#gorilla grodd
If Marvel and DC switched villains these are the fights I would like to see
I focused on Heroes the normies are familiar with but tried to use some obscure villains
Hugo Strange: From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Grodd, also known as Gorilla Grodd. Patient suffers from Antisocial Personality Disorder and delusions of grandeur. Or at least, that would be my diagnosis were he human. But he is not human. He is a Gorilla beringei graueri, or Eastern Lowland Gorilla. (Pause) Yes. He’s a gorilla. I am conducting a therapy session with a hyper-intelligent gorilla which speaks perfect English.
Gorilla Grodd: And I am listening to the idiotic ramblings of a self-important Homo sapien. Your point, human?
Hugo Strange: Fair enough, Mr. Grodd. (Pause) At any rate, since I do not know if a hyper-intelligent gorilla can properly be diagnosed with human psychological conditions, I may as well leave the precise psychological analysis behind and begin the session. Session One. So, Mr. Grodd, how are you feeling?
Gorilla Grodd: Emperor Grodd to you, human.
Hugo Strange: (Slightly nervous) Very well. I shall address you by your preferred title. (Pause) Where exactly do you come from, Emperor Grodd?
Gorilla Grodd: I hail from a secret city of hyper-advanced gorillas. It is located in the heart of Africa, and it is hidden from prying human eyes by a forcefield more advanced than anything your primitive culture has yet created. (Pause) You humans have given it the remarkably uncreative name of Gorilla City.
Hugo Strange: What do you call your city?
Gorilla Grodd: We call our city by a name from our native language, one that is unpronounceable to you humans. (Pause) However, the closest English translation would probably be the City of Knowledge and Transcendence.
Hugo Strange: How large is the population of this city?
Gorilla Grodd: Do you honestly imagine me to be so foolish as to give away information that could potentially be used against me in battle, human?
Hugo Strange: My apologies. I didn’t intend to intrude on the security of your city. (Pause) How did you and your compatriots gain your vast knowledge and intelligence?
Gorilla Grodd: They were gifts to our ancestors from the stars above. Centuries ago, a meteor landed near the site where the City of Knowledge and Transcendence was founded, and its radiation mutated our ancestors, who had previously been ordinary gorillas, into beings of great knowledge and mental powers. With this knowledge and power, they created a city far more advanced than you primitive humans could ever dream of creating. It is a city of prosperity, learning, and culture, but it will soon be more. Much, much more.
Hugo Strange: What will it be, Emperor Grodd?
Gorilla Grodd: It will be a hub of a vast empire under my command…as soon as I depose that weak-willed, peace-loving fool Solovar, that is.
Hugo Strange: Solovar? Who is Solovar?
Gorilla Grodd: The current ruler of the City of Knowledge and Transcendence. He and his sycophantic council waste our race’s vast potential, choosing to hide behind our forcefield barrier and parlay with an inferior species rather than use our mental powers, vast intelligence, formidable technology, superior strength, and far more appealing facial features to conquer this world in our own name!
Hugo Strange: I see. (Pause) What sort of mental powers do you and your species possess, Emperor Grodd?
Gorilla Grodd: All of us are telepathic and telekinetic. However, the false king Solovar and I also possess a more formidable power: the Force of Mind. With this power, we can bend the minds of others to our whims or launch powerful psychic attacks against our foes. Solovar is too weak to use his Force of Mind powers to their truest extent, but I have no such restraint.
Hugo Strange: And how do these powers compare to those of Mr. Dillon?
Gorilla Grodd: (Furious) You dare to compare my superior mental powers to those of a primitive human?
Hugo Strange: (Quickly) I did not mean to imply that his powers were in any way as impressive as yours, Emperor Grodd. I simply wished to understand how your powers are so much more effective and dangerous than his are.
Gorilla Grodd: (Mostly mollified) I am glad to see you recognize the inferiority of your barbaric species, human. (Pause) In addition to being limited by his primitive human brain, the Top’s powers are predominantly telekinetic in nature. While he does have the power to induce vertigo, and a very limited ability to alter behavior, he is not telepathic and cannot fully overwhelm the will of others in the way my Force of Mind so easily can. Nor can he launch proper psychic attacks. His vertigo ability is disorienting, but it pales in comparison to the psychic attack of an inhabitant of the City of Knowledge and Transcendence. (Pause) That being said, his powers are rather impressive for a member of your species. Perhaps that is why you humans seem to find his behavior so odd. His primitive human mind simply cannot properly cope with the powers it has been given.
