because of them.

From within Brainiac’s ship, currently floating in deep space, Superman and his allies have watched Brainiac’s new creation, the Brainiac Queen, cut down an entire city’s worth of Czarnians in a bid to add their power to its own. As seen in the pages of Action Comics #1066, the Czarnians aren’t the only ones Brainiac intends to use as fuel for his endeavors. Not only does he have his sights set on the Kryptonian heroes in his midst, but he has lethal plans for Lena Luthor as well, and the clock he has set for her is ticking down far faster than any others.

Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON Art by RAFA SANDOVAL & MIGUEL MENDONCA Colors by ALEJANDRO SÁNCHEZ Letters by DAVE SHARPE Main cover art by RAFA SANDOVAL & ALEJANDRO SÁNCHEZ Variant covers by JORGE JIMÉNEZ, PAOLO RIVERA, BETSY COLA, and MARK SPEARS

The original, Pre-Crisis version of Vril Dox, better known as Brainiac, made his comic book debut in the pages of 1958’s Action Comics #242 in Otto Binder and Al Plastino’s opening story, “The Super-Duel in Space.” In the decades since, numerous iterations of Brainiac and his successors have graced the pages of DC Comics. In recent months, the current Brainiac has unleashed a series of increasingly dangerous horrors, beginning with an entire army of Czarnians.

Led by the ruthless General Chacal, the Czarnian army called the Bad Blood was captured by Brainiac when the alien city they had invaded and conquered was miniaturized and added to the classic villain’s collection of bottled locales. When the Bad Blood was released to help carry out his plan, they immediately caught the attention of the Man of Steel and his unlikely ally, Lobo. Eventually, Lobo betrayed Superman to rejoin his people, only to realize how wrong he was after seeing them cut down and consumed by the Brainiac Queen.

The current Lena Luthor II (daughter of Lex Luthor) and the Contessa Erica Alexandra del Portenza were introduced in 2023’s Superman #7 by writer Joshua Williamson and artists Gleb Melnikov, Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund, and Edwin Galmon. Shortly after Lena was born, Lex traded her away to Brainiac in exchange for technology brought back from the far future. In the time that followed, Brainiac raised Lena and made her into his avatar in the present day of the DC Universe. After being saved by Superman, Lena was returned to her father, who erased any traces of Brainiac’s psyche and influence before attempting to raise her as best he could.

Action Comics #1066 is on sale now from DC Comics.

Source: DC Comics