"This disease, it tests every part of you, mentally, physically. And at some point, you get this feeling, this... this pull. That it'd be so much easier if you'd just let go. It doesn't mean that you don't love the people in your life or that you wanna leave 'em, but... that feeling to give into the disease gets to be so strong. So this drive that your wife has, she's gonna need to use all that energy to survive."
Peia Mannheim fought a mentally and physically challenging disease. She resisted the strong urge to succumb to her illness, utilizing her energy to survive until her death in mid-2022.
Provided by: Fandom
Who was Peia Mannheim's husband?
Bruno Mannheim was the husband of Peia Mannheim. They had a child together, Matteo Mannheim, and were both part of Intergang.
Provided by: Fandom
What advice did Peia Mannheim give to Clark Kent?
Peia Mannheim shared with Clark Kent her insights on battling a disease. She described the struggle, both mental and physical, and the temptation to surrender to the illness, even when surrounded by loved ones. She stressed the importance of using one's strength to fight for survival.
Provided by: Fandom
When did Peia Mannheim die?
Peia Mannheim passed away in the middle of 2022.
Provided by: Fandom
Biography
Early life
Through unknown means, Peia became a meta-human with sound manipulation powers. At some point, she joined the first iteration of Intergang in Metropolis.
When Boss Moxie ordered Peia to kill Bruno Mannheim for disobeying him, she turned on and killed him instead. This would lead to Mannheim taking over from him as leader of Intergang. Peia used her powers to mimic Luthor's voice and record a confession, which caused him to be framed for Moxie's death. Peia later married Bruno and they had a son named Matteo.[2][3]
Eventually, she developed a terminal illness and underwent standard chemotherapy treatments, but they didn't work, so Bruno used Intergang to find a cure for her. He founded a Medical Center in Hobbs Bay to provide the best possible care for her and others with the same problem, as well as recruiting criminal scientists to work at Intergang. Dr. Aleister Hook, developed a serum based on X-Kryptonite and Superman's blood that slowed the progression of her cancer. At some point, Peia began wearing a special mask to hide her identity. [4]
Member of Intergang
Killing John Henry Irons
At the behest of her husband, Peia would murder John Henry Irons on July 7, 2015.[5]
First confrontation with Superman
Seven years later, after Superman's confrontation with Henry Miller, Peia took Miller's body to Mannheim, who was able to restore his life via an unknown equipment.[6]
Killing George Dean
Peia then went to Smallville and killed George Dean, the former mayor who apparently had ties to Intergang. But before his death, Dean managed to call the current mayor Lana Lang and have her find a thumb drive hidden in the mayor's office behind the town seal.[5]
Destroying evidence
Peia then followed Mayor Lang to City Hall, where she used her abilities to destroy the computer and drive and encountered a man who looked like John Irons. Peia then returned to Metropolis and told Mannheim that Irons was alive.[5]
Meeting the Kents
At Hobbs Bay Medical Center, Peia was placed in the same room as reporter Lois Lane, who had developed breast cancer. She befriended Lois and her husband, Clark Kent, but without revealing to them her connection to Intergang or Bruno. She told Clark that Lois should dedicate all of her energy to fighting the cancer, but if she doesn't, she might one day give up everything.[7]
At her next treatment at the Medical Center, Peia offered Lois to help her with the article she was writing about Hobbs Bay. She then invited Lois to lunch at an Italian restaurant that she and Bruno used to go to. Peia also defended Bruno, telling Lois that he had done a lot for Hobbs Bay and the people who lived there. When Lois told her that she believed the Medical Center was a cover for something, Peia said that the doctors at the hospital were good people and she didn't imagine anything else.[4]
Second confrontation with Superman
At night, Peia and some members of Intergang with Kryptonite weapons set a trap to kill Superman. Peia used her powers to imitate Lois's voice and call the hero, and when he appeared, she attacked him with a blast of sound that knocked him away. Intergang then appeared and bombarded him with kryptonite lasers. Peia hit him with one more blast of sound to keep him down, and an unknown vigilante arrived to save Superman, but Peia was able to knock him out with her powers and one of her men shot the vigilante with a Kryptonite gun. Superman then fought off her sonic attack and knocked her away with his heat vision. Peia later returned to Intergang's hideout and told Bruno that she had no more time and her powers were running out. Then he said that Dr. Hook was close to a cure, and he swore he would save her.[4]
After she was done with her cancer treatments, she and Bruno met their son Matteo's girlfriend, Natalie Lane Irons. Halfway through the dinner, Natalie's father John Henry showed up and Peia and Bruno had an encounter with John. During the fight, Peia used her sound manipulation abilities to subdue John. Because Peia overused her powers, her cancer spread even more throughout her body and now she didn't have long to live. Peia eventually collapsed, prompting Superman to rush her to the DOD hospital.[8]
Death
After her escape from the DOD, Peia, whose powers had been amplified by the cure Bruno provided, began creating sounds of attacks across the city. However, her powers began to destabilize, forcing her to flee from her and Bruno's hideout to the streets of Metropolis, where she inadvertently began causing chaos. Superman eventually found Peia and managed to calm her, assuring her that her family would be safe and that it was alright for her to release her energy. Consequently, Peia allowed Superman to carry her above the city, where she could safely unleash her remaining power, thus killing her in the process. Afterward, Superman respectfully returned her body to her family.[9]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
"It was like Bruno taught Peia how to find her voice again."
Meta-human physiology: After Peia got her powers through unknown means, her DNA was altered and her cells were supercharged, augmenting her physiology. When Matteo injected her with Bruno's cure, it made her powers even stronger. However, it also made her abilities incredibly unstable and dangerous to the point she couldn't control them anymore.
Sonokinesis: Peia has the ability to generate and manipulate sonic energy and utilize it for various purposes.[5]
Sonogenesis: She has the power to manipulate sonic frequencies to create forces powerful enough to repel things, to cause wind and even concentrate the force to kill someone by imitating gunshots. When Peia died, her powers overloaded and she imitated a massive explosion that killed her.[6]
Sonic scream: Peia is able to emit a sonic scream that comes from her voice. Her scream is powerful enough to produce enough force to kill a person and launch a full-grown human and other heavy objects back several feet.[2]
Voxikinesis: She can create sounds like screams, explosions and sirens, realistic enough to trick people.[6] She can also use sound to speak, seemingly without vocal cords.[5]After the powers became stronger thanks to her husband’s cure, she was able to make a variety of noises all over Metropolis simultaneously without moving around.
Vocal Replication: Peia has the ability to replicate other peoples voices, this ability was shown when she tricked superman into thinking that she was Lois Lane.
Power instability: Since being diagnosed with her terminal illness, Peia is unable to use her powers like she used to as severe overuse of them will aggravate her illness and cause her to pass out.[10]
Equipment
Protective suit: Peia uses a black protective suit with a mask to conceal her identity. While using her powers, the mask can change form from a spiral to a random soundwave or grid-like pattern, reflecting her onomatopoeic powers.[5]
In the comics, Onomatopoeia is a serial killer who speaks only in sound effect words and targets non-superpowered heroes. He is an enemy of Green Arrow and Batman.
A character from Arrow named Mr. Blank was originally going to be Onomatopoeia, but the decision was made by Andrew Kreisberg that this character wouldn't translate well from page to screen, in accordance with statements from Kevin Smith. After the statement he made above, Smith changed his mind and stated that he would like to see Onomatopoeia as an antagonist in a future episode of The Flash.
Later, a character also based on Onomatopoeia appeared in Arrow tie-in comics.
