When it comes to villains, The CW’s Superman & Lois has a pattern: introduce one, then pull the rug out and reveal another, bigger villain as the ultimate threat of the season. And even with an abbreviated final season, it looks like they’ve done it again. Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) might be the main threat in the first few episodes, but a surprise mention in the Season 4 premiere may be teeing up an even bigger villain: Brainiac.
Spoilers for Superman & Lois Season 4, Episode 1 “The End & The Beginning” past this point.
In the episode, we’ve just been treated to the horrifying spectacle of Doomsday killing Superman (Tyler Hoechlin), and tossing his dead body back to Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch), Jonathan Kent (Michael Bishop), and Jordan Kent (Alex Garfin) on the streets of Smallville. While this is going on, Amanda McCoy (Yvonna Chapman) approaches Lex in a stadium and hands him a device.
“Not much to look at, but Milton assured me it would work,” McCoy says.
“He did good,” Lex answers, inspecting the device.
“How about we keep that between us?” McCoy continues. “The last thing that brainiac needs is this going to his head.”
So in case you didn’t pick up on the “Milton” mention — which I’ll explain in a second, the “brainiac” clinches it… Superman & Lois is teasing some version of the iconic Superman villain, Brainiac. Seen in a variety of different forms throughout the decades in the comics, Brainiac is most often an alien from the planet Colu who wants to collect all knowledge in the universe. He usually does this by destroying planets and keeping one city in a bottle, all to himself.
However, there’s a different version of Brainiac that I suspect Superman & Lois is hinting at here.
Who Is Milton Fine? Meet The Man Who Is Secretly Brainiac
Milton Fine was first introduced in 1988’s Adventures of Superman #438, written by John Byrne and drawn by Jerry Ordway. Fine appeared to be a hack sideshow mentalist, but unbeknownst to him, he was possessed by Vril Dox, aka Brainiac… Which of course brought him into conflict with Superman.
However, Milton Fine might be more familiar to modern DC Comics fans thanks to his appearance on Smallville, played by James Marsters. There he appeared as Dr. Milton Fine initially, releasing a computer virus that… Honestly, it’s not important, just know that this further solidified Milton Fine as one of Brainiac’s many aliases.
So who is Milton, presumably last name Fine, on Superman & Lois? Well, that’s a mystery for the moment. We know he’s a scientist who works for or with Lex Luthor. And as mentioned above, the show has a habit of swerving with villains. Season 1 seemed to introduce Alexander Luthor, only to reveal that to be Steel (Wolé Parks), and businessman Morgan Edge (Adam Rayner) was secretly Superman’s brother Tal-Rho. Season 2 seemed to be teasing Doomsday when it turned out to actually be Bizarro — and Ally Alston, aka Parasite (Rya Kihlstedt). Meanwhile, Season 3 was less twist-heavy, but did start with Bruno Mannheim (Chad Coleman), and end with Lex and Doomsday.
This is a long way of saying that even with 10 episodes and both Lex and Doomsday going strong, we can expect a swerve by the end of the season. In fact, I’m going to throw out a wild bit of speculation here… We know that Tom Cavanagh is playing a role in the Superman & Lois series finale. We also know that he is not playing any of the characters he previously played on Arrowverse shows. So I’d say it’s a fair guess that he is Dr. Milton Fine, and he’ll be revealed as Brainiac before the show wraps up. Particularly with this being the final season, there’s a good chance they won’t leave anything on the table.
So is Milton actually Milton Fine, aka Brainiac? Will Cavanagh play the villain in the finale? We’ve still got a few weeks to go. But my ninth-level intelligence says all signs point to “yes.”
Where To Watch Superman & Lois:
Superman & Lois Season 4 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The final season of Superman & Lois premieres with two episodes on The CW on Monday, October 17, 2024 at 8 pm ET / PT. Episodes then stream the next day on The CW website and app. After the premiere, it will air once a week for 10 episodes total in Season 4, with exact air dates TBA.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Superman & Lois Season 4, with premiere dates:
- Monday, October 7, 2024: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 1: “The End & The Beginning”
- Monday, October 7, 2024: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 2: “A World Without”
- Monday, October 14, 2024: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 3: “Always My Hero”
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 4
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 5
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 6
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 7
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 8
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 9
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 10 *SERIES FINALE*
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