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| Solomon Grundy | |
| Aliases: | Solomon Grundy |
| Continuity: | DC Universe |
| Notability: | Antagonist |
| Type: | Supervillain |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Reanimate Swamp monster |
| Location: | Gotham County |
| Associations: | Injustice Society |
| Known relatives: | Rachel Rykel [1] Karin Rykel [2] Chrissie Cavendish [3] |
| Status: | Undead |
| First: | All-American Comics #61 |
| Actor: | Jimmy Weldon Mickey Morton Mark Hamill Fred Tatasciore |
Solomon Grundy is a fictional super-villain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. His real name is Cyrus Gold and he was first introduced in All-American Comics #61 in October, 1944. Originally, Solomon Grundy was presented as a foe of Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, but became a larger antagonist to the Justice Society of America, when he joined the ranks of the Injustice Society of America. In modern times, Solomon Grundy has also been used as a recurring foe of Batman. Solomon Grundy's popularity grew due to his appearances on the Challenge of the Super Friends cartoon series from 1978, where he was a member of the Legion of Doom. On the show, he was voiced by actor Jimmy Weldon. A live-action version of the Grundy character was seen as early as 1978 when he appeared in the campy two-part television special Legends of the Superheroes. He was portrayed by actor Mickey Morton in this film. Grundy also made appearances in the DC Animated Universe, first on episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, and later on Justice League Unlimited. He was voiced by veteran actor and voice talent Mark Hamill on this series.
Biography[]
Overview[]
Cyrus Gold c. 1895.
Cyrus Gold was born some time around the early 19th century. In the year 1895, he had carried on an affair with a local prostitute from Gotham City named Rachel Rykel. According to Rykel, she was pregnant with Gold's child, and sought to extort money from him for her silence. Cyrus met with her for a secret negotiation at Slaughter Swamp, several miles outside of Gotham. When Gold refused to yield to blackmail, Rachel's pimp, Jem, dashed Cyrus across the back of the head with a shovel. They buried Gold in the swamp, content that no one would ever come looking for him. [4]
Over the span of fifty years, Gold’s body interacted with the detritus and sour vegetation of the swamp. Through an as of yet unknown process, Cyrus Gold's corpse transformed into a rotting, vegetative undead monstrosity that the world would soon come to know as Solomon Grundy. [5]
Earth-Two history[]
In 1944, Cyrus Gold's corpse was reanimated as a huge shambling figure with almost no memory of its past life. Gold murdered two escaped criminals who were hiding out in the marsh and stole their clothes. He showed up in a hobo camp and, when asked about his name, one of the few things he could recall was that he was "born on a Monday". One of the men at the camp mentioned the nursery rhyme character Solomon Grundy, and Gold adopted the moniker.
Strong, vicious, and nearly mindless, Solomon Grundy fell into a life of crime — or, perhaps returned to one according to his scattered residual memories — attracting the attention of the Green Lantern, Alan Scott. Grundy proved to be a difficult opponent, unkillable (since he was already dead) and with an inherent resistance to Scott's powers (which could not affect wood, a substance of which Grundy's reassembled body was now largely composed). Their first fight ended when Grundy was hurled under a train. The second battle with Grundy involved Green Lantern and his fellow members of the Justice Society of America tracking him across the country, depositing Grundy on the moon once he was defeated. A subsequent battle between the two ended up with Lantern burying Grundy in 1947.
At this point, he was pulled back to 1941 by the time-travelling criminal Per Degaton, who had enlisted the aid of several super-villains to capture the Justice Society of America on December 7, 1941 (the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor). The All-Star Squadron came to their rescue, and Grundy was then thrust back to the moon where he remained for over two decades.
Grundy eventually mastered the use of stored up emerald energy he had absorbed over the years from his several battles with his arch-foe, and returned to Earth to battle Lantern, Hourman and Doctor Fate. At this point, he had temporary mastery over all wooden objects, however he subsequently lost this power over time. He was briefly a member of the Injustice Gang of the World. In the interim, he had battled the combined might of both the Justice Society, and later their counterparts the Justice League, nearly to a standstill, when he developed an affection for a lost alien child. Soon after, Grundy crossed over from his Slaughter Swamp prison on Earth-Two to Earth-One where he encountered that Earth's Superman (see more details below).
Grundy went on to afflict Green Lantern and his teammates, including the Huntress who was the first female for whom he developed an affection. After Solomon Grundy was rescued from a glacier by Alan Scott's daughter, Jade, Grundy became loyal to her and, for a while, was an ally of Infinity, Inc. Eventually, this affectionate relationship turned to tragedy as the villainous Marcie Cooper a.k.a. Harlequin of the Dummy's Injustice Unlimited, used her illusion powers to disguise herself as Jade. Harlequin manipulated Grundy to attack the members of Infinity Inc., one by one. She convinced him to press the unconscious Mister Bones's bare hand against Skyman; since Bones's skin constantly exudes a cyanide-based compound, this quickly led to Skyman's death. This was the beginning of the end for Infinity Inc., and for Grundy's quasi-heroic career.
Earth-One history[]
The Earth-One Grundy arose when the Parasite used an enhanced crystal to metabolically hasten the growth of residual cells left over in the sewers from when the original version had crossed over from Earth-2, which became a new, much more bestial version. During a clash with Superman, it was determined his might was too much a match for the Man of Steel, so Superman flew the monster to an alien world inhospitable to all save the hardiest life forms. There, under the planet's reduced gravity, the Earth-One Grundy was appeased when Superman gave him a cape to wear as the zombie propelled himself through the air mimicking his one-time adversary.
This version repeatedly plagued Superman for years until, during an encounter wherein multiple Grundys were spawned, Superman and the Swamp Thing both encountered the clones. Soon, Superman obtained a compound from S.T.A.R. Labs which caused the Grundys to become inert, in effect killing the seemingly unkillable man-thing. Swamp Thing attempted to cry out for Superman to stop, as he believed Grundy to meet the definition of life, but Swamp Thing was unable to express this, due to a lack of vocal cords. [3] Meanwhile, the original and second templates existed. This version of Grundy was retroactively erased from history after the revamping of Superman in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Abilities[]
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Cyrus Gold was created by writer Alfred Bester and artist Paul Reinman.
- An origin recap of Solomon Grundy was provided as a bonus story in Countdown to Final Crisis #11.
- In Pre-Crisis Earth-Two continuity, Cyrus Gold was murdered in the year 1894. In Post-Crisis continuity, his death took place in 1895.
- The Earth-One version of Grundy was a clone of the Earth-Two version.
- Solomon Grundy made a brief cameo appearance on the "Prophecy" episode of Smallville. He was played by actor John DeSantis in this episode.
- A non-monstrous version of Cyrus Gold appeared on the CW Network television series Arrow. Played by actor Graham Shiels, he appeared in the season two episode, "Three Ghosts".
Body Count[]
- Karin Rykel - Smasher her across the head with a swift backhand. [4]
See also[]
External Links[]
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ Possible mother of Cyrus' child; unconfirmed.
- ↑ Possible descendant; deceased.
- ↑ Chrissie claimed to be Cyrus' great-great granddaughter, though no information other than her own testimony has ever supported this.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Batman: Shadow of the Bat 39
- ↑ All-American Comics 61