Grodd (Arrowverse)

"I ... am ...GRODD! FEAR ME!"

- Grodd speaks while possessing General Eiling through his mental powers. "You forget Flash. I am an animal. I am a gorilla. Kill or be killed."

- Grodd's true nature.

Grodd is a recurring antagonist in the TV show The Flash  and its spin-off series DC's Legends of Tomorrow.

Initially a gorilla experimented on by S.T.A.R. Labs, Grodd forms a strong relationship with both Harrison Wells and Caitlyn Snow. After the explosion of the particle accelerator, Grodd became the only known animal meta-human and gained the power of intelligence and mind-control. After being used by Eobard Thawne to fight the Flash, Grodd starts stealing chemicals with which he intends to create more sentient gorillas. After this plan is foiled by the Flash as well, Grodd is cast through a breach to Earth-2, where he arrives in Gorilla City. Craving to return home, Grodd plots against the city's leader Solovar, eventually usurping him and leading the gorilla army against Earth 1.

He is portrayed by Simon Burnett and voiced by David Sobolov.

Test subject
Four years before the particle accelerator accident Grodd was kept as a test subject in S.T.A.R. Labs. He was scheduled to be part of enhanced gene therapy experiments conducted by Harrison Wells and Wade Eiling, the latter of whom wanted to explore the possibilities of mind control, torturing Grodd in a similar manner to that in which he tortured Martin Stein. However once Wells discovered Eiling's inhumane methods he shut down the program but decided on other plans for Grodd himself. Along with Wells, Caitlin also grew fond of Grodd and often visited him in his cage.

When the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator exploded, the dark matter it released activated the drugs and medicines Eiling and his men had administered to Grodd, awakening his psychic powers. The gorilla then destroyed his cage and escaped. Thawne showed the cage to Barry Allen when he was taking him around S.T.A.R. Labs.

Living in the sewers and working with Wells
He took up residence in a sewer and began carving his own name into a wall repeatedly. He was encountered by workmen, who attempted to run but were attacked (and seemingly killed) by Grodd. Later, the Reverse-Flash abducted Wade Eiling and brought him to Grodd, revealing his identity as Harrison Wells. Grodd displayed telepathic powers, as Eiling could "hear" someone talking in his head and mentioned God. Grodd corrected him and said his own name before grabbed Eiling from behind and drag him away.Three months later, after Wells is exposed as the Reverse-Flash, he sends Grodd to distract Barry Allen's team. To that end, Grodd mentally controls Eiling into attacking a gold reserve. As the Flash arrived on scene, Grodd, using Eiling as a conduit, incapacitated Barry by bombarding with mental hallucinations of Eiling's experiments on him, before having his puppet flee the scene. Grodd continued to control Eiling by attacking a police escort before he was captured by Barry and imprisoned in the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator. Grodd communicated through Eiling, acknowledging Barry and Caitlin Snow by name. Grodd later kidnapped Joe West when he, Barry and Cisco Ramon were searching the sewers for him. When Joe pulled out his gun, Grodd used his powers to make Joe point his gun at himself, but doesn't fire it while showing how he dislikes guns and bananas. Later, Cisco and Caitlin force Grodd away from Joe by remotely venting steam pipes so he'd be far enough for Barry, who was protected against his telepathy with a headband, to hit him with a super sonic punch, but Grodd's sheer size and strength enabled him catch his fist and lift Barry into the air by the neck. As he tossed the Flash through a brick wall into a subway tunnel, the latter lost his headband, allowing Grodd to mentally attack him again, crippling him as an oncoming train was approaching.

However, with help from Iris West's motivation, Barry obtained the will to overcome Grodd's attack and evaded the train. Grodd leaped at Barry, who dodged the attack, and the gorilla was hit by a second train. However, Grodd survived and made his way to the surface, climbing and jumping off a building, furious.

