Intergang
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Intergang | |
 A giant Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim from Superman #654, artist Carlos Pacheco |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 October (1970) |
| Created by | Jack Kirby |
| In story information | |
| Type of organization | Organized crime |
| Leader(s) | Darkseid Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim Lex Luthor Boss Moxie |
| Agent(s) | Frank Sixty Whisper A'Daire Kyle Abbot Morgan Edge Vincent Edge |
Intergang is a fictional organized crime organization in Superman comics. Armed with technology supplied by the villainous New Gods of the planet Apokolips, it is a potent foe who can seriously challenge the most powerful superheroes. It was created by Jack Kirby and first appeared in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 (October 1970).
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[edit] Fictional history
Intergang was run by a gangster named Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim, as revealed in Jimmy Olsen #139. He was, however, getting orders and weaponry from Darkseid, who was using Intergang to help track down the Anti-Life Equation.
Intergang also worked with Morgan Edge, the head of the Galaxy Broadcasting System television network (which had recently purchased the Daily Planet and had Clark Kent transferred to its Metropolis affiliate WGBS-TV as its anchorman). It was later revealed that this was not the real Morgan Edge, but a clone from the "Evil Factory." When the clone could not bring itself to kill the original Edge at the order of Darkseid the real Edge was imprisoned. The original Edge would later escape with the help of Jimmy Olsen. During an ensuing battle with Intergang the clone was mistaken for the original by Intergang hitman Tombstone Gear and incinerated. The real Edge was soon free to resume his role as Galaxy's president.
[edit] Post Crisis
In the post-Crisis DC Universe, Edge was the leader of Intergang, until he suffered a heart attack due to stress. While he believed he was working for Darkseid, his Apokoliptian contact was actually Desaad, whose only aim in supplying him with weaponry was to cause suffering. While he was in hospital his legitimate businesses were taken over by his father, Vincent Edge, and Intergang was taken over by Ugly Mannheim, who trained on Apokolips with Granny Goodness (a later retcon would say that Mannheim was the original leader of Intergang, dealing knowingly with Desaad. How Edge took over is unrevealed.)
Eventually, Intergang was brought down by Clark Kent and Cat Grant, Mannheim was arrested, but managed to escape. He attempted to disappear through a "Boom Tube" (a New Gods transporter), but it collapsed when he was halfway through.
Some time later, Mannheim's father, Boss Moxie, a gangster who had been in prison since the 1940s, after being captured by the Newsboy Legion, was released. Discovering that the Newsboys were, seemingly, the same age as when he first fought them, he determined to find out how such a thing could be. Meeting renegade Project Cadmus geneticist Dabney Donovan, he arranged for himself and his former gang members from the 1940s to be cloned into youthful bodies with superpowers. Using Vincent Edge to arrange a meeting between Metropolis' gang-leaders, he killed them all, and declared himself the new head of Intergang. The new Intergang spent much of their time tracking down Jimmy Olsen, whom Moxie believed knew Superman's secret identity.
Following a short-lived attempt by Morgan Edge to regain control, Lex Luthor gained control of Intergang, retaining Moxie as a figurehead. Moxie and his lieutenants were later captured by Superman. When last seen, Intergang was run by a criminal cyberneticist named Frank Sixty.
[edit] Infinite Crisis
There was some suggestion that Boss Moxie was slain during the miniseries Infinite Crisis. The suggestion come from a sequence during Battle of Metropolis, during which Superboy-Prime snaps a villain's neck, killing him.
[edit] 52
In week 9 of the ongoing 2006 weekly series, 52, the Question tells Renee Montoya that Intergang is preparing for an invasion of Gotham City. Two weeks later, the pair finally have a confrontation with the two operatives of Intergang in Gotham, Whisper A'Daire and Kyle Abbot, known in the public eye as the manager of HSC International Banking, an holding connected to Intergang itself, and her bodyguard. In the weeks that follow, the further investigations of Montoya and the Question reveal Intergang to be operating a mining company called Ridge Ferrick in regions such as Australia, and also having expanded into nations such as Oolong Island, Bialya and Yemen, reorganized along quasi-religious lines, complete with a "holy" text known variously as the Book of Crime or the Crime Bible, which treats Cain as a heroic, if not semi-divine, figure for his role according to Christian theology in creating the "most sacred" crime of murder. It has even been revealed that the original text is bound by the stone with which Cain slew Abel. In issue #25, Bruno Mannheim was revealed as the current head of Intergang, which is also behind the kidnapping of many of the world's "mad scientists", in a grand plan to take over America by the end of the year. He shows himself now acting like a cult leader, exalting the power of crime as the dominant order in the 21st century, and now becoming a cannibal, eating anyone he kills who refuses to join Intergang.
In Superman #654, "Ugly" Mannheim returns as a giant wielding alien technology, claiming that someone other than Darkseid is behind Intergang's current activities.
[edit] Other DCU Criminal Organizations
- See also: List of criminal organizations in comics
[edit] Other Media
[edit] Lois & Clark
Intergang appeared in several episodes of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Some names were changed, Vincent and Morgan Edge became Bill Church, Sr., and Bill Church, Jr., Galaxy Broadcasting became Multiworld Communications, etc. No mention was made of Apokolips. The Churches were played by Peter Boyle and Bruce Campbell respectively. By the end of the series, both Churches were in prison and Intergang was being run by Bill, Sr.'s young wife, Mindy (Jessica Collins), who appeared to be an airhead, but was actually a ruthless mastermind.
[edit] Smallville
Morgan Edge has appeared as a Metropolis gang boss in Smallville, initially played by Rutger Hauer, and later by Patrick Bergin. In a deleted scene he mentions his affiliation to Intergang.
[edit] Superman: The Animated Series
In Superman: The Animated Series, Intergang was run by Bruno Mannheim, voiced by Bruce Weitz who, ironically, played the Church Sr's lawyer on Lois & Clark.
Mannheim was often the target of the Toyman, a villain who used incredible--and lethal--toys to get revenge on him for framing the Toyman's father for embezzlement.
He was later killed when helping Darkseid.
In a later episode, Intergang was reorganized under the leadership of Granny Goodness.
[edit] Justice League
In Justice League, Morgan Edge was portrayed as living on an island with his own personal army and then is killed by Killer Frost as the Secret Society (Gorilla Grodd, Parasite, Sinestro, Giganta, The Shade and Frost) freed Clayface, who was being held by Edge.
[edit] Justice League Unlimited
Intergang received a brief mention in the Justice League Unlimited episode "This Little Piggy." During a stakeout, an impatient Wonder Woman asked Batman what the criminal organization would want with the Rosetta Stone. Batman replied with the remark, "Intergang moves in mysterious ways."
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