Hugo Strange: A very interesting theory, Emperor Grodd. (Pause) So, when you aren’t trying to dethrone Solovar or conquer the world, what do you do?
Gorilla Grodd: Even by the standards of my species, I am a very talented scientist. Prior to my first attempt to overthrow Solovar’s weak, isolationist reign, I invented many of the City of Knowledge and Transcendence’s most useful devices and completely revolutionized our transportation system as well. (Pause) By the standards of your species, I am a scientific genius without peer. Even Alexander Luthor has not a fraction of my intelligence.
Hugo Strange: You’ve met Lex Luthor? The multi-billionaire head of Lexcorp?
Gorilla Grodd: Unfortunately, I have had to lower myself to working with him on more than one occasion. (Pause) Politics makes for strange, disgustingly hairless bedfellows.
Hugo Strange: Have you ever met anyone that you did consider your intellectual equal, Emperor Grodd?
Gorilla Grodd: Two, actually. For all of his weakness, I must admit that Solovar is brilliant. Loathe as I am to admit it, there is a reason that he has managed to thwart my attempts to permanently overthrow him.
Hugo Strange: And who is the other?
Gorilla Grodd: The other? That would be the Brainiac, the hyper-advanced android of the planet Colu. He is an intergalactic knowledge collector.
Hugo Strange: You’re quite well-connected, Emperor Grodd.
Gorilla Grodd: Are you really surprised that I would associate with another ruler, human? After all, I am Grodd the conqueror! This world will fall to me, for it is mine by right!
Hugo Strange: And once you do take over the planet?
Gorilla Grodd: All shall kneel before Grodd! (Pause) And then I will transform all of you disgusting humans into better-smelling and much more aesthetically pleasing apes!
Hugo Strange: Your master plan of conquest involves transforming the entire human race into gorillas?
Gorilla Grodd: (Threateningly) Would you rather my gorilla army and I devoured all of your primitive brains instead?
Hugo Strange: (Nervous) O-of course not, Emperor Grodd.
Gorilla Grodd: That is what I thought you would say. (Pause) Of course, I will probably eat a few human brains regardless. Your brains aren’t of much use for actual thinking, but they do make a surprisingly tasteful delicacy.
Hugo Strange: (Horrified) You’re a cannibal?
Gorilla Grodd: Of course not!
Hugo Strange: (Confused) But you just said that you’ve eaten brains!
Gorilla Grodd: I did. But that does not make me a cannibal. A cannibal eats members of their own species. Humans are not my species, so I am not a cannibal. I am an anthropophagus.
Hugo Strange: But you admit to eating people.
Gorilla Grodd: Yes. And because of that, I would suggest that you not make any attempt to prevent me from escaping from this primitive penal facility. My Force of Mind powers will override any attempt you make regardless, but if you do as I say, I will refrain from eating your brains right now.
Hugo Strange: You…you’re free to go. Arkham Asylum doesn’t have the necessary treatments for a member of your advanced species anyhow.
Gorilla Grodd: Thank you for your hospitality, human.
Spoilers for Rogues #2!
You can see the first few pages here.
The Rogues have arrived in Gorilla City and their plan’s underway…but the big snag comes from an unexpected source: Sam Simeon, the gorilla who gave Len the inspiration for the heist years ago. He’s back in town and notices Len and co sneaking around, and gives Len a violent beating before demanding to know why he’s there. Sam also tipped off Grodd about an underling who went against his wishes, leading to the murder of said lackey. At the same time he clearly has his doubts about the citizens left behind by Grodd’s kleptocracy, so it’s not clear what his agenda is.
Gorilla City is being run like a mafia fiefdom with a large seamy underbelly in which the Rogues are understandably rather at home, sometimes uncomfortably so. Evan gets offered drugs and is clearly tempted, though Frankie looks after him and tries to keep him away from it. (In fact the two of them look after each other throughout the issue, as he helps her with the intense headaches from using her powers.) Surprisingly, there are other humans in the city, and it’s not explained how they got there since the city is hidden away from outsiders and it takes James’ wiliness to figure out how to get inside. It’s unlikely that Grodd brought the humans there, and probably most of his inner circle didn’t either since they find outsiders blasphemous. It’d be nice if there’s an offhand mention at some point of how the humans got there, but at least it explains why the Rogues don’t stand out as much as they should.
