Here's your first look at Superman villain Brainiac on the Syfy prequel series 'Krypton'

Brian Truitt | USA TODAY

Blake Ritson isn't an ancient evil, but he's playing one on TV.

After taking on dark and morally dubious roles over the years, the British actor has a great new antagonistic assignment: the iconic Superman supervillain Brainiac on Syfy's Krypton series (premiering March 21 at 10 ET/PT).

"I've played characters who've objectively committed monstrous actions, but feel entirely justified, as they've acted from a misplaced sense of a noble cause," says Ritson, who played bad guy Count Riario in Starz's Da Vinci's Demons. "Generally speaking, people cast themselves as the hero in their own narrative."

Krypton takes the Man of Steel mythology back to Superman's home planet 200 years before baby Kal-El would eventually escape the explosion of his home planet and be sent to Earth. Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), the hero's grandfather, is a headstrong young man dealing with the politics of Kandor City and fighting for the honor of the House of El, publicity ostracized after Seg's own grandpa was branded a traitor. Time traveler Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) arrives to tell Seg about his grandson Kal-El's exploits but also warns of the coming of Brainiac, a being known as the "Collector of Worlds."

Because there's not much DC Comics canon for this period, "it's something of a blank canvas that has allowed a lot of freedom for the writers to world-build," Ritson says. "This is a major expansion of the Superman universe and mythology and the civilization that fostered the greatest hero that ever lived."

Ritson's first step in inhabiting Brainiac was figuring out if he believed himself to be evil. In his mind, the actor figures, the character believes he wields his god-like power with immense compassion.

"Yes, he traverses the universe in a gigantic skull ship, ripping cities out of planets, miniaturizing them and placing them on board. But he does so in the spirit of conservation," Ritson says. "In his mind, he's committed to the ultimate philanthropic act: saving all of creation. In many ways it's analogous to Noah plucking out two of every animal to ensure their survival, even while knowing that others must perish."

Becoming the freaky, green-skinned villain has been its own adventure for Ritson. Sure, special effects are used to create him, but only after a lot of time spent in a makeup chair and having prosthetics applied: Over the course of filming Krypton's first season, Ritson says he's gone from "punishingly early" seven-hour applications in the morning to a comparatively quick four and a half hours.

"It's chillingly effective," he adds. "The first week I turned a corner and one of the cast (members) who hadn't seen the makeup before screamed. A few days later, one of the crew dropped their lunch when they saw me for the first time. Then I knew that we were really on the right track."

And while he can't spill much about Brainiac's skull ship, Ritson points out that "it involved a lot of filming against a blue screen. If they'd used green screen, I think I would have been somewhat camouflaged."