James Gunn lauds Gorilla Grodd ahead of The Flash villain’s DCU debut - here’s all about it

James Gunn once again appeared to confirm another DC Universe (DCU) character this week: Gorilla Grodd. This Thursday, Gunn posted on his social media accounts an image of Grodd from the comics with the caption:

"When Gorilla Grodd made his comic debut, he immediately chose violence (and mind control, obviously). His first appearance was in THE FLASH #106, written by John Broome, with pencils by Carmine Infantino, and inks by Joe Giellaroome, with pencils by Carmine InfaInfantino, and inks by Joe Giella."

Who is Gorilla Grodd? Explaining the future DCU villain:

Gorilla Grodd possesses abilities such as genius-level intellect, Speed Force connection, telepathy, durability, and superhuman strength in the comics. He is frequently one of The Flash's most challenging supervillains. The character description of Gorilla Grodd on the DC website describes the character like this:

"A hyper-intelligent telepathic ape, Gorilla Grodd has sought to rule both the simian and human worlds, though the Flash has frequently thwarted his plans. Although many of the Flash's most dangerous Rogues are criminals with gimmicks or evil speedsters, there is one enemy of the Fastest Man Alive who stands apart—the hyper intelligent ape known as Gorilla Grodd. The product of a chance encounter with an alien race, Grodd and his people evolved past the common gorillas who lived in his portion of the African jungle and developed super intelligence, along with a wide array of other mental powers. But while the rest of his people chose to live apart from the world peacefully, Grodd only sought to conquer humanity so he could rule it. First coming into conflict with the Barry Allen version of the Flash, Grodd was a thorn in not only his side for many years, but also his successor Wally West's. Grodd also plagued the Justice League by joining forces with the likes of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, the Legion of Doom and other organizations of super criminals bent on world domination. With his genius-level intellect combined with his innate animal savagery and his vast mental abilities, Gorilla Grodd is, ironically, not an enemy to ever be monkeyed with."

Grodd's history in the DCU as of now remains mysterious, as the telepathic gorilla has made only one non-speaking cameo appearance in an alternate future. In the scene for Creature Commandos dubbed "Circe's Vision", Grodd has joined Princess Ilana Rostovic in taking over the world and killing many of the DCU’s heroes, including The Flash.

However, this future was averted in the Creature Commandos season 1 finale as The Bride kills Princess Ilana Rostovic. Thus, his role in James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe remains unknown. But we may soon learn more about this version of Gorilla Grodd as a rumored DCU series, DC Crime, will give us more insight into the supervillain.

Grodd is supposed to be the main villain of DC Crime:

Back in November, The Hollywood Reporter (THR) published a report stating that the telepathic gorilla was returning to DC Universe after his debut in the Creature Commandos episode, "Chasing Squirrels". The THR report read:

"Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, who created the award-winning mockumentary American Vandal, are going into the DC Universe. The duo will write, executive produce and showrun the Superman movie TV spinoff to star Skyler Gisondo, the actor who played Daily Planet photographer and unlikely ladies’ man Jimmy Olsen. Gisondo and the character became a true breakout from James Gunn’s summer movie, and a show was put into development around him."

Moreover, the same report also described the rumored Jimmy Olsen-led DC Universe docuseries like this:

"The concept centers on Olsen, as well as other Daily Planet reporters (minus Lois Lane and Clark Kent), who tackle cases involving super-powered villains."

Revealing the central antagonist of the DCU series, the THR report said:

"Gorilla Grodd would be in the spotlight for the season. Grodd is a super-intelligent evil ape who rules a secret African city named Gorilla City. The character is a key antagonist for the Flash, and first appeared in an issue of the Scarlet Speedster’s comics back in 1959. He was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino."

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Three DCU projects are scheduled for this year. They release in the following order: Supergirl, Lanterns, and Clayface.

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