If studios are still taking notice of their actors - or did that go out the door when “Waterworld” crossed the $200 mil mark in ’94? - then you’ll see Brainiac in the “Superman Returns” sequel.

Speaking about the recently-announced “Man of Steel” - that’s what they’re calling the next ‘Superman” pic - star Brandon Routh tells IESB that he’d love to see the evil alien get his due.

“There’s a lot of talk about Braniac - everyone wants to see [him]. But in the Superman Returns video game you get to play as Bizzaro [the imperfect Superman clone], and Bizzaro’s pretty fun - you could have some fun with that [too]”, says the actor, reportedly keen on getting involved in Legendary Pictures’ “World of Warcraft” movie next. “So I’m leaning towards one of those”.

Routh says there’s a “lot of possibilities” with the Brainiac character - recently played on Tvs “Smallville” by James Marsters - because he’s a “mastermind [and an] intelligent villain, so he could create any number of evil things”.

Brainiac - who was actually written into an unused draft of “Superman 5”, when the Salkinds were still involved in the property, and later, Kevin Smith wrote him into the abandoned “Superman Lives” - does seem to be the most requested villain for the sequel. For those not in the know, he’s an alien scientist from the planet Colu, intent on conquering Earth; pre-Crisis, Brainiac was portrayed as being an android. Post-Crisis, he was portrayed as a circus mentalist named Milton Fine who was possessed by a Coluan intelligence. During The Doomsday Wars storyline, however, Fine’s body was destroyed and Brainiac once more inhabited a robotic body.