Gorilla Grodd - Fictional Character Biography

Fictional Character Biography

Gorilla Grodd is a hyper-intelligent telepathic gorilla with the power to control the minds of others. At one time, he was nothing more than an average ape, but after an alien spacecraft (retconned from a radioactive meteor, the same one that empowered Hector Hammond) crashes in his African home, Grodd and his troupe are imbued with super-intelligence by the ship's pilot. Grodd and fellow gorilla Solovar also develop telepathic and telekinetic powers. Taking the alien as their leader, the gorillas construct a super advanced home named Gorilla City. The gorillas live in peace until their home is discovered by prying explorers. Grodd forces one of the explorers to kill the alien, and takes over Gorilla City, planning to conquer the world next. Solovar telepathically contacts Barry Allen to warn him of the evil gorilla's plans, and Grodd is defeated. The villain manages to return again and again to plague the Flash and his allies. Originally in his first Pre-Crisis appearance he first met the Flash while searching for Solovar, who had been imprisoned while on a trip to the human world. Grodd probed Solovar's mind to find the secret of mind control, so he could control Gorilla City and use the inhbitants to take over the World, but Solovar breaks out of his cage and tells the Flash, so the Flash defeats him and apparently knocks the power of mind control from his mind. But it is revealed he had not lost his power, he overcomes his guard and takes over an underground winged race by burrowing underground, trying to use a machine to take away the intelligence of the other Gorillas. But Flash finds out from Solovar where Grodd has escaped to and destroys the machine. The winged people are freed from his control and Grodd is imprisoned again. Grodd has four guards set to guard him, but summons a burrowing machine which he uses to escape. He transforms himself into a human, and starts a factory to create a pill that will give him vast mental powers. Grodd easily stops the Flash, but then unexpectedly turns into a Gorilla again, where his powers do not work as his brain is not evolved enough. He tries to get to the machine that turned him into a human, but Flash molds the metal into handcuffs for Grodd, then takes him back to Gorilla City. Grodd devises a means of transporting his mind to another body while his original one dies, and takes over a man in Central City, but is again arrested. Later he caused the first assembling of the Flash's Rogues Gallery, breaking them out of jail to distract the Flash after transferring his mind to that of 'Freddy', a Gorilla in a zoo. Thanks to Solovar the Flash found about Grodd's escape. Ironically Grodd, despite using radiations to stop the Flash moving at superspeed, is defeated by the Gorilla's mate when she hears him mention another Gorilla. He and Freddy are restored to their normal bodies.

In a confrontation with Wally West, Grodd increases the brain power of most of the animals in Central City. He hopes to endanger the lives of all the humans, but this plan backfires because some of the pets are too loyal to their humans. Grodd's plans are defeated by the Flash with the assistance of the Pied Piper, Vixen, and Rex the Wonder Dog.

At one point, the immortal villain Vandal Savage kidnaps Titans member Omen and uses her to form the perfect team of adversaries for the Teen Titans. Savage approaches Grodd, offering him membership in this new anti-Titans group, Tartarus. Savage sweetens the offer with promises of power and immortality. Grodd joins Tartarus on their mission to synthesize the immortal blood of the H.I.V.E. Mistress, Addie Kane. Savage seeks to create a serum that will grant immortality. Their schemes are thwarted when the Titans intervene, and Tartarus retreats. Tempest later leads a rescue mission to save Omen from Savage. During the rescue attempt, Tartarus battles the Titans, but collapses upon itself due to each member having a different agenda. This is because Omen had purposely chosen members who would not work well together. When Siren switches alliances during the battle and aids Tempest in escaping, the Tartarus members go their separate ways and the group disbands.

He has made no fewer than eighteen attempts to eliminate all traces of humanity from the face of the Earth.

One of the attempts occurs in Son of Ambush Bug #5 (November 1986). Grodd had traveled to the Late Cretaceous "to wipe out all traces of human evolution from the time stream" (despite the fact that, at this point in time, the ancestors of humanity would be his own ancestors as well). His plans are apparently shattered by a combination of the sudden appearance of Titano, and Ambush Bug waking from a nightmare. Whether or not Grodd's plan is a failure or not is disputable: Ambush Bug awakes to "Anchor-Ape Clark Kong".

