In the season 4 premiere of Superman & Lois, we learned that Lex Luthor is in cahoots with an unseen character called "Milton." He created the box which will house the Man of Steel's heart, though Amanda McCoy warns Lex not to inflate the "braniac's" ego with his praise for the device.
It didn't take comic book fans long to figure out that Milton is likely Milton Fine, a very early iteration of Brainiac who wasn't an alien and instead performed as a sideshow mentalist ("The Amazing Brainiac").
Now, it's been confirmed that Fine is indeed coming to Superman & Lois during the show's fourth and final season.
"Considering what we needed for our story, when the opportunity presented itself to use Milton, it worked out great," executive producer Brent Fletcher told ComicBook.com in a recent interview. "This is a completely different version of this guy, so that was exciting. We always like to tell our own version of [the story], and it ends up being pretty fun."
Fine also took centre stage during what's become known as Superman's "Triangle Era." In the 1990s, the four monthly Superman comics all told interconnected stories and included many characters who have since appeared in The CW series.
Fletcher said they're not pulling too much from that iteration because this version of Milton "felt like he was pretty specific to the show."
"It’s just time and space. We have ten episodes. We don’t have a ton of time to really develop the full Triangle Era brainiac, you know? But the one we have, I think, is pretty enjoyable for where we used him," he added.
However, this Brainiac won't be played by season 4 guest star Tom Cavanagh (best known for suiting up as The Flash's Reverse-Flash). "I won’t even give that a no-comment. I don’t want to set the expectation. We have a fun thing for Tom." Unfortunately, there's still no word on what that might be.
Superman & Lois stars Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent/Superman, Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane, Alex Garfin as Jordan Kent, Michael Bishop as Jonathan Kent, and Michael Cudlitz as Lex Luthor.
Based on the characters from DC Comics created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the series is from Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Geoff Johns, Sarah Schechter, Brent Fletcher, Todd Helbing, Sarah Schechter and Greg Berlanti.
Superman & Lois season 4 airs every Monday night on The CW.