Matteo Mannheim is the teenaged son of Bruno and Peia Mannheim, and Natalie Lane Irons's boyfriend.
History
Matteo heard rumours about his father being a criminal growing up, but had no idea his mother was a metahuman and helped Bruno run Intergang.[1][2]
On the first day of school, Matteo saw a new girl in the halls of Metropolis High School and was instantly smitten with her. He tried to find out more about her, but nobody knew who she was and she disappeared after first period and never came back.
Months later, she showed up at a party in Metropolis. Matteo tried to work up the courage to talk to her, but before he could her "wingwoman" Sarah noticed him staring at her and dragged him over to talk to her. She told him that her name was "Natalie Johnson" and they quickly found that they shared a love of horror movies. Matteo eventually admitted he had been hoping to meet Natalie for months, but just after he told her Natalie had to leave the party in a hurry when her friends got into a fight with the host before they could exchange numbers.[3]
Matteo tracked down Sarah on social media and asked for Natalie's phone number, but Sarah suggested he come to meet her in Smallville instead. Matteo travelled to Smallville and asked Natalie out; and when she told him that night was Smallville High School's Valentine's Dance, he suggested they go together, even buying a suit for the occasion. At the dance Matteo tried to kiss her, and Nat became flustered and ran out. Believing Natalie didn't want him there, he decided to go home, but she came back in as he was about to leave. Natalie asked Matteo if they could pick up from before she ran out, which he readily agreed to.[4]
A few weeks later, Matteo returned to Smallville to take Natalie to the movies and meet her father, "Henry Johnson". They had lunch together and Matteo was on his best behavior but "Henry" acted aggressive and protective. Natalie stormed off and Matteo followed her, making sure to thank Henry for lunch as he left. At the movies, Matteo told Natalie that he would do whatever it took to win her father's approval. Henry came to the theatre after the movie and apologised to Matteo, telling him that, since Natalie had never dated before he didn't know how to handle her having a boyfriend. Matteo assured Henry that he would always treat Natalie right, as his mother had raised him to respect women. Matteo returned home to Metropolis and told his parents that he believed Natalie was "the one" and he couldn't wait for them to meet her.[5]
A few weeks later, Natalie joined the Mannheim's for lunch at Little Ace's, their favourite restaurant in Metropolis. The meal went well, but a few hours later Natalie's dad burst in and told her they needed to leave immediately. To Natalie and Matteo's shock, the other patrons all pulled out guns. Bruno ordered one of them to remove them and another diner dragged them out. They heard sounds of fighting in the distance and Matteo punched the man out. They ran over to the alley the noises were coming from and found Bruno facing off with Natalie's dad in a suit of armour.
Bruno revealed to Matteo that he was the leader of Intergang, and his mother had been imprisoned by the Department of Defence. Bruno tried to explain himself to Matteo but his son refused to listen.[1] Despite Peia being predicted to have only weeks to live, the DoD refused to let her family see her; however, Bruno told Matteo that he would make sure that they did, not matter what it took.
Natalie didn't reply to any of his attempts to contact her since the night at the restaurant, but her friends reached out to him and arranged a meeting. Matteo defended his parents when Natalie said they tried to kill her dad, saying there may be more that they don't know; he also told her that her dad was blocking them from seeing Peia, much to her shock. He said he didn't want to talk about their parents and told Natalie that he loved her. Flustered, she told him that she loved him too and they kissed.
When Matteo got home he immediately got into an argument with his father, blaming him for Peia having to die alone. Bruno told Matteo that Peia was not going to die and took him to a secret lab in their home. He showed Matteo the Inverse World Superman in the lab and told him that he had used it to find a cure for Peia.[2]
The DoD refused to allow Bruno to visit Peia but did agree to let Matteo see her. Bruno gave Matteo the cure hidden in a cufflink and told him to inject her with it, which would cure her and give her the strength to escape. Matteo was nervous but Bruno assured him he could do it. At the facility, Matteo met Peia alone in her cell. She tried to explain what had happened at the restaurant but Matteo told her that Bruno had already told him everything and he had successfully found a cure. He injected her with the cure and told her to come and meet him and Bruno at "the place where it all started" after it took effect. He left and joined his father at the lab. Peia broke out of the facility and reunited with Bruno and Matteo at the lab.[6]
The Mannheims hid out in the lab while preparations to flee the country. Peia apologised to Matteo for getting him involved and forcing him to give up everything, including Natalie, but he told her that it was worth it to save her. Just as they were about to leave, Peia's powers suddenly spiked beyond her ability to control, creating massive sonic waves which destroyed the lab and blacked out power to the city. Bruno gave her another dose of the cure, and for a moment her powers calmed, but they then suddenly spiked again, even worse, accidentally killing Bruno's assistant. Matteo ran from the lab to look for help.
He went up to the apartment looking for a working phone, but when he did so he activated a device left by Natalie and she flew to his home in a suit like the one her father wore. Matteo told her that Peia was in trouble and she promised to help, but Bruno and his men came up armed with guns and told her to back away. Natalie tried to tell him she was there to help, when suddenly John Henry flew in, knocked Bruno's men down with the hammer and grabbed him. Bruno goaded John Henry to kill him, but Matteo and Natalie were able to get him to stand down. The building was rocked by a shockwave and they ran up to the roof to try and spot Peia. They saw her in the distance and Matteo begged Natalie to fly him over to her so he could try and help, but she told him if he got close to her he would die. Superman flew Peia up into the sky, where she released her power in a final blast and died. He returned her body to Bruno and Matteo and told them that Peia asked him to tell them that she loved them, forever and always. Matteo clasped her hand and Bruno cradled Peia's dead body, weeping.
Bruno and Matteo were both arrested by the DoD. Bruno agreed to confess to everything in exchange for amnesty for Matteo and John Henry's personal guarantee that his son would be taken care of.[7] Matteo enrolled in the DoD Academy.[8]
A year later, Matteo was Natalie's date to her father and Lana Lang's wedding.[9]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
Notes
- Matteo Mannheim is portrayed by Spence Moore II.
Related
- Appearances of Matteo Mannheim (Arrowverse: Superman & Lois)
- Images featuring Matteo Mannheim (Arrowverse: Superman & Lois)
- Quotations by or about Matteo Mannheim (Arrowverse: Superman & Lois)
- Character Gallery: Matteo Mannheim (Arrowverse: Superman & Lois)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Superman & Lois: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Superman & Lois: "The Dress"
- ↑ Superman & Lois: "Uncontrollable Forces"
- ↑ Superman & Lois: "Head On"
- ↑ Superman & Lois: "Forever and Always"
- ↑ Superman & Lois: "Collision Course"
- ↑ Superman & Lois: "Complications"
- ↑ Superman & Lois: "What Kills You Only Makes You Stronger"
- ↑ Superman & Lois: "It Went By So Fast"