Bruno Mannheim

Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim is a villain who appears in DC Comics as one of Superman's enemies.

Publication history

He first appeared in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #139 (July 1971) and was created by Jack Kirby.

Fictional character biography

Mannheim is one of Metropolis' most powerful gangsters, the leader of the Intergang. He is also the son of Moxie "Boss" Mannheim.^[1]

Since his return in the miniseries 52, he claims now to have been "reborn" thanks to the New God Darkseid, and to have become a psychopath.

During Week 25, now a devoted worshipper of crime itself, he has Intergang follow "The Crime Bible," of which the original copy is bound by the stone with which Cain killed Abel. He's also been shown to now be a cannibal, killing and then eating those whom do not submit to (or simply do not immediately join) Intergang like he did with Mirage (as seen in the picture above). Bruno Mannheim later abducted Kite Man, Lamelle, Rawson, Sewer King, and Squid in order to get them to join Intergang. Some of them turned him down and were killed as a result.^[2]

Over the course of the series, he comes into conflict with Renee Montoya, Nightwing and the new Batwoman, whom he wishes to sacrifice. As of Week 48, Mannheim has captured Batwoman and has her bound and gagged to a sacrificial altar, stabbing her through the heart shortly thereafter. When Montoya arrives and rescues her lover, Batwoman rips Mannheim's knife out of her own chest and impales him in the back, seemingly fatally. This is during Mannheim's attempt to turn Gotham into a miniature replica of Apokolips. Batwoman survives her injuries.

Superman encounters him several weeks later, mutated to be several stories tall. Before teleporting away, he states that Darkseid is not his master anymore. Based on that comment, someone else is behind Intergang's recent activity.^[3]

In Gotham Underground, Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim and Intergang were involved in a gang war with Tobias Whale.

