The Tragic Story of Solomon Grundy | Justice League & Justice League Unlimited

[@SerumLake]

Before anyone kicks off about Mary copying my style, I edited this video and made the thumbnail 🤣

[@harryfleutv666]

Plus you two are married so it only makes sense XD

[@michaelreynolds6710]

I guess you also did the joker and Harley Quinn vid aswell

[@SellavinAtoms]

Great, now I have more reason to come here.

[@The_Immortal_]

Ngl, I fully thought this was one of your videos at first.

[@bryedtan]

Ok no prob

[@stephenwillis6937]

The Creeper in DCeased "You can't die on a Wednesday. It would ruin Your whole poem"

[@michaelandreipalon359]

That saga sure was something.

[@Arvyn992]

DCeased Unkillables

[@BearlyRegal]

I shall henceforth call you and Luke 'The DC Duo' As ever Mary, absolutely superb essay - keep up the great work!

[@MarySusanMears]

Thank you BEAR!

[@comicfan1324]

Grundy may have lost his soul, but he didn’t lose his heart.

[@Xehanort10]

Another version of Grundy I felt sorry for was the Arkham one who had a similar origin to the comic and DCAU Grundy but was captured by Ra's Al Ghul, tortured, experimented on and repeatedly killed and resurrected so Ra's could find out how Wonder City's Lazarus Pit worked. At one point Grundy killed Ra's scientists but was so mentally broken he just waited for someone to kill him again. He eventually ended up under the Iceberg Lounge where Penguin found him and would throw his henchmen in with Grundy to be killed if they pissed him off. And even though Batman rips Grundy's heart out in City there's a gramophone you can find in Knight of a kid singing the rhyme.

[@MarySusanMears]

I need to go back to the Arkham games. I haven't played them in so long.

[@KingCaptainDrProfessorKRool]

I'm a simple man. I see a video on Solomon Grundy's tragic arc in Justice League, and I watch with glee. In return, I hit the like and subscribe buttons.

[@ajra6143]

Fun fact about The Terror Beyond: Ichthultu was obviously based off Cthulhu, though at the time, the creative team was unaware H.P Lovecraft’s work was public domain. So if they had known, the OG eldritch horror could’ve been canon to the DCAU.

[@130lukas]

Their is another aspect of a soul that could potentially effect grundy’s situation; that where another “soul” of a particularly willful or wild nature possessing his body and possibly becoming a new person all together. If the voodoo curse “worked” then the original grundy soul is bound/chained somewhere. Probable in a totem or physical vessel

[@MarySusanMears]

I never thought of that.

[@tayojones9460]

What a fantastic analysis Grundy was truly a tragic figure. Hopefully he has found peace.

[@jackofallclaws6672]

Imagine for a second if Grundy came back a third time but he got his soul back…I wonder what that would look like.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Nah, that would be beating the bush too much on a dead horse.

[@MarySusanMears]

That would have been a great episode.

[@borjankosarac3645]

It could have been interesting if they delved into the ways in which Grundy differs from his past life as the vile Gold; he lacks the overt cruelty and malice he once did. Would retrieving his soul combine the supernatural powers of Solomon Grundy with the morally-defunct Cyrus Gold? Would this create a new being? Would it give an idea of how he became so evil, and why the lack of his memory and soul made him effectively childlike and innocent (if not lacking in threat)? Hmm…

[@themaninblack7503]

Starman had an entire story that dealt with all of the other Solomon Grundy personalities.

[@harryfleutv666]

You and Luke’s channels are totally underrated, you guys deserve so much more views and subs! ❤️ I feel like James Gunn pulling off a Grundy story in a film in his new DCU!

[@borjankosarac3645]

Well, there’s rumours of him doing deep dives like Deadman; I have no doubt that he’s got ideas for Solomon Grundy, at least.

[@Dbzmaster159]

I teared up a little when you were telling us about Grundy. Also, I didn't know you were Serum's wife. Big fan of your husband.

[@MarySusanMears]

I am a fan of his well! :P

[@unicornburger16]

It’s crazy how much these episodes made me cry when I really didn’t feel any way about Grundy before then. He just showed up a couple times and that was it. But these episodes changed so much. Without question some of the best in both shows, so freaking mature for a show aimed at kids as well.

[@theredblooper]

Solomon Grundy was the most relatable character for me growing up. I too was born on a monday.

[@KingOfMadCows]

It is pretty impressive that the writers were able to make you feel sad for a bog zombie who was a psychopathic criminal when he was alive.