James is still being a jerk and a bully, but he pulls his weight in this issue and helps out in ways the others can’t. And Evan’s not really back to normal yet, but is increasingly able to contribute and plans to be their getaway; hopefully he won’t choke when they need him. Frankie helps out by righting their boat and offering input about technology around them because of her abilities. Lisa, Ben, and Mick continue to be voices of sober reason and are much of the quiet intelligence that keeps the group moving and alive. And Len is interesting: he does help out, of course, by piloting the boat and motivating the group to keep going when otherwise they’d probably turn back, but he too is also kind of a bully who points his cold gun at the team when they aren’t doing what he wants. He reminds them that they’re there because they’re accessories to murder, which of course he committed, and seems to consider this heist more about him and his ego than it is about them as a group. His comment “I’ve…we’ve come too far to turn back now” is telling. James is the overt asshole everyone can see, but Len’s the sneakier one and may not even realize he’s doing it. But he can still cause harm regardless, and his pushing may get some of his friends and even his sister killed.
It’s a very good issue, and probably the last before things start going really badly for the Rogues. I have a couple of lingering questions that it’d be nice to get answered before the series ends, including why Evan apparently can’t get them inside the vault when it’s taken for granted that he can get them out, but these are not hugely significant quibbles. And I’m a little puzzled by the sequence at the end of the issue, when Len seems to be crippled by self-doubt but also may have a premonition of the beating by Sam Simeon; if that was a psychic assault, why does he collect himself and not seem to expect an attacker? Or maybe I’m just misreading the art, which is a little more ambiguous in the scene than I’d like. But maybe we’ll get some answers next issue, including whether Sam still has psionic powers and is related to Grodd in this AU.
So I’m still enjoying the story and hoping that the next two issues won’t be too grim and gory. Thus far the story’s done a pretty good job of not making things excessively violent or edgy, which I appreciate, but we know the poo will start hitting the fan soon. I don’t mind things going south or even AU Rogues dying, but hope that we don’t get Kryptonian spines ripped out or Rogues’ heads put on pikes. However, I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes and how it ends.
For the most part, I really enjoyed this issue. I loved the “Rogues on a boat” sequence, and James actually made me laugh a few times. He’s still a massive jerk, but he seemed a bit more like his classic self in this issue. Len’s managed to strike a reasonably good balance between “manipulative jerk” and “tired, broken old man”; I liked the conversation between him and Lisa about their mom. Lisa, Bronze Tiger, Magenta, and Mick are all being handled well, and I really liked the relationship between Evan and Frankie (who I don’t think have ever really interacted on panel before). In fact, Evan was strangely adorable for the whole issue.
Grodd was pretty horrifying, but…that’s Grodd for you. He’s definitely still in-character. The gore got ramped up in this issue thanks to him, but it could still be a lot worse, and hopefully the creative team realizes that less is more when it comes to graphic violence. Because I, too, will probably be put off of this mini-series if people’s spines get ripped out on-panel.
Ironically, the most horrifying aspect of the issue was the way Grodd’s wife was drawn. This is what a female gorilla looks like:
This is what female gorillas from Gorilla City looked like in the Silver Age:
So WHY does Grodd’s wife look like a slender human woman? WHY? None of the male gorillas are anthropomorphized like that. The dress makes sense; Grodd’s inner circle are all wearing suits. But she should still look, you know, like a gorilla!
I have no idea why this bothered me so much, but for some reason it did.
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The Flash #39 (2018)
We haven’t seen each other in a long time, Barry. But I was always with you. Every time you would prattle on endlessly in your head about your mother, your loves, your friends…every time you said, “My name is Barry Allen…”, you were confessing to me.
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Justice League Covers by Jorge Jiménez
Spoilers for Rogues #2!
You can see the first few pages here.
The Rogues have arrived in Gorilla City and their plan’s underway…but the big snag comes from an unexpected source: Sam Simeon, the gorilla who gave Len the inspiration for the heist years ago. He’s back in town and notices Len and co sneaking around, and gives Len a violent beating before demanding to know why he’s there. Sam also tipped off Grodd about an underling who went against his wishes, leading to the murder of said lackey. At the same time he clearly has his doubts about the citizens left behind by Grodd’s kleptocracy, so it’s not clear what his agenda is.