In other media

Television

• The son of Moxie Mannheim's (Bruno) character appeared in three episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman under the name Bill Church Jr. played by Bruce Campbell. In "Individual Responsibility", Bill Church Jr is the son of the original leader of Intergang and takes over as leader of Intergang that would commit various crimes around Metropolis and runs MultiWorld Communications. Perry was great friends with Bill Church and his son, however, Perry doesn't know that Jr has turned to being a criminal. Church Jr kidnaps Perry White because his boss Franklin Stern won't sell the Daily Planet, meanwhile, Lois and Clark are trying to crack down on Intergang and foil their operations. Superman tries to stop Intergang and comes into contact with Red kryptonite, which affects Superman in that he doesn't care about standing up for justice like he is portrayed in the series and lets Intergang get away with their crimes. Superman also sees a psychiatrist to fix his relationship with Lois. In "We Have a Lot to Talk About", Perry learns the truth about Bill Church Jr being a criminal. Bill Church Sr. (portrayed by Peter Boyle) has a new wife named Mindy (played by Jessica Collins), in which his son likes her. His father wants to dismantle Intergang and continue to running operations with his Church group. Bill Jr is not happy with his father's idea and seeks to continue Intergang. However, Mindy double-crosses Bill Church Sr. and Bill Church Jr. and runs Intergang for herself after both Churches were arrested by the police.
• Bruno Mannheim appeared in five episodes of Superman: The Animated Series voiced by Bruce Weitz. Mannheim runs Intergang, as in the comic books. One of his enemies is the Toyman, whose father was a patsy for one Mannheim's embezzling schemes. In "Tools of the Trade," he and Intergang received high-tech weapons from Kanto. After Superman defeated him, Bruno fled with Kanto and ended up meeting Kanto's boss Darkseid. Mannheim agreed to work for Darkseid in exchange for power. In "Father's Day," he alongside Desaad and Kalibak watch Superman fight a robot that Desaad sent to Earth. After Darkseid declined Kalibak's offer to fight Superman, Bruno suggested Darkseid to send him back to Earth so that he can get Intergang back together. Darkseid denied the offer and teleported Bruno to the fire pits where he was put to work shoveling coal into the furnaces. When it came time for Darkseid to deliver his end of the bargain to Bruno Mannheim in "Apokolips...Now" Pt. 1, Darkseid went back on his word. Bruno accosted Darkseid by pointing out that he promised to "make him a king" to which Darkseid replied "And so you are, the king of fools." Bruno was then left stranded on a desert island where a nuclear bomb was set to go off. Despite managing to get on a motorboat, it was caught in the explosion when it was a little way from the island and capsized. Mannheim apparently perished in the blast as he wasn't seen again. After that, Darkseid had Granny Goodness take over Intergang.
• Bruno Mannheim made an appearance in the Smallville episode "Stiletto" played by Dominic Zamprogna. In the Smallville universe, Mannheim was a thug for the mob and Ace o' Clubs owner Ron Milano. He made counterfeit money and mugged Chloe along with another, AJ, stealing her bag and getting a whack from Lois before leaving in his car. He returned to the Ace of Clubs and got a drink from new bartender Jimmy Olsen, who asked to get an advance on his pay from owner Ron. Ricky then came to get Mannheim because Ron wanted to see him, but when Ron began to mock Mannheim for the mugging, Mannheim turned on him shooting him dead with a silenced gun in the back room of the Ace of Clubs when Ron said that they were going legit. He then took over Milano's businesses and announced that they were first going to get rid of the heroes starting with Stiletto. When Jimmy came back into work late holding his camera, Mannheim took it off him and recognized the photos of Chloe and Lois as Stiletto and beat him for information before knocking him out. He was then in the back room seeing through the counterfeit money when Clark rushed in at super speed. Kryptonite used on the money, however, weakened Clark enough that Mannheim could punch him to the floor and beat him. Lois as Stiletto jumped down and knocked Clark away in time. As Mannheim went to shoot her, Clark jumped in front of Lois, blocking her from danger. Jimmy came in and was able to take Mannheim down. In season 10 of Smallville, Mannheim did not make an appearance, but he was mentioned in "Beacon." Lois mentioned Mannheim to Martha Kent as a possible conspirator to her assassination attempt.
• Bruno Mannheim appears in the Young Justice episode "Disordered" voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. He is seen as a member of Intergang. Superboy and the Forever People stumble upon him and the rest of Intergang robbing an underground gold vault using weapons and technology from Apokolips. He escapes the initial encounter and later is stripped of his weaponry and captured when Superboy takes command of a corrupted Infinity-Man and turns it against Mannheim. In "Salvage," Mannheim and Whisper A'Daire use a special technology to merge the four Appellaxian host bodies into one Appellaxian Golem. Mannheim planned to use the Appellaxian Golem into making it an enforcer for Intergang. Blue Beetle manages to restrain Mannheim and Whisper with special locks. Mannheim and Whisper are later put into a catatonic-like state by Sportsmaster as a warning to anyone who goes against The Light, suggesting the two were operating independently.

Video games

• Bruno Mannheim appeared as his animated counterpart in Superman: Countdown to Apokolips.
• Bruno Mannheim appears in the DC Universe Online video game voiced by Bruce Carey. In the hero campaign, Question sends the players to infiltrate Intergang. They discover that Mannheim plans to kill Batwoman as part of a ritual to gain infinite power as the Crime Bible stated that this can be obtained once the twice-named daughter of Cain is sacrificed. When the players arrive, Mannheim sacrifices Batwoman and gains enough power to fight them. The players end up fighting Bruno Mannheim until Question arrives to help fight Mannheim. Once Mannheim is defeated, the players claim the Crime Bible and revive Batwoman. In the villain campaign, Deathstroke and Calculator send the players to infiltrate Intergang in order to steal the Crime Bible from Bruno Mannheim. They discover that Bruno plans to kill Batwoman as part of a ritual to gain infinite power as the Crime Bible stated that this can be obtained once the twice-named daughter of Cain is sacrificed. When the players arrive, Mannheim sacrifices Batwoman and gains enough power to fight them. The players end up fighting Mannheim until Deathstroke arrives to help fight Bruno Mannheim.

Miscellaneous

• Bruno Manneheim appeared in an issue of The Batman Strikes! (based on the animated series The Batman). He is seen working with Rupert Thorne and created an army of super-villains based on Bane, Man-Bat, and Firefly. He plans to use these villains to take down the Justice League and take over Metropolis. Manneheim turned himself into a version of Metallo. His plans ultimately fail when Batman and Superman defeat him and his super thugs.

References