WMG / Brightburn

Hypothetical Character speculation has its own page.

Hypothetical additions to the BrightBurn universe

The BrightBurn cinematic universe will feature original superheroes and supervillains not based on pre-existing characters.

• Of course, since the BrightBurn Universe really loves using Expies (eg. A Superman expy, a Lana Lang expy, Expies to the Kents, an expy of Lex Luthor, etc.), these original superheroes and supervillains will NOT be expies of established superheroes and supervillains, but they will be expies of superhero story supporting characters except the difference is that they have superhero-like powers and/or skills.
  • Which means that this WMG will overlap with the WMG about hypothetical expies of superhero story supporting characters.

There will be a Legion of Doom formed by BrightBurn and other supervillains, along with other supervillain teams

Possible names for Brandon's supervillain team:

• The Revenge Syndicate of Chaos. (Justice League and The Avengers).

Other supervillain teams:

• The Tyrants. (These will be an evil version of the Teen Titans).
• Chaos Guild of the World. (Justice Society of America).
• Fear Squadron. (Doom Patrol).
• Japan Death Cult. (Big Hero 6).

Conversely, there will a Super Team formed by the Caitlyn Connor and other superheroes, along other superhero teams.

Possible names for Caitlyn's superhero team:

• The Retaliators of Verity. (Legion of Doom and the Masters of Evil).
• The Elite Eleven. (Sinister Six).

Other superhero teams:

• The Redemption Alliance. (Heroic version of The Suicide Squad).
• The Circus of Hope. (Circus of Crime).
• The Masters of Good. (The Masters of Evil).

Possible monikers for Brandon's fellow supervillains

Based on the post-credits scene featuring the Big T's rant and warning about villains. The following names are speculative and based on the physical characteristics.

• "Half-man, half-sea creature": Harbor-Master
• "Witch Woman": Ishtar
• "Alien supervillain": The Martian Invader
• "Black square with a question mark": Nightshade
• "The man in the Crimson Bolt costume": The Madness (assuming that it's NOT Frank in the costume and instead an imposter).

Speculations for Caitlyn Connor's superhero identity

Based on a deleted post-credits scene featuring Caitlyn Connor getting a robotic replacement for her crushed hand, and becoming Brandon's future archnemesis.

• Cybersoldier (assuming Caitlyn's mentality becomes more militant as she opposes Brandon. Also, she'll find somebody who can upgrade her cybernetics so that she won't be affected by Brandon's apparent technopathy.)

Blankman takes place in this movie's universe.

Video Game Adaptation speculation

Capcom will create a Brightburn video game.

Think Resident Evil with supervillains instead of monsters and zombies. The gameplay would be played from over-the-shoulder perspective. The player characters would be a normal human and a superhero with low-level superpowers caught in a supervillain takeover. They will fight against minions and mutants of supervillains and fighting said supervillains while trying to escape, similar to Leaving Megalopolis.

Alternatively, Rockstar will create a Brightburn video game.

Think Manhunt with supervillains instead of various gangs. The player characters would be two low-level superpowered superheroes trying their best to save as much civilians as they can during a rampage caused by Brandon Breyer and other supervillains. Logically, Brandon Breyer would be the final boss.

The company that created Cyberpunk 2020 will create a Brightburn tabletop RPG.

Think Cyberpunk 2020, just swap out the cyberpunk with Cape Punk and instead of futuristic enemies it's supervillains and their minions.

Sucker Punch Entertainment will create a Brightburn video game.

Think Infamous except M-Rated, more variety in superheroes and supervillains, and horror elements added to the mix.

Activision will create a Brightburn video game.

Think Prototype with even more superhero elements, but still maintaining the M-Rating, having a bit more horror elements, and having twice the blood and gore that Prototype has.

A video game adaptation will be directed by Suda 51 and will be part of the Kill the Past universe.

Suda's main style of storytelling would do Brightburn justice. Plus, who wouldn't want to see Brightburn's Archenemy be the Smith Syndicate or Travis Touchdown.

