Gorilla Grodd
Gorilla Grodd is a male comic animal supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis
Gorilla Grodd
Imprisoned again, Grodd was kept under watch by more guards but he came to use his telepathy to summon his quadromobile which crashed into the prison allowing to escape in it. After escaping, he looked to enact the next element of his plan which was to evolve himself using a machine where he gained a human-like appearance. He hen travelled to Central City where he operated as a mysterious businessman named Mr. Drew Drowden where he had a factory constructed which was used to develop a special pill. Consuming the pill conferred him powers of mind over matter which he intended to use to conquer the world. This led to a confrontation with his nemesis the Flash where in this time the effects of his evolution-accelerator wore off and he returned to his gorilla form. In that state, he could not use his new powers and attempted to use the evolution machine on himself again but was stopped by the Flash. However, the Scarlet Speedster was unable to match Grodd's superior strength until he dismantled the villains machinery to fashion restraints allowing him to arrest his foe who was then returned to Gorilla City. (The Flash v1 #108)
Grodd's mind took over the body of criminal William Dawson, who was in prison. When released, he traveled back to Gorilla City. Upon reaching his destination, Dawson's body devolved back into Grodd's original gorilla form. There, he saw and fell in love with Solovar's bride-to-be, Boka. Determined to have her, he designed a machine that caused his body to emanate neo-magnetic radiation. As a result, everyone who saw him instantly liked him. He arrived at the wedding procession, and Boka immediately became infatuated with him. They were married, and Grodd was declared king of Gorilla City. Not satisfied, he had the gorillas build him a plane, which he flew to Central City, where the humans quickly began adoring him, including the Flash. He began running for governor as the Statewide Party candidate, planning on continuing on to president after that. However, the Flash foiled Grodd's plan when he discovered that the neo-magnetic radiation could be counteracted by solar flare radiation, which he duplicated by vibrating his body at super speed to match the frequency. Afterwards, Grodd was easily apprehended. (The Flash v1 #127)
- DC Super-Stars v1 #14 (1977) provided a different origin to Gorilla Grodd and the people of Gorilla City where they were said to had been inhabitants of the planet Calor that faced destruction until Grodd along with his people used their mental powers to remotely tap into the Green Lantern Power Ring of Hal Jordan and using it to relocate their home to Earth in secret.
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
After being nearly killed, Grodd was healed by the Nzame, a holy child to the gorillas of Gorilla City. He was prepared to kill the infant, but was suddenly summoned to Keystone City by Spin in an effort to defeat the Flash. Angered, Grodd proceeded to destroy Spin's lair. Their battle spilled out into the streets of Keystone, where they were met by the Flash. (The Flash v2 #240)
After escaping Iron Heights 7 months ago, Grodd managed to gather an army of his fellow gorillas where he launched an attack on the United States. This saw his forces invading New York City and destroying Air Force One as they targeted President Luthor. He then faced opposition from the newest incarnation of the Outsiders that were being led by Nightwing. (Outsiders v3 #2)
At some point, he was transferred to Iron Heights Penitentiary where a cell was made for him in the Pipeline that was run by warden Wolffe. Despite this being the case, Grodd came to use his telepathic powers to summon forth mind controlled gorillas to attack the prison. They broke into the Pipeline where they freed many of its supervillain prisoners in an effort to free their master. The Flash then arrived at the scene to stop the prisoners from escaping but then he was attacked by Grodd. During their fight, most of the criminals escaped with Grodd freeing Abra Kadabra after he begged for release. Grodd, however, wanted to kill the Flash himself thus forcing the villain to depart whereupon he intended to get his revenge on the Scarlet Speedster for thwarting his coup of Gorilla City. Using his powers, he delved into the mind of Wally West in order to hurt him by targeting his loved ones. From his mind, he came to learn about Hunter Zolomon who was an ally of Wally West and telepathically sent an order to gorillas to target the profile. They succeeded in finding Hunter and crippling the man leaving him unable to walk again. During this time, Grodd managed to escape Iron Heights and made his way to Africa in order to return to Gorilla City. (The Flash v2 #193) Upon arriving at the city, he took control of several of its denizens and attacked it in order to kill its leader Nnmandi. The child of Solovar used his own telepathic powers to free his people from Grodd as the Flash attacked the villain. Despite besetting the Scarlet Speedster with nightmare projections, Grodd came to be defeated with Wally West looking to take him back to Keystone City to stand trial for his crimes. However, Nnmandi refused as he intended to keep Grodd trapped within Gorilla City and that mankind should not be in custody of their kind. He then wiped the location of Gorilla City from Wally West's mind and sent him back to Keystone whilst Grodd was taken into custody by his own people. (The Flash v2 #194)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
