A major DC villain, typically depicted as stoic, might be learning to embrace their funny bone in the DCU. Superman's first spinoff, Supergirl, is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. After poor reviews hit the internet, moviegoers decided to stay home rather than visit their local theater, leading to a historically bad opening weekend at the box office for the Milly Alcock-led movie.
But Supergirl isn't the hope for Superman's legacy. Of course, James Gunn is working hard on Man of Tomorrow, a direct follow-up to his hit 2025 film. And then there's the Jimmy Olsen series, which will take the journalist out of the Daily Planet office and onto the road as he investigates mysteries involving DC villains.
Accompanying Jimmy on his journey will be Gorilla Grodd, the telepathic ape who made a brief appearnce in Creature Commandos. In the animated series, Grodd stood alongside Pokolistan's leader, Ilana Rostovic, during a vision focusing on her eliminating heroes and conquering Earth.
The DCU went out of its way to portray Grodd as a ruthless killer. However, his personality might be different when he links up with Jimmy. According to Nexus Point News, the production for the upcoming series is seeking "actors with comedic backgrounds" to voice the villain.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that a show with Gunn's name attached to it is going to be searching for laughs. The filmmaker has a distinct style of humor that finds its way into all his projects. Even Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which tackled heavy subject matter, including animal cruelty, consistently found ways to cut the tension with jokes.
But it's one thing to take a group of misfits without much history and turn them into comedians. Taking a DC icon with notable run-ins with heroes like The Flash in the comics and making him a punchline is a different story. A balance has to be struck, which is easier said than done.
Fortunately, it's not a lost cause because another DC franchise already took a crack at finding the humor in a giant gorilla who can read minds and did a solid job.
The Arrowverse's Gorilla Grodd Can Serve As A Blueprint For DC Studios
Like DC Studios, The CW initially took Grodd down the serious road. The Flash Season 1 saw the ape escape from STAR Labs after the particle accelerator explosion and start hunting down the people responsible for hurting him. Barry Allen and Team Flash stood in his way, thwarting all of his evil plans until they were able to send him to Earth-2, which housed a whole city of super-strong and intelligent gorillas.
Grodd returned a few more times in The Flash's early seasons. But he just couldn't step into the spotlight because the evil speedsters, Reverse Flash, Zoom, and Savitar, were hogging it. Legends of Tomorrow decided Grodd was good enough for its shenanigans, though, and brought him into the fold in Season 3.
Displaced in time in an effort to free the demon Mallus from its prison, Grodd spent a good chunk of the season bouncing from location to location and causing trouble. His big test came when Mallus sent him back to the '70s to kill future President Barack Obama. Grodd dropped hilarious one-liner after hilarious one-liner as he tried to evade the Legends and locate his target.
Maybe the DCU will take a similar approach and have its version of Grodd be unaware that he's being funny. If it goes down any other way, it's going to be hard to take the villain seriously when he faces off against The Flash or any other hero and talks about world domination.