Sent to Earth-2
Grodd returns, using his mind control powers to force various people into stealing neuro-enhancing chemicals. With his power he also takes control of Caitlin, forcing her to hit Cisco in the face and leave S.T.A.R. Labs. Eventually, Barry's team finds out that Grodd is back but it is too late for them to save Caitlin who is taken by the gorilla right outside S.T.A.R. Labs. When Caitlin wakes up at Grodd's bell tower hideout, she sees the stolen chemicals and formulas written to the walls. She is then addressed by Grodd, who remembers that she was kind to him when he was a lab ape. Grodd tells Cailtin that he needs help to understand how he became Grodd. After being told so, Grodd orders Caitlin to create more like him. When Caitlin tells him that she doesn't know how to do that, Grodd tells her to learn it. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Harrison Wells finds three possible locations where Grodd could possible hide. Planning to pose Earth-2's Harrison Wells at the Reverse-Flash, they intend to extract Caitlin. Eventually reaching the third location, Wells confronts Grodd. However, Grodd realizes that he is being fooled because the real Reverse-Flash wouldn't have asked for permission to extract Caitlin. Grodd attacks Wells and Cisco sneaks in to get Caitlin. To escape, Wells injects Grodd with some of the chemicals Grodd stole. While Grodd is knocked out, Wells, Cisco and Caitlin escape from the bell tower.

To get rid of Grodd without killing him, the Flash and his team plan to send Grodd through a breach to a refuge for scientific experiment gorillas on Earth-2. Barry manages to lure Grodd near the breach but there he is attacked by the gorilla. Caitlin talks to Grodd, claiming that he needs to let Flash go. Grodd is sad because he thinks that now Caitlin is his enemy too and advances onto Caitlin. In that moment, Cisco activates the breach which grabs hold of Grodd. However, Grodd struggles and slowly manages to get out of the breache's range. Barry then uses a sonic punch to hit Grodd who is sucked though the breach and arrives on the jungle on Earth-2. Grodd finds himself near Gorilla City, a city in the african jungle populated by sentient gorillas.

Gorilla City
On Earth-2, Grodd eventually captures Harrison Wells and brings him to Gorilla City. Wells' daughter Jessie Quick travels to Earth-1 to ask Barry and Team Flash for help. From the information they get from Jessie, Team Flash assumes that Grodd is planning something to get back to Earth-1 and that he needs Wells for it. However, once Barry, Cisco, Caitlyn and Julian arrive, they are all stung by sleep darts and captured by a gorilla group led by Grodd. When they regain consciousness, they find themselves in cages inside Gorilla City. Wells is also captured and in a cage nearby. Furthermore, Grodd has found a way to dampen the entire teams powers. Grodd speaks to Barry and the team through Wells, revealing that he took Wells to lure in Barry and that he needs Barry's help. Grodd reveals that he hates Gorilla City, as he is forced to serve under the rule of Solovar. Grodd adds that Solovar wants to rule humanity as well and intends to conquer Earth-1. Grodd claims that he has come to make a deal with Barry. As Solovar will fight Barry in the arena to execute him, Grodd proposes that Barry kills him to show the other gorillas Solovar's weakness which would lead to Grodd becoming the new leader. Grodd promises that, should Barry do this, Grodd would refrain from attacking Earth-1 and swears to keep the gorillas in Gorilla City. Moments later, the telepathical connection to Wells breaks and Grodd appears in the prison complex in person.

Both Solovar and Grodd approach the cages and Solovar, angry that Grodd has not informed him that more people have been captured, strikes Grodd. Solovar then claims that Barry and his team must have come to study the gorillas for potential weaknesses or, worse, to make them their pets. Despite Barry arguing that they have only come for Wells, Solovar sentences them to death in the arena. However, after he has defeated Solovar in battle, Barry refuses to kill Solovar. An angry Grodd orders Barry sleep-darted once more and when Barry regains consciousness, he is back in his cell. Grodd contacts him through Wells once more, revealing that he will not let Barry and his friends go and that he never had any intention of doing so. He tells Barry that he himself had no chance of defeating Solovar in combat and that with Solovar being defeated by Barry, Grodd is now the leader of Gorilla City. Barry realizes that Solovar had never any intention of attacking Earth-1, however, Grodd has. Grodd confirms this, claiming that he will take back the Earth that he was banished from. He also states that the Gorillas are even more afraid now that Barry has defeated Solovar. After his true intentions are revealed, Grodd confirms that he still needs Barry and his team, specifically Cisco, to open a breach to Earth-1 in order for his army to invade. He then leaves Wells' body and comes down into the prison himself, claiming that he does not need Barry who will be killed.

To escape captivity, Barry fakes his death by help of Caitlyn's cold powers. After Grodd enters Barry's cage and ensures that Barry is dead by feeling that he is cold, Grodd drags the body out of his cell and tosses him inside a corner. After Grodd has gone, Barry frees his friends. When they flee into the forest to open a breach, the team is pursued by Grodd. Although he almost catches up with the team, Grodd is too late to capture any of the escapees. After realizing that he has failed, Grodd lets out an angry scream.