[@StarSpangledIdiot]

The saddest thing is that he was born on a monday

[@A1ml33y]

Solomon Grundy Wants Pants Too

[@JoseMorales-lw5nt]

We were both born on a Monday. He's cool in my book...❤

[@frankd4581]

Please make a video for my favorite justice league and justice league unlimited character named Giganta please

[@Commander_Appo]

Solomon Grundy is such a relatable character to me. I wish I had a soul

[@MarySusanMears]

SAME!

[@Scrinwaipwr]

Don't worry, you are not alone; nothing has a soul in real-life. They're made up.

[@GuyWhoLivesOnYT]

Emo ahh 💀

[@Xehanort10]

5:12 Grundy and Bizarro would get along. Both childlike and don't understand that what they're doing is wrong.

[@rezthemediaruler3768]

SerumLake‘s Wife? Doing DC Universe Stuff? I am all here for it. Subscribed immediately. May I suggest the Character of Vandal Savage? I think he wasn’t covered by any of you? If he is, please tell me and I’ll watch it.^^

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Wish we got him still in JLU (and I still think Miguel Ferrer's Young Justice is the more definitive Vandal Savage take for me), but his Past, Present, and Future arc in JL sure is a gem.

[@MarySusanMears]

Vandal sounds like a great subject to do an essay on. You might see that in the future. :P

[@docweidner]

#JLAS. Enjoyed this quite a bit. Luke, I know, was worried some might think it sounds too like his. Not really. Did not do the comic dive, though I did like she acknowledged the Hulk resemblance in on ip the episodes she covered. Mary, I know you have done some solo stuff, I enjoyed you bad boyfriend video. Gald to see you working on your own voice. I'm not sure about whoever you got to do the opening Grundy poem, though. 😉

[@MarySusanMears]

Thank you Doc.

[@Scrinwaipwr]

0:31 I'd say Solomon Grundy is more a ghoul than a zombie.

[@buddyzilla4557]

The origional comics grundy is a good character study in a similar way. He was not a gangster but a guy who was on his way through the swamp to be married when he and his fiancee were robbed. The criminal killed him and disposed of his body in the swamp where nature itself decided to choose him as a defender for it. This is a ritualistic act that would save Grundy but because it was rushed to do so did not happen correctly. He emerged a hulking, mindless zombie instead of a champion for the forces of nature that was intended. It's a case of a good act with good intentions but done the wrong way and thus still a bad act. It would never truly help yhe intended manner so it would have been better if he was allowed to just be let go and find peace despute his happiness being cut short. Because he was resurrected in a manner never intended, his suffering instead was prolonged AND the champion the swamp desired was also lost to it. It's very comparable to the way people have shown poorly thought out and reactionary behaviors to tragedies or threatening discoveries that only make the situation worse. Some good examples are the treatment of people's in the mental health industry like women, homosexuals and nuerodivergent who were being "helped" for thier "provlems" when in relaity they were being controled and mistreated through poor preception/ignorant practices. Another example is with our environmental crisis and the many who support some very poor and often more long term harmful "solutions" presented by politicians who don't actually care or have the proper research done if they can claim it a support in the moment for their votes. Solomon Grundy is a cautionary tale about rash actions and how good intentions don't always equal good results. Being responsible and aware of the situation, even if its one you don't like is important in preventing a worse one. If a situation should be addressed, it should be done correctly or consequences can come. To this day people suffer because social ignorance was presented as medical science and used to "treat" people for problems that weren't actually problems but predjudices on the part of greater society. To this day we still have a looming environmental threat with so much meandering "efforts" that go nowhere because people are not proactively untied but rather allowing minor powers who don't truly care to "handle" things in ways that are not actually taking the full root of rhe issues into consideration for practical impact. We the swamp want to help when we see something as a wrong. We let the powers designed to helps us take over but implemented in the wrong way and get a Solomon Grundy as a result.

[@ulyssesveracruz8343]

Can you do a video on the condimint king please 😅

[@michaeldolan5792]

I don't know if Mary is old enough to remember dealing with photocopiers and audio & video tape recorders, but I am, and I think they shed some light on Grundy's rampaging state in Wake The Dead. (Papaw's gonna 'splain a thing to you young'uns.) While the first copy of something was almost, but not quite, as good as the original, a copy of that copy would loose definition and detail. Make enough copies of the previous copy, and eventually the result would be nearly unintelligible. I think that's what's going on with Grundy during each of his resurrections. When the original soul of Cyrus Gold is removed, the consciousness that emerges from Slaughter Swamp is a faded remnant of that mind, with too many details lost or degraded for him to function as the man he once was. There are too many important gaps in his personality and they leave him nearly incapable of figuring out what those missing portions might be, and he's just guessing at what might replace them. Could it be shiny trinkets and wealth? The approval of Luthor/Grodd/etc.? He doesn't, and can't, know until the story of his stolen soul is revealed to him. When the occultist nerds accidentally summon his body, I don't think that the remnants of Grundy's mind that befriended Shayera and found peace come back with it. He isn't abandoning the growth and progress that he made, or suddenly deciding to stop engaging in self-restraint. The majority of Grundy's incomplete consciousness that completed that character arc is still beyond the veil, gone wherever Gold's soul went, and the body is animated by the fractured residue of that already fragmented copy. He's lashing out at a world he no longer has the capacity to understand, driven by the jumbled shadows of what were once memories, a copy of a copy. Occasionally, some of those splinters of memory cohere together enough for him to recognize Shayera, and at the end, get a glimmer of understanding that there just isn't enough of him left to carry on, and that Shayera can give him the one kindness that can let his pained, confused, incomplete whispers of self-awareness finally rest.

