This week's episode of The Flash might have been about Barry Allen's love life, but it was the final scene that left fans of the series wanting more: our first sneak peek at Gorilla Grodd.
Gorilla Grodd is one of The Flash's most popular villains, but who is he, and how will the character play into The CW series?
In the DC Comics, Gorilla Grodd came from Gorilla City, a city in the African jungle solely occupied by intelligent gorillas. Not only is Grodd super intelligent, but he also has super powers that lets him affect others' minds, thanks to an alien rock that landed near the jungle where he lives.
However, Grodd wasn't content with being the King of Gorilla City. In an effort to take over the world of humans, he goes to Central City. At first, the humans love him, including The Flash. He becomes so popular that he runs for political office, with the intention of becoming President of the United States. Eventually, though, The Flash uncovers his nefarious plot and captures him, locking him up in Iron Heights prison.
After that, Grodd turned up in many issues of The Flash comic books, always at odds with the Scarlet Speedster.
In The New 52 issues of The Flash, Barry finds himself stranded in Gorilla City after he takes a trip through the Speed Force. The other gorillas believe Barry is a messenger from a prophecy, but Grodd doesn't buy it and tries to kill him. After The Flash escapes Gorilla City, Grodd chases him back to Central City with his gorilla army.
Grodd also made appearances in the animated series Challenge of the Super Friends and Super Friends as a member of Lex Luthor's Legion of Doom. However, that version of Grodd doesn't have telepathy. Grodd also appears in the Justice League animated series, as well as in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
On The CW's The Flash TV series, we haven't really seen a lot of Grodd yet, although he was teased in the first episode. In the pilot, Barry Allen and Dr. Harrison Wells pass by his cage at S.T.A.R. Labs, simply marked "Grodd." A flashback that takes place five years before that tells us that Grodd was an experiment by General Wade Eiling for testing mental abilities for developing new interrogation techniques. In that flashback, Wells states he wants to take Grodd, having his own uses for him, but Eiling refuses him.
In this week's episode, we see two maintenance workers in Central City's underground sewers. There, they see scribblings on the walls that say "Grodd." A shadowy ape creature, presumably Grodd, attacks and kills them.
We'll obviously see more of Grodd in future episodes of The Flash, but it's likely his origin story will change slightly. It's a good bet that the particle accelerator explosion is where his mental abilities come from, although it's still too early to tell which powers Grodd will keep in the series.
Considering that the series tries to keep the over-the-top superhero and supervillain antics fairly realistic, it's doubtful we'll see Grodd run for President (unless, of course, he takes over the mind of a human and uses them towards that end), but until we get more peeks at the character, his true nature on The CW series is still anyone's guess. So until then, we'll keep watching.
The Flash airs on The CW on Tuesdays.