Although his plans with Cisco have failed, Grodd gets hold of another breacher, Gypsy. He orders her to open a breach to Earth-1 so that he and his army of gorillas can invade.

Attack on Earth-1
After Gypsy successfully brings Grodd and his entire army into the forest near Earth-1's Central City, he sends her to kill Barry and the rest. However, Gypsy is captured and after the team manages to free her from Grodd's influence she tells them that Grodd is coming. Gypsy also reveals that she saw Grodd's intentions for the city when he controlled her, he wants to annihilate the entire city and kill or torture all of its inhabitants. By using his vibe powers, Cisco is able to locate the exact point of Grodd's attack. Barry and the team head there immediately but when they arrive, Grodd mentally gets hold of Joe West and, remembering that he means a lot to Barry, forces Joe to press his gun at his head. Through Joe, Grodd warns Barry that Grodd will kill any humans he finds in the city after Bary and the others have fallen. Grodd then forces Joe to press the trigger but Barry speeds at him and moves him out of the way. After Joe is saved, Barry and the team realize that this was only a distraction and that Grodd is not coming. Meanwhile, Grodd attacks a military convoy and captures US general Matthew McNally.

To find the point Grodd truly intends to attack, the team analyzes the remainder of Grodd's presence inside Joe's brain. This causes Joe to draw McNally's face. Meanwhille, Grodd forces the general to head inside Fort Reynolds, a military base near the city where a nuclear missile is stored. McNally starts the missile launch sequence but Barry speeds to the launcher and deactivates the apparatus, successfully aborting the launch. After Grodd realizes that his plan has failed, he decides to take on the city himself and orders his army to attack.

When the gorilla army waltzes into the city, they are confronted by Barry, Wally and Jessie. Although Jessie and Wally manage to fend off some of the apes, Barry fails to defeat Grodd and is hurled away when he tries to attack. Moments later, the other gorillas hurl away the other two speedsters as well. After the speedsters have lost the first fight, Grodd taunts Barry and claims that there is only one way of stopping Grodd - killing him. However, Grodd knows that Barry would never kill and thus belives himself victorious. Barry claims that this is correct but adds that Barry is not the only one who wants to stopp Grodd. At this moment, a breach opens from which Cisco, Gypsy and Solovar enter the scene. Solovar challenges Grodd and Grodd accepts the challenge, leading to a vicious battle between the two primates over the rooftops of Central City. Eventually, Solovar throws Grodd off the building and Grodd falls onto the street below. With Grodd's defeat, the gorillas submit to Solovar once more. However, when Solovar raises his spear to kill Grodd he is stopped by Barry who asks for Grodd's life to be spared. Solovar agrees, as Barry spared his life earlier. Solovar and the gorillas are brought back to Earth-2 except Grodd who is left on Earth-1. Grodd is delivered to A.R.G.U.S. where he is imprisoned.

When Barry invades the A.R.G.U.S. headquarter together with Leonard Snart, they walk past Grodd's holding cell. Snart asks Barry what or who Grodd is and Barry reveals their past history, also adding that Grodd attacked the city after Barry spared Grodd's life.

Moved in time
Because of an anachronism, Grodd ended up in Vietnam in 1967, where he started building a new empire, planning to bring peace to mankind by starting a nuclear war that would place "All Nations Under Grodd". When the Legends faced Grodd, Amaya almost came through to him and managed to bring him back to a time before humanity when they could never hurt him again. However, before Grodd could agree to go with her, his empire's base was attacked by American soldiers. Grodd accused Amaya of lying to him, attacked the soldiers, and declared his intent to use the Legend's time machine (the Wave Rider) to erase humanity from existence before it could evolve. Attacking the Wave Rider, he leaped a top it while it took flight. He then uses telepathy to control Sara Lance's body and use her to attack Professor Stein. Isaacs Newton then knocked the possessed captain out, while Professor Stein managed to shake him off the Wave Rider and send him falling into a napalm struck forest. Damien Dahrk rescued Grodd using a totem to pull him into the present day, offering him the opportunity to join him and give him the ability to time travel with a single thought.

Grodd was dropped back in to the United States, where he rampaged, beating Time Bureau Director Wilbur Bennett to death, destroying his communications device.

Personality
As Grodd was raised in captivity and tortured since he was a youngling, all he saw was the worst of humanity and expected nothing less from the species. He refrained none of his strength from controlling or killing any humans he encountered. However, he is affectionate and trustworthy towards people who have showed him kindness before, such as Caitlin Snow or Eobard Thawne whom he considered his father.