[@MarySusanMears]

I am old enough to remember photocopiers but let's keep that between us friends. JLAS Grundy is still one of the most heartbreaking things in the DCAU to me. I really like how you have explained him.

[@dognettahusband7316]

I feel bad for grundy I wish he did remember hawkgirl because seeing him as a mindless zombie was sad

[@Scrinwaipwr]

CW did an interesting take on Solomon Grundy is series 1 of Arrow.

[@LowellLucasJr.]

Poor grundy. We love the big lug who just wanted some solace in his life. He's just a big old zombie teddy bear who sought purpose.😢 Still hilarious Mark Hamill played him of all people!😂 Guess that means Joker gassed himself when those two met!

[@michaelandreipalon359]

With that rhyme in mind, I always hear that child's voice from Batman: Arkham Knight whilst doing a Riddle involving Grundy. I still prefer calling the show JL, what with not being fond of the Whedon/Snyder film and its editions. However, am sometimes forced to add "+JLU" just because. Really can't believe Grundy in the DCAU was voiced by Mark Hamill. Always thought it was the usual Fred Tatasciore. Wonder if "Injustice For All" should be the true Eps. 4 and 5 of JL, with "In Blackest Night" being the true Eps. 8-9? Having those eps plus "The Enemy Below" being set before can help on why Green Lantern John Stewart is developed as a long-time pal of the other Leaguers worth defending from the Manhunters. 2:36: Are the other guys deep cut references too? Is there a chance that Slaughter Swamp was a contaminated Lazarus Pit? Bet Grundy would have been a villain in a Superman: The Animated Series full-fledged Season 4 that never came to be. Same with Star Sapphire, Copperhead, Ultra-Humanite, and Shade. 3:10: Bloodless though it may be, it's still brutal. Of course Grundy had to become a Hulk expy for the DCAU, particularly with that U.S. Army general hunting him down... surprising that it's not Wade Eiling, who became a Red Hulk-esque shaved Shaggy Man in JLU's "Patriot Act". Oh, and I ponder if there's an alternate universe where the DCAU cast and crew who instead made a Marvel Animated Universe, with the cost of having DC Comics not having great, well concluded cartoons. Those DCAU Defenders really should have communicated with the Justice League when it came to their anti-Cthulhu esoterica. I really pity those Egyptian ruins during the Superman v Grundy battle. Not that of a fan on such collateral damage against history. It's like burning books, man! 4:52: Not that it stopped her from reading the Bible, as seen (and told in a deleted scene) in JLU's "The Balance". 5:41: He dead. (By the way, the kids have a "Wicked Scary" poster. Yes, a movie from the Teen Titans universe, particularly shown in S2E5 - "Fear Itself". 6:25: That's a Hulk move, the sonic clap. 6:58: Love how they refer to GL's fave movie Old Yeller. Really wish we get more attentive references to real life fiction in shows like JLU... would be nice to have a sagely hero character refer to The Real and Extreme Ghostbusters and Ojamajo Doremi when it comes to definitive superheroes that don't need capes, rogues galleries, Watchtowers, and crimefighting (then again, The Real Ghostbusters did have S2E15 - "Ghost Busted", made by Michael Reaves of later B: TAS and Gargoyles fame, and the Ojamajos did have the occasional Oyajiide and rogue Witch Queen from Two Realms Ago). 8:01: Egad, he knows his wrestling! Darn, no grim mention of poor Cheetah (thankfully, she survived due to a consequential animation error). I do believe in souls. However, am also of the opinion that where it goes depends on mere chance: some shall go to Heaven, others Hell, a select number Purgatory, and another select number the reincarnation treatment... not sure if they're balanced because of karma or some other path though. If I have a movie suggestion, there's either The Batman vs. Dracula (though you guys might have to watch Seasons 1-3 up to S3E4 - "A Dark Knight to Remember" beforehand) or Batman: Under the Red Hood with maybe even the Death in the Family companion endings piece.