Unsorted

Brandon, if he lives to become a widely known threat, will prompt a Lex Luthor-esque Well-Intentioned Extremist to try and face him

This is less an idea for this movie, but for a potential follow-up, or even just an idea for a fanfic or something; a "Good Luthor" to Brandon's "Evil Superman" who may be the only one who could save the world, but will have to do drastic things to be able to do it. Essentially, the way Luthor is often portrayed as seeing himself.

• Seemingly confirmed with Michael Rooker's character Big T.

Brandon was his race's religion's equivalent to an "antichrist"

This religion turns out to be right on the money, rather than paranoid madness.

• Eventually, a heroic member of Brandon's species shows up to be the "Christ" metaphor, and as an Actor Allusion he will be played by Henry Cavill.

Brandon's whole species are Always Chaotic Evil

Alternatively, evil members of Brandon's species are at war with heroic members of his species.

Causing a sudden genre shift from horror to superhero deconstruction.

"Brightburn" is a stealth alien invasion movie

Superman was sent to Earth to save him from his home planet's destruction. If this movie is a deconstruction of that story, it makes sense that instead of a loving sacrifice by his biological parents, Brandon was sent to Earth for a very different, very scary, reason.

There will also be expies of villains as well, like villains turned good.

The film will have a Downer Ending.

Either Brandon will kill both his adoptive parents and succumb to his evil, or Mrs. Breyer will regretfully kill Brandon before he does something especially terrible.

• Confirmed

Brandon will be a case of Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas

The girl who Brandon injured will grow up to be Brandon's Arch-Enemy

Due to having both been on the receiving end of Brandon's might, in addition with the small fact that Brandon terrorizes and viciously murders her mother, who was rightfully angry at Brandon for harming her daughter. Also, this experience, in fact, provoked a Heel–Face Turn in her, going from a petty bully into a sympathetic superhero devoted to bringing Brightburn down in a sequel (provided she survives this film).

• She survives the film and a deleted scene showed her getting a cybernetic arm with a serious death glare.

This is actually a stealth DC movie, more specifically an Ultraman origin story.

And if the movie does well it will launch a Crime Syndicate movie series.

This is actually an alternate version on Superboy-Prime's origin

Subject to Adaptational Name Change.

Brandon is actually an extraterrestrial biological weapon that was disposed of by his species.

In addition to his regular abilities, Brandon was able to involuntary shapeshift to be physically and genetically indistinguishable from a human at birth.

Another film will have an Expy of Batman but with a Serial Killer

The Brightburn universe will have the expy of Batman. The expy of Batman will be a serial killer instead. The expy of Alfred will be a killer butler.

• So would that be the Tim Burton Batman or the DCEU Batman?
  • Eventually, this evil version of Batman will team up with Brandon and they will form a Legion of Doom.

If Brandon survives the film, his origin will be a dark take on the Super Hero Origin

Similar to origins like Spider-Man, Brandon could ultimately cause something that leaves even him horrified, and realizes that Being Evil Sucks, leaving him a Tragic Monster who's Trapped in Villainy.

Half of the scenes from the trailers won't be in the final movie

Hey, blame Slender Man!

Brandon will attempt to use his powers for good... and get rejected for it

Given Brandon's line that he "wants to do good", and his overall Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds portrayal, it's possible that Brandon will try and use his powers to do good... however, all his attempts at doing good will be greeted with fear and horror by its intended recipients. This will contribute to his Start of Darkness; he decides, if everyone treats him like a monster, that's what he'll be.

This film will appear in the DC Extended Universe

As being bankrolled by Lex Luthor in order to smear Superman.

Brandon's fall to evil will be entirely his choice.

Eventually, either he will admit or someone will realize that Brandon has just been using what his bullies did to him as an excuse to do whatever he wants and that his Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse.

In their natural state, Brandon’s species are shapeshifting Eldritch Abominations

There will be a spin-off television show that explores the effect of superhumans on the Brightburn Shared Universe.

Brandon is one of the fragments of the Plutonian's essence

A benign fragment landed in our world and inspired two boys to write a comic. The fragment that landed in this film's world, on the other hand, has all the nasty bits.

• If that's the case, one can only hope that Brandon didn't also gain the Plutonian's Reality Warper abilities. And if he did, that he never finds out he has them.

Brandon will be defeated by his Kryptonite Factor.

