The bombshells just keep dropping for Superman & Lois‘ major season 3 villain, Bruno Mannheim (Chad L. Coleman). Last week, season 3, episode 7, “Of Sound Mind,” revealed that Bruno’s wife is Peia/Onomatopoeia (Dayas Vaidya) and that part of his plans include finding a cure for her cancer. Now, episode 8, “Forever and Always,” confirmed that there’s a whole Mannheim family, as Bruno is revealed to have a son: none other than Matteo (Spence Moore II), Natalie Irons (Tayler Buck)’s boyfriend. This means that the Mannheim family secretly had another connection to the Kent family since nearly the beginning of the season.
Matteo was first introduced in Superman & Lois season 3, episode 2, “Uncontrollable Forces,” but his identity as Mannheim’s son was kept hidden until now. This is similar to how Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) met Peia while they were both undergoing chemotherapy, but Lois was unaware of her being the wife of Bruno, whom Lois has been trying to take down through her journalist career. Now, Natalie is dating Bruno’s son and is unaware of his true identity. While Natalie isn’t biologically a member of the Kent family, she has been treated like a daughter by the Kents since she arrived in their universe.
Natalie has had a particularly rough story in Superman & Lois, as she lost her mother in her world and had to adjust to an entirely new reality with her father, John Henry Irons (Wolé Parks), in the Kent family’s world. So having a boyfriend to help her adjust was a nice development. However, Matteo’s identity raises concerns about how genuine their relationship is. Here’s what we know about Matteo so far.
Who is Bruno Mannheim’s son, Matteo?
As mentioned above, Matteo was first introduced in the second episode of Superman & Lois season 3. He doesn’t appear to be based on a comic book character, so all we know about him is limited to what the show has revealed. He was introduced as a student of Metropolis High School, who ran into Natalie and her friends while they were at a Metropolis party. It was revealed that Matteo had actually seen Natalie before. Back in season 2, viewers will recall that Natalie attempted to attend Metropolis High School for a day, but quickly realized going to the same school she attended in an alternate universe wasn’t a good idea and transferred to Smallville High School. However, it turns out Matteo spotted Natalie that one day and had fallen in love with her at first sight.
This is why he approaches her during the party and later finds her on social media. Matteo proves that he’s very serious about Natalie when he travels all the way to Smallville just to see her, and the two attend a Valentine’s Day Dance at Smallville High, where they make their relationship official. Since then, Matteo and Natalie have been managing their long-distance relationship well and grew serious enough for Matteo to meet her dad. John even lets up on his overbearing father act and gives his approval of Matteo dating his daughter.
This is when Matteo decides to make plans with his own parents to meet Natalie, and we find out his parents are Bruno and Peia. So far, there is no confirmation that Matteo is involved in Bruno and Peia’s criminal organization. However, Bruno’s involvement in Intergang isn’t exactly a secret either, making it likely Matteo is at least aware of it, even if not directly involved. Similarly, he doesn’t seem aware of who Natalie is, although his intense interest in her is a bit suspicious. Still, Matteo’s parents killed their world’s version of Natalie’s father, which might make a relationship kind of awkward. Ultimately, there’s a possibility Matteo may be in on his father’s work, and his presence could be a danger to the Irons and Kent families.
Another likely possibility is that Matteo is oblivious to it all and may end up as another unfortunate piece of collateral damage in his parents’ schemes.
(featured image: The CW)
