Solomon Grundy was a zombie created when a criminal by the name of Cyrus Gold was killed in a swamp outside Gotham City.

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History

Decades ago in the 1920s, Cyrus Gold was an infamous gangster operating in Gotham City. After a successful bullion robbery, Gold was betrayed and gunned down by his co-conspirators. They cursed his body with a powerful gris-gris and dumped the body in a swamp with its own mystical properties. Over time, the magic mixed, and Cyrus, who was resurrected as a soulless zombie, rose from the swamp. The only things he retained from his past life were his instinctive lust for wealth, which he continued to hoard even though he had no longer any use for it, and a faint memory that he was "born on Monday". For the latter reason, Cyrus was named Solomon Grundy after the nursery rhyme of the same name.

Grundy mostly appeared as an opponent of law enforcement and the Justice League. His enormous strength and resilience made him a match for many superpowered individuals, including Superman and J'onn J'onzz. However, when Icthultu invaded Earth, Grundy fought along the side of Aquaman, Dr. Fate, Inza and members of the Justice League. He succeeded, but was ultimately killed in his search for his lost soul.

Grundy's grave was indirectly disturbed when three youths attempted to conjure a demon for power. The spell was disrupted, however, and chaotic magic was released that took possession of Grundy, effectively re-animating him. However, little of Grundy's original personality was left; instead, it was filled with innate rage and rampaged. It was opposed by Vixen, John Stewart, Superman, Aquaman, Dr. Fate, Amazo, and Shayera Hol. However, given the nature of the magic, Grundy neutralised both Dr. Fate and Amazo's powers. The only way to stop it was Shayera's energy mace, as it was constructed with Nth metal, the properties of which repelled magic. Ultimately, Shayera put Grundy to rest one last time.



Powers and abilities

Solomon Grundy possessed superhuman strength sufficient to engage Superman and put up a fairly decent fight. Following his resurrection, Grundy's abilities were apparently augmented by chaos magic to a degree that he was capable of engaging and dominating Superman, Vixen, and Green Lantern simultaneously. He proved capable of bringing Superman to his knees by catching a punch with one hand and simply squeezing, mostly due to his power being channelled by magic. When the Android attacked, Grundy was actually able to feed off of Amazo's abilities.

Background information

Solomon Grundy is one of the few super-villains who has never actually faced his original enemy in any version of the DCAU: Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern of DC Comics. However, in the comics, he is also known to be an adversary of both Batman and Superman. In the animated series Challenge of the Super Friends, Grundy was a member of the Legion of Doom. The same thing never happened on Justice League Unlimited because he died thrice before the Legion even formed.

Appearances

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