Brandon is basically a Superman Expy. That means that, in addition to having all of Supes' powers, he'll have all of Supes' weaknesses too. Maybe, at the climax of the film, the Breyers' and the cops will stumble upon it, and discover what it does to Brandon.

As for Brandon, he probably spent so much time focusing on discovering and testing the limits of his powers, he never once considered the possibility that he might HAVE weaknesses. Thus, when his Kryptonite Expy is discovered, he'll be taken by surprise when it depowers him, weakens him, makes him feel sick, etc...

• Confirmed, it's the remains of his ship.

Since the metal of Brandon's ship is his Kryptonite equivalent, a sequel will reveal that he is also gonna be weak to magic and also have a Red Sun equivalent as yet another weakness.

A sequel to this movie will feature Fantastic Racism.

The sequel will be actionized and will have a team of telekinetic heroes take on Brandon.

• And these telekinetic boys later on team up with the Batman Expy and Buzz Lightyear Expy, and they work together and form a superhero team.
  • Also, the aforementioned Elastigirl Expy also joins the aforementioned superhero team.

Brandon actually doesn't want to kill anyone

However, his species has an innate urge to kill people who have wronged them, no matter how slight.

• Confirmed

The ship is the real villain.

All the way back in the very first teaser trailer, there were concerns from Brandon’s parents about him finding the ship he arrived in. About him being “drawn to it.” The ship is the source of his powers, as well as the source of his homicidal insanity. And him finding it is what kicks off the whole nightmare for everyone involved...

This movie takes place in the Wanted Universe.

The sequel would have a Time Skip

Brandon is now in his late teens, abusing his powers left and right. He took the name "Brightburn" from his town for his masked identity simply because he thought it sounded cool. Caitlyn, the girl he pined for, is threatened to be his girlfriend and a frequent victim of his abuse. The planet lives in fear as "Brightburn" will go out and cause destruction for random whims. He soon discovers what he is and finds out why he was launched into space.

The telekinetic heroes, the heroic versions of Superman Rogues, the Elastigirl Expy, and the evil versions of heroes that reform and become heroes will eventually form a Justice League equivalent of sorts.

There will be NO sequel

Alternatively, there will be a sequel, except it will be featuring a different evil version of a superhero.

• Furthermore, it will be a Stealth Sequel that does not feature Brandon until the end.

The heroic members of Brandon's species show up and they will be lead by a heroic Expy of Zod.

The Big T is Yondu Udonta

They are both Michael Rooker, after all.

• Alternatively, he's the Brightburn universe's equivalent to Merle Dixon. He seems kooky and paranoid enough.

The sequel will take place in a post-Brandon/supervillain-ravaged world.

Taking place from the point of view of a group of survivors trying to kill the supers. Similar to The Ten-Seconders.

The Crimson Bolt is our Batman expy.

Only instead of being evil, he's just wildly incompetent.

How a sequel might play out.

Brandon has grown into adulthood, and has become the most feared, most dangerous threat to the planet Earth. Pretty much everyone is completely paranoid that he could show up out of the blue and murder them in a horrifically painful way for no reason, and he's pretty much sitting on top of the world.

Then, an Alien Invasion occurs, and Brandon discovers that they're HIS people. He might try to roll out the welcome wagon, maybe even expect to be welcomed into their ranks... and be coldly rejected. They will then deliver unto him a revelation that he's nothing more to them than a Tyke Bomb made to destablize the planet to make their takeover easier. In fact, Brandon only has a FRACTION of their powers, and they show him just how powerful his own creators really are.

Brandon's whole worldview will be shattered, and he'll have an existential crisis over how he's nothing to his own people, and he had no real purpose in life other than to make his world easier for someone else to take over. From there, he swears revenge upon his species and forms an Enemy Mine with humanity (and possibly other superbeings) to help stop his race. The film will end with him leaving Earth and becoming a Terror Hero, known and feared throughout the galaxy. In other words, he'll become a hero in the end, with Superman's powers and Batman's mentality.

• So basically, Brandon himself becomes a hero in the end? Awesome idea.
  • And as a counter-balance, a hero with skills and abilities similar to Batman will show up, but he'll have a patriotic, optimistic Ideal Hero type of mentality.

