Gorilla Grodd is a hyper-intelligent telepathic supervillain with the power to control the minds of others. He is also, somewhat obviously, a gorilla. At one time he was nothing more than an average ape, but after an alien spacecraft crashed in his African home, Grodd and his troop were imbued with super-intelligence by the ship's pilot. Grodd and fellow gorilla Solovar also developed telepathic and telekinetic powers. Taking the alien as their leader, the gorillas constructed a super advanced home named Gorilla City. The gorillas lived in peace until their home was discovered by prying explorers. Grodd forced one of the explorers to kill the alien, and took over Gorilla City, planning to take the world next. Solovar telepathically contacted Barry Allen to warn him of the evil gorilla's plans, and Grodd was defeated. But the villain would return again and again to plague the Flash and his Allies.

   At one point, the immortal villain Vandal Savage kidnapped Titans member Omen and used her to formulate the perfect team of adversaries for the Teen Titans. Savage approached Grodd, offering him membership in this new anti-Titans group, Tartarus. Savage sweetened the offer with promises of power and immortality. Grodd joined Tartarus on their mission to synthesize the immortal blood of the H.I.V.E. Mistress, Addie Kane. Savage sought to create a serum that would grant immortality. Their schemes were thwarted when the Titans intervened, and Tartarus retreated. Tempest later led a rescue mission to save Omen from Savage. During the rescue attempt, Tartarus battled the Titans, but collapsed upon itself due to each member having a different agenda. This was because Omen had purposely chosen members who wouldn't work well together when forced to formulate a team for Savage. Particularly, Siren switched alliances during the battle and aided Tempest in escaping. Following these events, Tartarus members went their separate ways and the group disbanded.

   Grodd's psionic abilities allow him to place other beings under his mental control. Grodd can also project mental attack beams and transfer his consciousness into other bodies. Moreover, he possesses great physical strength far exceeding that of an ordinary gorilla. He is a scientific genius who has mastered Gorilla City's advanced technology and who has created many incredible inventions of his own.

   One of Grodd’s widest-ranging schemes was to arrange Solovar's assassination and manipulate Gorilla City into war against humanity, with the aid of a "shadow cabinet" of prominent gorillas called Simian Scarlet. In the course of this, Grodd absorbed too much neural energy from his fellow apes, leaving him with the intelligence of a normal gorilla (Martian Manhunter Annual #2, 1999). He has since recovered, and a failed attempt to set up a base in Florida led to his capture and incarceration in Iron Heights.

   Grodd was also seen in the Superman/Batman arc Public Enemies (Superman/Batman #1-#7) controlling numerous villains and heroes using them to take down Superman and Batman for the prize of 1 billion dollars offered by president at the time Lex Luthor. Despite his use of foes such as Mongul, Solomon Grundy, Lady Shiva and Nightshade, however, both were able to deduce his hand behind the attacks, and quickly disposed of Grodd.

   He is responsible for crippling the Flash's friend Hunter Zolomon, resulting in his transformation into the villainous Zoom when Hunter tried to change the event so it never happened. Hunter would often think about how Grodd used him as a plaything in that fight while talking it over with the Flash (Flash #115)