Which is, of course, great. Ever since James Gunn and Peter Safran took over as heads of DC Studios, Warner Bros. superhero projects have begun embracing the weirdest part of comic books, while still telling moving, character-driven stories. Peacemaker is indeed about a guy with a shiny helmet who fends off alien invasions and visits a Nazi alternate reality, but it’s also about a man recovering from toxic masculinity to understand his feelings. Superman addressed black site prisons, and Supergirl dealt with human trafficking, but both did so through weird concepts like pocket dimensions and intergalactic bounty hunters. Even Lanterns, which initially seemed like a grounded buddy cop mystery, has shape-shifting androids and all-powerful alien overseers.
Yet it’s still exciting and refreshing to see The People vs. Gorilla Grodd so openly embrace super-simians. As weird and goofy as the concept of a monkey or ape with superpowers is, it’s also baked into superhero comics, especially those at DC. Sure, Marvel has characters like the Fantastic Four villain the Red Ghost, who commands an army of Super Apes, and Gorilla-Man, but its DC who really perfected the trope. In addition to Gorilla Grodd and Solovar, the company has featured Beppo the Supermonkey from Krypton, Congorilla (a pulp adventurer has his mind placed inside that of a golden ape), Titano (think King Kong, if the Eighth Wonder of the World also shot kryptonite lasers from his eyes), the Francophone revolutionary Monsieur Mallah, and the Ultra-Humanite, DC’s first supervillain.
Given how integral to the DC Universe these primates are, it’s no surprise that some have shown up in previous comic book adaptations. Most famously, Gorilla Grodd appeared in several CW shows, and even went back in time to try to kill a young Barak Obama in Legends of Tomorrow.
But those were shoddy CGI recreations. As we see in the new set photos, The People vs. Gorilla Grodd is going practical, at least as a base (surely, the on-set suit will be enhanced with CGI effects, not unlike the Thing suit that Ebon Moss-Bachrach wore while shooting Fantastic Four: First Steps). That they’re letting a silly premise be as weird as possible and still finding places for real pathos proves that the series will take this goofy concept with complete seriousness. Which is what superhero stories fundamentally are, silly ideas taken seriously and given weight. Previous adaptations have come close, but if these photos are to be believed, then The People vs. Gorilla Grodd will be the point where superhero adaptations finally evolve.
The People vs. Gorilla Grodd is now in production.
