Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, cw, entertainment, Gorilla City, Gorilla Grodd, green lantern, The Flash

Comic Book History Of Gorilla City

Published Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:00:06 -0600

It was hinted at in a previous episode of The Flash, but tonight Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow and Julian Albert are headed to Earth-2 to save Harrison Wells from the super intelligent residents of Gorilla City.

Gorilla City is not something knew to the show, it has a long history in the comics starting with it's first appearance in The Flash #106 in 1959. The city itself didn't start off on Earth. It was originally on the planet Calor, but they hitched a ride on Green Lantern / Hal Jordan's energy trail after he visited the planet. The whole city followed Hal back unbeknownst to him. They set the city up somewhere in a remote part of Africa.

This is the home of the Flash villain Gorilla Grodd, who first comes to Central City looking for the secret to Force of Mind so he can use it to control the armies of Gorilla City. He finds it in one of his own kind, Solovar, who had been captured and was living as a regular gorilla in the zoo. Grodd steals the secret and heads off on his plan. Solovar frees himself and tracks down the Flash to get help to save Gorilla City. The Flash is able to defeat Grodd, removing the knowledge of Force of Mind and leaves him in the hands of Solovar for punishment.

Grodd would later use neo-magnetic radiation to take over Gorilla City again, using it as well to try to win the heart of Solovar's bride-to-be Boka. The neo-magnetic radiation makes everyone who looks at him to instantly like him. He was crowned King of Gorilla City and Boka became his wife. But Grodd was not satisfied with that and he headed to Central City where the people instantly fell in love with him, including The Flash. But when he would move 100 miles away, his feelings of Grodd would return to normal. Flash can't find away to get close enough to Grodd without be affected by the neo-magnetic radiation until there is a day with solar flares, weakening the radiation. Flash realizes this and vibrates at the same frequency as the flares, allowing him to get in and defeat Grodd.

Solovar eventually lead Gorilla City out into the open, petitioning for membership in the United Nations and going on a goodwill tour to strengthen human / gorilla relations. But on his second trip, Solovar was assassinated by what appeared to be a group of human racists, but it is later uncovered that his murder was actually at the hands of Grodd and a group called the Simian Scarlet looking to overthrow the ruling council.

The origin above took place pre-crisis and may not be considered canon in the current DCU. In the Arrowverse, Grodd is a mix of experimentation by STAR Labs and the particle accelerator explosion. And there is no Green Lantern in the Arrowverse… yet.

Gorilla City has appeared in both the Challenge of the Super Friends and the Justice League / Justice League Unlimited animated series.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!