He was born a runt and regularly beaten by his father along with being ignored by the other super-gorillas with them claiming that it was an effort for him to become stronger though secretly Grodd possessed powerful telepathic abilities. (Justice League v4 #4)
At some point, his body was slowly dying and Grodd was resolved to attain the power of the Speed Force and formed a criminal organization called Black Hole to achieve that goal. With his powers, he mentally dominated the mind of a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist who became the supervillain Raijin whilst he helped rescue Meena Dhawan from the Speed Force where he empowered her with the Negative Speed Force. Grodd then created an elaborate plan that stripped Barr Allen of the Flash in a plot to give the power to himself. In an effort to restore his powers, Barry looked towards using Black Hole's technology to restore his connection to the Speed Force. When he achieved it, he inadvertently allowed Grodd's mental powers to grow to the point that he could control the Speed Force Storm and enslaving the minds of the other speedsters. (The Flash v5 #42) Barry Allen managed to reverse the process to deprive Grodd of the Speed Force but curing him of the disease that was afflicting him. However, rather than surrender, he reactivated the Speed Force wand whereupon he tuned it to the Negative Speed Force in an effort to destroy Central City as he stated that he would rather die and take everyone with him than to lose the power he had gained. (The Flash v5 #43)
Whilst being transported to Gorilla City, warriors loyal to him intercept the guards and freed Grodd whereupon he decided to forge a new Gorilla City. To achieve that, he allied with Poison Ivy and intended for her to clear the world of human civilization so that his gorilla's could rule. During this time, he encountered Ethan Avery that was the monster Damage and was defeated with his warriors able to take him to safety. (Damage v2 #6)
He came to be recruited by Lex Luthor to join the Legion of Doom where he promised Grodd a means to attain his revenge against the Flash by harnessing one of the great cosmic forces of the universe. (Justice League v4 #2)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Gorilla Grodd was a male silverback gorilla, possessing the massive frame and coarse dark fur typical of his species. He possessed the physical characteristics of a typical primate, including a heavy, protruding brow ridge, deep-set eyes, and a broad, flat nose. His hands and feet were large and leathery, featuring the opposable digits necessary for gripping complex machinery. (The Flash v1 #106) At one point, he evolved into a human form where he took the name of a businessman named Mr. Drew Drowden. (The Flash v1 #108) After siphoning energy from the Omega Rift, he became a cosmic deity-like figure where he called himself the Gorilla God. (Justice League Unlimited v2 #8)
It was the result of his childhood that influenced his thought processes as he came to believe that everyone had a dark motive. With his powers, he learnt that his father had been ashamed of him and that a human who attempted to befriend him simply wanted to put him in a zoo. Thus, with his telepathy he came to believe that all their motivations had a more sinister purpose. (Justice League v4 #4)
Grodd had harbored deep resentment toward his father’s reliance on prophecy and 'The Light' as a guiding force for their civilization. In fact, Grodd viewed his father’s adherence to these ancient beliefs as a sign of weakness, stating instead that their destiny was theirs to command through dominance and conquest. This ideological rift culminated in Grodd challenging his father for leadership, an event that established Grodd as the new ruler. (The Flash v4 #9)
From his sister Linka, he had a nephew by the name of Gorilla Gregg who looked to be a hero. This brought him into conflict with his uncle and his various schemes. (Teen Titans Academy v1 #7)
Powers and abilities
His super-brain meant that he was capable of creating new technology for his use. (The Flash v1 #108)
He used his mental projections in order to beset his enemies with nightmares of him killing their loved ones. (The Flash v2 #194)
At one point, he used an Evolution-Accelerator on himself to advance him up the evolutionary ladder where he gained a more human-like appearance and had the power of mind over matter whereby he could telekinetically manipulate objects. (The Flash v1 #108)
Via direct ingestion of The Light's energies, he gains enhanced speed and further augmented dynamism, enabling him to not just effortlessly keep up with, but outright overpower Flash in a straightforward fight, although this augmentation was short-lived as the speed force batteries he drained to get his jump were a finite source, causing him to shrivel and weaken over time. Within the force dimension, Grodd gained an even greater acceleration of his development; not only retaining his previous abilities of bolstered strength and super speed, but also accelerating his developmental process, granting him telepathy much like what his species' elders grow into with age, as well as telekinesis which was unique to him. (The Flash v4 #23.1)