In the final issue of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew, Grodd travels to Earth-C in an attempt to conquer it, but is defeated by the efforts of the Zoo Crew (plus Changeling of the Teen Titans).

In the 1991 Angel and the Ape limited series, Grodd is revealed as the grandfather of Angel's partner Sam Simeon. This is conflict with Martian Manhunter Annual #2 (1999), which states that Sam Simeon is Grodd’s brother.

In the Justice League of America Wedding Special, Gorilla Grodd is among the villains seen as members of the Injustice League Unlimited.

During the Final Night, Grodd attempted to use a mystical talisman called the Heart of Darkness- normally effective only in eclipses- that brought out the 'inner beast' of humans, turning the population of the town of Leesburg into feral monsters, including Supergirl. However, Supergirl was eventually able to fight off Grodd's influence thanks to some outside sources, allowing her to oppose Grodd until the sun was restored, Grodd being seemingly killed when an icicle fell into him.

One of Grodd’s widest-ranging schemes was to arrange Solovar's assassination and manipulate Gorilla City into war against humanity, with the aid of a "shadow cabinet" of prominent gorillas called Simian Scarlet. In the course of this, Grodd absorbs too much neural energy from his fellow apes, leaving him with the intelligence of a normal gorilla. He has since recovered, and a failed attempt to set up a base in Florida leads to his capture and incarceration in Iron Heights.

Grodd had been trapped inside the human body of an overweight street bum. He was attacked by a gang known as the Vultures. One of them commented on how their member Iggo had the strength of a gorilla, which reminded Grodd of his true form. Suddenly changing back to his original shape and size, he quickly defeated the gang, making them believe that they are burning in molten lava by using his force of mind power. Reading the minds of the crooks, he saw that one of the former members of their gang was a friend of the Flash, and a plan began to form in his mind.

Grodd found another space-rock, identical to the one that had given him his powers, and contacted Hector Hammond, a human who had also gained similar powers to him. Grodd was able to take control of Gorilla City after increasing his evolution, but was defeated once more.

Grodd is also seen in the Superman/Batman arc "Public Enemies" (Superman/Batman #1 – #7) controlling numerous villains and heroes in order to take down Superman and Batman for the prize of 1 billion dollars offered by then U.S. President Lex Luthor. Despite his use of foes such as Mongul, Solomon Grundy, Lady Shiva, and Nightshade, Superman and Batman are able to deduce the mind behind the attacks, and quickly dispose of Grodd.

He is responsible for crippling the Flash's friend Hunter Zolomon, resulting in his transformation into the villainous Zoom when Hunter tries to change the event so it never happened. Hunter would often think about how Grodd used him as a plaything in that fight while talking it over with the Flash.

In Birds of Prey #23, Grodd makes a deal with Grimm to get Blockbuster an ape-heart.

In JLA Classified #1-3, DC, 3-issue story arc, 2004, Grodd and his forces attack the Ultramarine Corps. Grodd has most of the citizens they are protecting killed. He personally eats some of the humans. During the course of this incident, Beryl informs the team that Grodd ranks number three on the latest "Global Most Wanted".

In Salvation Run #3, Grodd teams up with the Joker to gather their own faction of the exiled supervillains. In #4, he kills Monsieur Mallah and The Brain, only to be knocked off a cliff by the Joker. He is seen alive in the final issue, attempting to deliver payback to the Joker.

In Justice League of America #21, Grodd is shown among the members of Libra's new Secret Society and placed in the Inner Circle. In Final Crisis #4, Gorilla Grodd was among the high-ranked superheroes and supervillains that were turned into Justifiers. In Final Crisis: Resist, he is sent to apprehend Snapper Carr and Cheetah, but fails.

In the new continuity of The New 52, the Flash (Barry Allen) first encounters Gorilla Grodd after a trip through the Speed Force which strands him in Gorilla City. The Flash is hailed as a messenger spoken of in gorilla prophecy by all but Grodd, the newly crowned gorilla king. The Flash foils Grodd's attempts to kill him until Grodd causes a building to collapse upon himself, knocking him unconscious and allowing the Flash to escape. However Grodd returns and attacks Central City with a army of gorilla soldiers.