Grodd

Deep in the heart of Africa is a city hidden by mountains and illusion. Where it now stands, a meteor (or a spacecraft, depending on which account you read) crashed during the 19^th century, its rays imbuing a gorilla tribe with hyper-intelligence and telepathy. There they now live, in an advanced society using science far beyond our own.

On an exploratory mission, their leader Solovar was captured by humans. Rather than reveal the existence of Gorilla City, he played dumb and allowed himself to be taken to a Central City circus. Grodd came after him, but not for rescue; his intent was to steal Solovar’s secret for controlling others through force of mind. He succeeded, but ran afoul of the Flash for the first time. His plan to create an army of his fellow gorillas and take over the world was foiled.

Since then, Grodd has spent most of his time imprisoned in Gorilla City, breaking out only when he has a plan ready. Often he has gone to Central City, hoping to eliminate the Flash before he could interfere with his plans. At times, he has led a political faction within Gorilla City, sometimes even becoming the dominant force.

Over time, he has grown even more savage. Grodd has no regard for human life, and has on a number of occasions tried to wipe out humanity. Often he has succeeded in killing dozens, hundreds, or thousands.

One of Grodd’s widest-ranging schemes was to arrange Solovar’s assassination and manipulate Gorilla City into war against humanity. In the course of this, Grodd absorbed too much neural energy from his fellow apes, leaving him with the intelligence of a normal ape (Martian Manhunter Annual #2, 1999). He has since recovered, and a failed attempt to set up a base in Florida led to his capture and incarceration in Iron Heights. Despite recovering his intelligence and force of mind, Grodd has become more savage with each attack.

• Primary Sources
• Art Credits
• Origin Tales
• Profiles in Print
• Silver-Age Appearances
• Legacy-Era Appearances
• One Year Later Flash Appearances
• Rebirth-Era Appearances
• Further Notes

Primary Sources

• “Menace of the Super-Gorilla” - Flash #106 (April–May 1959), John Broome**
• “Gorilla Warfare Part 1” - Green Lantern #30 (October 1992), Gerard Jones
• “Manchester Monkey Business” - Legends of the DC Universe #19 (August 1999), Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt
• “Fear and Loathing on the Planet of the Apes” - Martian Manhunter Annual #2 (1999), Len Kaminski

Art

• Who’s Who (loose-leaf edition) #3 (October 1990) - Arthur Adams

Origin Tales

• Flash #106 (May 1959): “Menace of the Super-Gorilla!” John Broome
• Secret Origins #40 (May 1989): “Gorillas in Our Midst,” Cary Bates and Greg Weisman

Profiles

• Who’s Who in the DC Universe #9 (November 1985)
• Who’s Who (loose-leaf edition) #3 (October 1990)
• Flash Secret Files #1 (November 1997)
• The DC Comics Encyclopedia as Gorilla Grodd (2004)
• Countdown to Final Crisis #14 (January 23, 2008)
• The Flash Companion (2008)
• Flash Secret Files and Origins 2010 (May 2010)
• DC Comics Super-Heroes and Villains Fandex (2010)

Significant Silver-Age Appearances

• Flash #106 (May 1959): “Menace of the Super-Gorilla!” John Broome
• Flash #107 (July 1959): “Return of the Super-Gorilla!” John Broome
• Flash #108 (September 1959): “The Super-Gorilla’s Secret Identity!” John Broome
• Flash #115 (September 1960): “The Day Flash Weighed 1000 Pounds!” John Broome
• Flash #127 (March 1962): “Reign of the Super-Gorilla,” John Broome
• Flash #155 (September 1965): “The Gauntlet of Super-Villains,” John Broome
• Flash #172 (August 1967): “Grodd Puts the Squeeze on Flash!” John Broome
• Flash #209 (September 1971): “Beyond the Speed of Life!” Cary Bates
• DC Special Series #11: Flash Spectacular 1978: “Beyond the Super-Speed Barrier,” Cary Bates
• Flash #294–295 (February–March 1981): “The Fiend the World Forgot!” and “In Grodd We Trust!” Cary Bates
• Flash #300 (August 1981): “1981—A Flash Odyssey,” Cary Bates (cameo)
• Flash #313 (September 1982): “3-Way Fight for the Super-Simian!” Mike W. Barr
• Flash #327,329–331 (November 1983–March 1984): “Burnout!” “What is the Secret of... Simian & Son,” “Beware the Land of Grodd!” and “Dead Heat!” Cary Bates

Significant Legacy-Era Appearances

• Secret Origins #40 (May 1989): “Gorillas in Our Midst,” Cary Bates and Greg Weisman
• Secret Origins #41 (June 1989): “A Rogue By Any Other Name,” Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn
• Flash #45–47 (December 1990–February 1991): “Dog Days,” “The Day of the Beast” and “Old Dogs—New Teeth,” William Messner-Loebs
• Flash #69–70, Green Lantern #30–31 (October–November 1992): “Gorilla Warfare,” Mark Waid and Gerard Jones
• Flash 80-Page Giant #1 (August 1998): “The 5,000 Rats of Bartholomew Allen,” Todd Dezago
• Flash Annual #12 (1999): “The Apes of Wrath,” Brian Augustyn
• Flash #178 (November 2001): “Caged,” Geoff Johns
• Flash #191 (December 2002): “The Brave and the Beaten,” Geoff Johns
• Flash #192–194 (January–March 2003): “Run Riot,” Geoff Johns
• DC: The New Frontier #4 (July 2004): “Government Issues,” Darwyn Cooke
• Flash #210–211 (July–August 2004): “Reconnected” and “Animal House,” Geoff Johns
• Flash #217 (February 2005): “Post-Crisis,” Geoff Johns
• Flash #223 (August 2005): “Rogue War, Chapter 4,” Geoff Johns
• Flash #227 (December 2005): “Finish Line, Part 1: The Last Days,” Joey Cavalieri (dream sequence, cameo)

Significant One-Year-Later Flash Appearances

• Flash #240–243 (July–October 2008): “Fast Money Parts 3–6,” Tom Peyer
• Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #2 (October 2008), Geoff Johns

Significant Rebirth-Era Appearances

• Wednesday Comics (12-issue miniseries, 2009), Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl

Notes

* According to Martian Manhunter Annual #2 (1999), Sam Simeon is Grodd’s brother. The loose-leaf Who’s Who entry for Angel and the Ape (Issue #10, June 1991), however, indicates that he is Grodd’s grandson.

** Grodd’s first few appearances are available in The Flash Archives Volume 1 and in Showcase Presents: The Flash Volume 1.

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