With the Legion of Doom, Grodd looked to harness one of the cosmic forces of the universe. In this case, it was the Still Force that was the polar opposite of the Speed Force, representing entropy and the negation of motion. He harnessed this entropic energy through a living conduit namely the infant descendant of the original Turtle. By channeling the Still Force, Grodd successfully negated the Speed Force, stripping his fastest adversaries of their momentum and rendering them physically paralyzed. This influence extended beyond mere physical stasis, as he utilized the force to amplify his psychic projections, crafting illusions so potent they manipulated the sensory perceptions of god-like beings. Ultimately, Grodd leveraged the friction between the Still Force and the Speed Force to generate a multiversal rupture, proving that his control over inertia could shatter the fundamental barriers of reality. (Justice League v4 #2)
During the events of Absolute Power, the abilities of various Metahumans was taken from them in an effort to contain them. These abilities came to be later released but did not immediately return to their original hosts. Among those affected was Martian manhunter whose telepathic powers was a disembodied force of energy seeking a host. Grodd came to sense the telepathic scream of this energy where he used his own psionic strength to draw it into himself. This resulted in him experiencing an explosion of consciousness as he commanded the Green Martian's formidable telepathic abilities. (Justice League Unlimited v2 #6)
From the Omega Rift, Grodd looked to harness the omega energy from the site of Darkseid's 'death' due to it being a wound in time and space. Within it was said to be power beyond imagining as it was the very power of Darkseid himself. Initially, it was claimed that a fragment from Apokolips was needed to serve as a conduit to siphon the power but this was actually a lie as one simply needed to draw it into themselves if they were worthy. (Justice League Unlimited v2 #7) Gorilla Grodd's absorption of Omega energy transformed him into a cosmic entity which granted him durability and a god-like aura that warped space and time as well as amplified his psionic abilities. He also gained the use of Omega Beams that were powerful enough to tear holes in the structural integrity of the Justice League Watchtower. Beyond raw destruction, the energy granted him absolute chronal dominion. (Justice League Unlimited v2 #8)
It was shown that Grodd had at his disposal an advanced flying craft called a Quadromobile. The craft was a four-way vehicle able to travel through air, ground, underwater and through the earth. His thoughts were attune to the vehicle and he was able to remotely control it through thought-impulses. (The Flash v1 #108)
Notes
- Gorilla Grodd was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino where he made his first appearance in The Flash v1 #106 (May, 1959).
Alternate Versions
- In Flashpoint: Grodd of War v1 #1 (2011), an alternate version of Gorilla Grodd appeared in the Flashpoint reality that existed in a world within the Multiverse.
- In Absolute Flash v1 #1 (2025), an alternate version of Gorilla Grodd appeared in the Absolute Universe that existed in a world within the Multiverse.
In other media
Television
- In Challenge of the Super Friends, Gorilla Grodd appeared in the ABC animated television series where he was voiced by actor Stanley Ralph Ross.
- In the DC Animated Universe, Gorilla Grodd made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
- In Justice League, Gorilla Grodd appeared as an antagonist in the animated television series in the episode "The Brave and the Bold" where he was voiced by actor Powers Boothe.
- In Justice League Unlimited, Gorilla Grodd returned as an antagonist in the animated television series starting in the episode "Ultimen" where he was once again voiced by actor Powers Boothe.
- In The Flash, Gorilla Grodd appeared as an antagonist in the 2014 live-action television series set in the Arrowverse where he was voiced by actor David Sobolov.
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, Gorilla Grodd appeared in the setting of the MMORPG where he was voiced by actor Jens Anderson.
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Gorilla Grodd appeared in a cameo role in the fighting video game where he was in the background on Stryker's Island.
- In Injustice 2, Gorilla Grodd was a playable character in the fighting video game sequel where he was voiced by actor Charles Halford.
- In DC: Unchained, Gorilla Grodd appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
Appearances
- The Flash v1: (1959)
- The Flash v2:
- Outsiders v3:
- Damage v2:
- Justice League v4:
- Justice League Unlimited v2:
- Justice League: The Omega Act Special v1: (2025)
External Links
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