The future sequels to Brightburn will all be anti-superpowers

All the villains will have powers of various sorts, and every hero will be a Badass Normal or technology-based hero rather than a powered hero.

• Alternatively, there will be a balance. Both superpowered and Badass Normal heroes, and superpowered and Badass Normal villains.

Relating to the above, all the earthly superbeings will be good (well, better), whilst all the alien ones will fall under Aliens Are Bastards

All the superbeings from Earth will either be outright heroic, pet as many dogs as they kick or have understandable motivations. The aliens, on the other hand, will be Always Chaotic Evil or possess a twisted moral code; even the nominally good ones will fall in this category.

• Alternatively, it will be earthly heroes and alien heroes vs. earthy villains and alien villains.

This movie is part of DC's Dark Multiverse.

There are no superheroes in that universe.

It will be up to ordinary humans to stop an evil version of the Justice League.

• Alternatively, there are superheroes, but unfortunately, most of the superheroes have been murdered prior to the events of Brightburn, leaving only a few superheroes left.

Caitlyn will grow up to become the world's first superhero to take down Brandon.

After years of therapy, and being taken in by Big T, Caitlyn gains a bionic hand and has made it her mission stop Brandon to avenge her mother Tori, in addition to the countless people he and the other evil superhumans have been killing. Either utilizing experimental armor or gaining powers of her own, Caitlyn becomes the Earth's champion and the sequel's protagonist.

• Confirmed in a deleted scene, where Caitlyn is shown in a lab undergoing surgery to graft a bionic arm onto her, with a Death Glare, clearly planning revenge on Brandon for killing her mother.

Alternatively, Caitlyn will become a reporter in the future.

After spending years in a mental hospital, Caitlyn moves to a different state and gets a job as a reporter. Little does she know that Brandon will be there with a new identity. His new name will be Mark Dent.

Or even better, Caitlyn will become both a reporter AND a superhero.

Unfortunately, she will indirectly develop a rogues gallery.

Alternatively, Caitlyn will become a supervillainess

Either snapping under the trauma or driven to evil over her quest to kill Brandon and avenge her mother, Caitlyn will become a villainess herself. She will still be A Lighter Shade of Black compared to Brandon, being Affably Evil, less unnecessarily murderous and may even perhaps pull a Heel–Face Turn in the end.

Alternatively, Caitlyn will still become a superhero, but of the Terror Hero variety.

Think Hit-Girl as an Ideal Hero, but still terrifying as hell, and also as a cyborg.

There will be an "Evil Batman V. Evil Superman" sequel.

The Big T himself has superpowers.

However, they will be psionic as opposed to Brandon's physical powers.

Evil Batman Expy will try to convince Brandon to rule by his side.

He will go as far as to befriend Brandon and take him in as his adopted son. He will even have a "We Can Rule Together" speech for the boy.

• This will cause the evil Batman Expy to become the Evil Counterpart to The Big T, as The Big T will adopt Caitlyn Connor.

Brightburn somehow takes place in the same universe as Hot Fuzz.

And the remaining members of the NWA, after hearing about Brandon Breyer, find a way to escape the prison and form a Brandon Breyer-worshipping cult.

Caitlyn will become the new Boltie.

Crimson Bolt will return and make her his new partner. They will stop Brandon and the other villains... somehow.

Alternatively, Caitlyn will become her own superhero, but will still be an ally of Crimson Bolt anyways.

The picture of Crimson Bolt is not that of Frank Darbo.

Someone else is taking up the mantle. This new guy is more psychotic and violent than Libby/Boltie. Libby is a kitten compared to this new Crimson Bolt.

Alternatively, if Crimson Bolt returns in the sequel and it will not be Frank Darbo and if he'll be more psychotic than Frank Darbo.... well, he will definitely be more crazier than Frank, but at least nowhere above Libby/Boltie.

The pod that corrupts Brandon can corrupt humans too.

The film takes place in the same universe as Unbreakable

And keeping in light with comic traditions, David Dunn will come back, but far more powerful, now lacking his weakness to water, and his powers being boosted to utterly absurd levels, as he's lost all the self-doubt that restrained him.

The pod contains a zombie virus.

The ship's metal that cut Brandon will come into play in the sequel

Luthor Expy will use that metal to create a war suit.

