Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Brainiac-5 (Supergirl)

*A few Brainy-related spoilers.*

Here’s another data point to put in the “How Did I Not Realize It for So Long?” column. Not only have I, over the years, gravitated toward movies and shows with Big Neurodivergent Energy. But on any given show, BNE or not, if there’s a character who’s blatantly neurodivergent-coded, they’re likely to be my favorite. Back when I wrote up my Favorite Characters post on Brainy, I mentioned that I needed a bit of time to warm up to him after his arrival on Supergirl, but he quickly became one of my characters. While there are lots of characters to love on this show and plenty of them crowded my Favorite Characters tier, Brainy was and remains my favorite favorite. (Love you, Kara! And Alex! And J’onn, and Nia, and Lena, and….)

Brainy is another non-human character who’s pretty blatantly coded as autistic—not just an alien, but an A.I. as well. A techno-organic of Coluan heritage from 31^st century Earth, Brainy doesn’t fit in even a little bit when he comes back to Kara’s time. But as I’ve said, I don’t mind non-human neurodivergent representation if it’s done well. Whether Brainy’s traits come from autism, being an alien A.I. from the future, or the personality inhibitors he’s forced to wear since childhood, I just love watching him be himself onscreen.

The first thing Brainy will tell you about himself is that he’s a Twelfth Level Intellect. Absolute genius, and not shy about it. He’s a whiz at all things STEM, which certainly follows autistic stereotypes, but Brainy also applies his A.I. processing power to calculate probabilities about the world around him. He analyzes situations and runs through logical outcomes, wanting to find the correct course of action in any given scenario and be prepared for what’s about to happen. This can be used to impressive effect, such as when he deploys probability and physics to “fight” opponents, smoothly predicting their moves and calmly turning and ducking so that his foes hit each other instead of him. But when his logic fails him and he can’t understand what’s going on, things get very overwhelming for him.

Brainy has a really difficult time with his emotions. When some expresses surprise that an A.I. is crying, he’ll be the first to explain, “I’m not a robot. I’m techno-organic—I have feelings.” But that doesn’t mean he can easily identify or address his emotions. Rather, he calls them “intense and disruptive,” and they’re something else he can’t predict. At first, he tries to manage them by following Lena’s advice to keep his strong feelings hidden in “little boxes,” but that strategy is unsustainable. More than once in the series, Brainy has what you could classify as a meltdown, flooded with agitation and distress to the point that it can be difficult for him to verbalize.

Part of this is because of the personality inhibitors he wears for much of the show. Brainy’s dad made him wear them after he became frightened by an outburst Brainy had as a child. Basically, Brainy’s mom was evil and his dad worried that he was going to go down the same path. But as a result, Brainy’s full self is dampened and the range of his emotions is held back. Generally speaking, Brainy doesn’t mask his autistic traits, but you could consider his inhibitors a kind of forced masking. Due to his dad’s belief about the danger his true self posed, Brainy is afraid to remove the inhibitors—more than anything, he doesn’t want to become “a bad guy,” and he doesn’t know if he'll be able to control his emotions without them. And it is hard for him, especially when he’s scared for his friends, but he comes to learn that his emotions don’t make him evil. Even though they can still overwhelm him and “get in the way” when he’s trying to do something important, they’re just as much a part of him as his logic and intellect.

Besides that, we just have a laundry list of autistic-coded behaviors. Brainy doesn’t struggle with social cues—rather, he simply doesn’t notice that they exist. He’s bluntly honest and doesn’t hold back his opinions. He doesn’t always regulate the volume of his voice. When he goes in on something he’s all in—when he’s tired of not understanding his friends’ pop culture references, he sets about “mastering” the canon of classic movies, and when he and Nia start dating, he showers her with more affectionate gifts of food and love poetry (written in binary!) than she can handle. He brings some work from the DEO along to Thanksgiving dinner in case he gets bored, and he has multiple issues around food. When he infiltrates a group of fraternity bros as part of a DEO investigation, his attempt at mimicking their mannerisms and vernacular is 100% uncanny valley.

Maybe he’s an alien A.I. from the future whose traits look autistic to humans, or maybe he’s an autistic alien A.I. from the future. I don’t think it ultimately matters; I love him either way. And I love watching him navigate making the 21^st century his home as he finds friends who support him and understand him as best as they can.