[@MarySusanMears]

2:36 I'm not sure. They might be. I will ask Luke about this. I could totally see Dana Delaney being Captain Marvel. Cheetah will get her own video one day. I will take film recs as long as Scoobs isn't in them. Thank you Big Mikey P.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

@@MarySusanMears Alrighty. Hmm, I can somehow see and hear that. OK then. We are on accord here. Also, please no Spy Kids. You're welcome!

[@characterkinginc8935]

Hi I'm subscriber # 578, great video!!!, have a good day!!!

[@MarySusanMears]

Thank you so much much subscriber 578.

[@characterkinginc8935]

@@MarySusanMears No problem my friend.

[@bamstarful]

1:16 correction: Solomon Grundy first animated appearance is in 1970's SuperFriends cartoon but then nothing for 20+ years......surprisingly wasn't in either version of the 1990's Batman cartoon most likely a cancelled character possibly replaced by Killer Croc given both have a dark wanting innocence to them

[@MarySusanMears]

I was referring to his first DCAU appearance.

[@bamstarful]

@@MarySusanMears I figured you may of and it's bloody great video, I've shared it 4 times.......am just a silly over the top nerd 🤓 am one that counts EVERYTHING as cannon and with even the 1960 cartoons returning alongside the 1990/2000 DCAU in crossover episodes & films I count the DCAU starting all the way back at those silly 1940's Superman films. It's a personal thing silly but it's how my nerd brain works

[@chrisdiokno5600]

God, hie story still hits

[@jackofallclaws6672]

I mean, BTAS and STAS are already a thing, so JL/JLUAS (or alternatively JL/JLUTAS) sounds about right!

[@michaelandreipalon359]

And also to lessen confusion against the similarly named DCEU films. However, JLU should stay as JLU.

[@tashibalampkin8555]

0:19 Y'all did that on purpose. 😂

[@geronimus-prime]

Question: As a... Xenial, I guess... it seems Grundy was a fairly significant recurring character in the DCAU from the mid to late 1990s. But was this largely due to his prominent role in the refrain of *_that Crash Test Dummies song?_* I ask because I remember that when it was on the charts, the Dummies claimed they'd selected a rather obscure villain remembered from a single-issue story in the 1970s. And also because whatever DC claims, *_that song_* - and especially its music video - seems to have been the primary inspiration behind the famous _Death of Superman_ arc from the following year.

[@MarySusanMears]

It might have been. I can't believe someone else remembers Crash Test Dummies.

[@JosephKeenanisme]

BTAS came on when I was in my 20s. The DCAU was my base exposure to DC comics, and still say they hold up better than most of the live action movies from both DC and Marvel.

[@eatedsoap]

I think you should do a video about Selina Kyle… wink wink.. selina sounds familiar hm??

[@Unownshipper]

Solomon Grundy... the DCAU equivalent of having to put you dog down. 😭

[@MarySusanMears]

Oh my goodness this is exactly how it felt.

[@jackofallclaws6672]

Since both you and your Huboo are cat people, I’ve got to ask…which one of you would be more interested in doing a video essay on Tygress from the BTAS episode Tyger, Tyger?

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Tygrus, you mean.

[@jackofallclaws6672]

@@michaelandreipalon359 Yeah?

[@MarySusanMears]

Oh that's a great suggestion.

[@GreenDiablo]

Subscribed. My only regret is i couldnt be number 666. I think i came in as 667 lol

[@MarySusanMears]

Thank you for subscribing.

[@nyetloki]

I mean... She is pretty. Idda folded too

[@armiproductions5680]

Grundy strongest there is, but after reading his solo run from around 2008 I kinda realised he´s also a very empty being.

[@MarySusanMears]

One of the reasons to love him. :(

[@Scrinwaipwr]

0:26 Careful how you say "J-LAS" as it's very close sounding to naff 2000s boyband J.L.S. I'd cool with people knowing I like JLAS, less cool with thinking I like J.L.S.

[@MarySusanMears]

I don't think they were popular were I came from. But I sure do remember they were everywhere over here. Literally on boxes and billboards all over. I must admit despite all of the marketing I never listened to them.

[@Scrinwaipwr]

​​ I didn't hear much of them either myself. Couldn't name or hum a single song of theirs.

[@Scrinwaipwr]

8:49 I agree that in real life souls don't exist. But in a sci-fi fantasy setting like the DCAU, who knows?

[@seekerofnothingness]

Wouldn't it be JLTAS

[@MarySusanMears]

I'm not saying you're right...:)

[@MatthewPrower]

what, no comic book origin?

[@MarySusanMears]

I'm a big fan of The DCAU Grundy.

[@jameshenning7451]

jlas is dumb