• That would be hilarious to see. An Alex Jones-style conspiracy theorist wearing an Iron Man-like battlesuit.

This will lead to a spin-off involving superhero versions of Final Girls.

Unfortunately, the downside is that it would lead to supervillain versions of both classic and modern horror movie monsters.

Since this movie is a slasher movie with superhero elements, the sequel will escalate things by being a zombie movie with superhero elements.

With Brandon becoming the Governor with superpowers, and his archenemy being a Rick Grimes expy with superpowers.

In a sequel, a Pew Die Pie Expy will show up as a superhero.

And as an example of Rule of Funny, he will be played by Felix himself.

• This new protagonist's user name would be either Pow Der Cake, or Pow Live Cake.
• The new protagonist's birth name would be Phillip Nilsson. Alternatively, Felix Nilsson.
• Said Pew Die Pie expy would have powers similar to the ones from the Infamous games.
  • His weapon of choice is a P-shaped battle-axe with spikes on the blades.
    • His vehicle of choice would be a robotic horse called Jurgen.
    • His pets would be three German Shepards named Edgar, Sven, and Maya.
    • His girlfriend would be an Italian-American woman named Melissa Karzia, played by Pew Die Pie's real-life girlfriend.
    • His main motivations for fighting Brandon would be to protect his girlfriend, America, Italy, and Sweden from Brandon.

This movie takes place at the canonical end of the Wanted Universe.

There will be a real Superhero film made as an Inversion to Brightburn.

Like the "Incorruptible" to Brightburn's "Irredeemable". Brightburn was about someone with a Superhero Origin story becoming a villain, so this would be about someone with a Supervillain Origin story becoming a hero.

The plot would involve some creepy, antisocial, awkward kid who's mercilessly bullied at their school. Maybe they'll even have a really crappy home life. Anyway, one day, they'll gain superpowers from something. They could discover an Artifact of Doom that grants them scary powers, or begin studying a certain field of something to develop a Super Serum or Power Armor/weapon, or maybe even bonding with some alien symbiote that feeds on their rage, or strong emotions in general.

From that moment, the kid will then decide to use their newfound powers to get even with everyone who was ever mean to them. From there, when they confront their tormentors, they'll immediately bring about their new powers and use them to terrify and hurt their bullies. However, at the last moment, they'll see genuine fear in their victims, and realize they've become no better then those who hurt them. They will immediately stop, apologize, and leave.

From there, that kid will decide to use their powers for something different. After hearing stories of what Brightburn and the other villains have been doing, the kid will decide to become a hero their world needs to protect them against the threats they represent.

Brightburn is set in The Boys Universe.

Brightburn is set in a Dark Multiverse of the DCEU.

Some of Brandon Breyer's victims will come back to life and they will have powers of their own.

Which they will use to take down Brandon. Karmic Death, anyone?

A sequel will be an Evil Batman Vs. Evil Superman movie, then a third sequel will be an Evil version of Justice League.

• The sequel's title will be Frostshade V. Brightburn: Dawn of Chaos.
• The third sequel featuring the Evil Justice League will be titled Brightburn: Death Cult.

A sequel will feature a Tommy Jarvis Expy with superpowers and a Laurie Strode with superpowers as the main protagonists.

• Since "Brightburn" is basically Superman fused with Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, it's fitting that expies of survivors who dealt with Jason and Michael to oppose "Brightburn".

A sequel will feature Crimson Bolt gaining superpowers and battling Brandon Breyer.

Brandon's obsession with human organs was the result of his x-ray vision manifesting.

Hence why those pictures were mixed in with his lingerie models.

A heroic alien will show up to stop Brandon in a sequel.

And he could be played by Keanu Reeves.

A sequel to Brightburn would involve a team of heroic alien-hunters with high-tech weapons fighting against Brandon Breyer.

• And it will become a slasher movie because Brandon will try to violently pick off the alien-hunters one by one.

In a sequel, Caitlyn Connor will become a superhero with a super-strong bionic arm, but it will be revealed that her bionic arm was created by a benevolent group of aliens.

• And it will turn out that she will join a team of other people who have gained cybernetic powers thanks to the benevolent aliens' technology.
• But it will still become a slasher movie, because Brandon will try to violently pick off the benevolent group of aliens and their cyborg friends one by one.

