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Bruno Mannheim was an organized crime boss from Metropolis.
History[]
Bruno Mannheim was the leader of the criminal organization known as Intergang. This position left him with vast resources, which he would use to control the underworld. He was also amoral and had no compunction about using innocent people for his own means. In one incident, Mannheim went to a toymaker, Winslow Schott Sr., and offered to finance the building of a toy factory. However, this financing came at a price: the toy factory was to be used as a front for a numbers racket. When the police discovered this, Mannheim was only named a suspect while Schott was wrongfully convicted of Mannheim's crimes. The elder Schott would spend the remainder of his life in prison, dying shortly before a scheduled parole hearing. Now orphaned, the younger Schott was shuttled around to various foster homes, but later remarked that he never found acceptance. The loss of his father and feeling the world discarded him had warped the mind of Winslow Schott Jr.. The toymaker's son would return years later as Toyman to torment Bruno.
Years later, Mannheim founded a park in Metropolis. This park, aptly named "Mannheim Park" was intended to give Metropolis' children a safe, clean place to play. In actuality, it was a pseudophilanthropic ploy to clean up Mannheim's image. However, during a rehearsal of the opening ceremonies, a squadron of toy planes armed with machine guns started shooting at him. Mannheim suddenly found himself being confronted by Toyman, who turned out to be Schott's son. Mannheim was kidnapped and taken off to Toyman's lair where he was nearly executed. However, Lois Lane managed to prevent the execution and after Toyman tried to kill her, Superman arrived. After Superman destroyed most of Toyman's toys, he dropped several bombs into the lair, but Superman rescued both Mannheim and Lois. Mannheim snarkily commented that "this is one funeral I'll skip". A policeman investigating the blast doubted if there would even be a funeral, as Toyman's broken mask was found, but no sign of a dead or wounded body. Even so, Mannheim had not heard from Toyman since then.
In spite of his rescue and near-death experience, Mannheim learned nothing and tried to rob the Metropolis Gold Exchange using a military grade tank. When his plans were subsequently foiled by Superman and his weaponry rendered useless, Mannheim threw a fit until he was visited by Kanto, an agent of Darkseid. Kanto supplied Mannheim with advanced technology so that he could defeat Superman. Using this new technology, Mannheim succeeded in incapacitating Superman and was about to defeat him with a gun capable of firing a concentrated energy beam, but was thwarted by Dan Turpin. The Metropolis police came to arrest Mannheim, but he escaped by following Kanto through a boom tube to Apokolips. Upon arriving, Mannheim met his new ruler: Darkseid.
Mannheim at Darkseid's service.
Mannheim stayed on Apokolips for an unspecified amount of time where he learned more about the technology of Apokolips and began to believe that with his newfound knowledge, he could defeat Superman. However, Darkseid refused to return him to Earth claiming that he would not tolerate someone failing him twice. Mannheim was still under Darkseid's favor until he questioned how Darkseid could take Kalibak seriously. Angered by the fact that Mannheim questioned his judgment, Darkseid sent him to the slave pits of Apokolips.
When Darkseid planned his first invasion to Earth, Mannheim was returned to Metropolis so that he could assist in the invasion. Given Apokoliptian tanks and the promise of becoming a king, he first stole a large amount of money from the SCU but this was unfavored by Darkseid, who did not want him wasting the technology on petty theft. Now taking his orders more seriously, Mannheim began to attack military bases to weaken Earth's defenses. However, this attracted the attention of Orion, who appeared to fend off one of Mannheim's attacks. Failing, he retreated and then reported to Apokolips, fearful that he would incite Darkseid's ire.
Surprisingly, Darkseid was unconcerned about this, and ordered Mannheim to attempt his final mission: to sabotage a nuclear reactor so that it would melt into Earth's core and turn Earth into a second Apokolips. Mannheim broke into the nuclear power plant and overloaded the system as instructed, being assisted by a few Apokoliptian "Bug" soldiers to overpower security. However, once this was done Darkseid betrayed Mannheim, using a Boom tube to recall the soldiers back to Apokolips as Mannheim was left alone. When Mannheim demanded Darkseid fulfill his part of the deal to make him a king, Darkseid responded, "And a king you shall be; the King of Fools". Mannheim's attention then turned to the supercharged reactor and frantically attempted to flee in a motorboat. However, this was too little, too late. When the reactor detonated, it caused a great explosion which sank the boat. Mannheim was either consumed by the blast or drowned.