Gorilla City is being run like a mafia fiefdom with a large seamy underbelly in which the Rogues are understandably rather at home, sometimes uncomfortably so. Evan gets offered drugs and is clearly tempted, though Frankie looks after him and tries to keep him away from it. (In fact the two of them look after each other throughout the issue, as he helps her with the intense headaches from using her powers.) Surprisingly, there are other humans in the city, and it’s not explained how they got there since the city is hidden away from outsiders and it takes James’ wiliness to figure out how to get inside. It’s unlikely that Grodd brought the humans there, and probably most of his inner circle didn’t either since they find outsiders blasphemous. It’d be nice if there’s an offhand mention at some point of how the humans got there, but at least it explains why the Rogues don’t stand out as much as they should.
James is still being a jerk and a bully, but he pulls his weight in this issue and helps out in ways the others can’t. And Evan’s not really back to normal yet, but is increasingly able to contribute and plans to be their getaway; hopefully he won’t choke when they need him. Frankie helps out by righting their boat and offering input about technology around them because of her abilities. Lisa, Ben, and Mick continue to be voices of sober reason and are much of the quiet intelligence that keeps the group moving and alive. And Len is interesting: he does help out, of course, by piloting the boat and motivating the group to keep going when otherwise they’d probably turn back, but he too is also kind of a bully who points his cold gun at the team when they aren’t doing what he wants. He reminds them that they’re there because they’re accessories to murder, which of course he committed, and seems to consider this heist more about him and his ego than it is about them as a group. His comment “I’ve…we’ve come too far to turn back now” is telling. James is the overt asshole everyone can see, but Len’s the sneakier one and may not even realize he’s doing it. But he can still cause harm regardless, and his pushing may get some of his friends and even his sister killed.
It’s a very good issue, and probably the last before things start going really badly for the Rogues. I have a couple of lingering questions that it’d be nice to get answered before the series ends, including why Evan apparently can’t get them inside the vault when it’s taken for granted that he can get them out, but these are not hugely significant quibbles. And I’m a little puzzled by the sequence at the end of the issue, when Len seems to be crippled by self-doubt but also may have a premonition of the beating by Sam Simeon; if that was a psychic assault, why does he collect himself and not seem to expect an attacker? Or maybe I’m just misreading the art, which is a little more ambiguous in the scene than I’d like. But maybe we’ll get some answers next issue, including whether Sam still has psionic powers and is related to Grodd in this AU.
So I’m still enjoying the story and hoping that the next two issues won’t be too grim and gory. Thus far the story’s done a pretty good job of not making things excessively violent or edgy, which I appreciate, but we know the poo will start hitting the fan soon. I don’t mind things going south or even AU Rogues dying, but hope that we don’t get Kryptonian spines ripped out or Rogues’ heads put on pikes. However, I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes and how it ends.
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Spoilers for comics in August!
These are from the official solicits for that month, which you can see at CBR.
DARK CRISIS: YOUNG JUSTICE #3
Written by MEGHAN FITZMARTIN
Art by LAURA BRAGA
Cover by MAX DUNBAR
Variant cover by JORGE CORONA
$3.99 US | 32 pages | 3 of 6 | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 8/16/22
Sins of the old! In response to their lack of gratitude, the world holding Superboy, Impulse, and Tim Drake captive has brought back the three villains who have caused them the most pain to keep them in their place: Deathstroke, Captain Boomerang, and Lex Luthor. Old wounds will open. Wonder Girl and her search team will have to hurry up before there’s no Young Justice left to save!
Glad to see Digger again (even if it’s possibly just a simulation of him), though I’m not keen on a return to Identity Crisis. But this could be fun, and it’s good to see that Inertia hasn’t been forgotten.
It’s not explicitly stated, but I presume the re-solicitation with a new date means the final issue of the Rogues Black Label series has been delayed. Which is odd, because the first two issues were completely on schedule.
ROGUES #4
Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
Art by LEOMACS
Cover by SAM WOLFE CONNELLY
Variant cover by LEOMACS
1:25 variant cover by KAARE ANDREWS
$6.99 US | 48 pages | 4 of 4 | Prestige Plus | 8 ½" x 10 7/8"
ON SALE 9/6/22
Gorilla City blues! All the Rogues wanted was a better life for themselves. But that’s all over thanks to all their greed and backstabbing. Those still left alive are busted up with their backs against the wall, and Grodd’s forces are closing in. With no heroes racing to save them, they must make a deadly deal with Gorilla Grodd to survive.
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Two variant covers for Rogues #3, including an homage to this classic cover. DC is now saying the issue will be out on June 28th.
…I can’t believe there’s a Murmur gorilla.
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I think that is offensive…