A sequel will explore Brandon in his adulthood as a father.

• Basically, The Stepfather with superpowers.

In a sequel, Brandon becomes The Atoner and becomes a superhero a'la Max Damage in terms of personality.

But his attempts at heroism fail miserably, turning the sequel into a horror-comedy.

In a sequel, the main heroes will be parodies of Youtubers.

• Including parodies of Pew Die Pie, Jacksepticeye, Markiplier, etc.
  • That would be too comedic and lighthearted for the Brightburnverse. Perhaps the protagonists will be regular Youtubers who gain superpowers.
  • Not necessarily. It would be a horror-comedy, with the parodies of Pew Diepie, Jacksepticeye, Markiplier also being expies of male slasher movie victims. Their enemies would be evil expies of Deadpool, Shazam, John Constantine, and Kick-Ass.

In the sequel, Brightburn's archnemesis will the Expy of the Joker, not Lex Luthor.

Lex Luthor is already revealed to be a mere Conspiracy Theorist in this universe, so it's unlikely that he will be able to do much excepting rallying the people against Brandon. The Joker, on the other hand, is unmentioned, so there is a lot of ways his version can go.

• Seeing how the Joker in Joker (2019) is a lower-class nobody who ends up amassing a large following through his words and actions, this might just work.

Alternatively, Brightburn's archnemesis will still be the Expy of Lex Luthor, but as it turns out, the Lex Luthor Expy secretly has a high-tech, EMP-proof mech-suit ready.

Brandon is not a brood parasite

His species are actually hyper-advanced, peaceful space-farers who seed primitive worlds with superpowered infants (tailored to fit in appearance-wise with the natives) in the hopes of uplifting and improving civilization across the universe. The syntax of the 'take the world' message is ambiguous in the alien language, but the intended meaning was more along the lines of 'lead the world'. Brandon was supposed to use his powers like Superman did: to fight injustice and protect the innocent. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a sociopathic little bastard. It happens.

There will be a crossover with Dead by Daylight.

The Joker Expy will be yet another Youtube conspiracy ranter in the Brightburn Universe.

Guess where the money he makes with his conspiracy theory videos goes to....

Brandon Breyer was originally gonna be an adult female character called Brianna Breyer.

Hence why Billie Eilish's Bad Guy is the theme song of the movie Brightburn.

Brandon Breyer is possessed by a demon from the Brightburn Universe's equivalent of the Phantom Zone.

Brandon Breyer will redeem himself in a sequel, but considering the dark nature of the Brightburn universe, Brandon Breyer's Redemption Equals Death.

• And then the Brightburn Universe's version of the U.S. Goverment starts making an army of Brandon Breyer clones.

Brandon Breyer will be featured in Dead By Daylight as a killer, and in the lore it will be revealed to be conspiring with The Entity somehow.

IDW will make a Brightburn comic book series.

And it will crossover with Joe Hill's the cape. The crossover will reveal that the magic cape was NOT entirely burned and somebody else now has the magic cape.

Alternatively, Image Comics will make a Brightburn comic book.

Think Hack/Slash with supervillains instead of serial killers and monsters.

Or, as strange as it may sound, DC Comics will make Brightburn comic books.

Under their Black Label imprint.

Or, in a fit of irony, Marvel Comics will make Brightburn comic books.

This will require Marvel to bring back their Razorline imprint.

Brandon Breyer's grandparents will be the protagonists of a sequel.

And they will use high-tech weapons that can hurt Brandon in order to fight against Brandon.

Brandon comes from Planet Viltrum

Brandon is a Planet Killer probe

This species sends "Brightburns" to whichever planet where they detect rapidly evolving intelligent species in order to eliminate potential competitors preemptively. "Take the world" means "destroy the world." Maybe the same tactic was used between Mars and Jupiter.

The sequel will be a Horror Comedy

In an Evil Dead 2-way to offset the first film, the next film will be far mote comedic and silly. It will center on Brandon's utterly awkward interactions with an evil Justice League. The League will have tons of banter while doing horrible stuff. Essentially, it will become Justice League meets Helluva Boss.

The sequel will basically be The Stepfather with superpowers.