It is shown how derived brackets naturally arise in sigma-models via Poisson- or antibracket, generalizing a recent observation by Alekseev and Strobl. On the way to a precise formulation of this relation, an explicit coordinate expression for the derived bracket is obtained. The generalized Nijenhuis tensor of generalized complex geometry is shown to coincide up to a de-Rham closed term with the derived bracket of the structure with itself and a new coordinate expression for this tensor is presented. The insight is applied to two known two-dimensional sigma models in a background with generalized complex structure.