Solovar

Character Name	King Solovar
Image
Caption	Solovar as depicted in Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (April 1985). Art by George Pérez.
Real Name	Solovar
Publisher	DC Comics
Debut	The Flash #106 (May 1959)
Creators	John Broome (writer) Carmine Infantino (artist)
Species	Meta-Gorilla
Alliances	Gorilla City The Flash Family Black Lantern Corps
Aliases	Lord Solovar King Solovar The Forefather
Powers	(Currently): Speed Force evolution grants: * Superhuman strength, durability, speed, and agility * Telepathy * Hypercognition ** Space-time migration ** Dimensional travel ** Precognition ** Retrocognition (Previously): * Genius-level intellect * Enhanced strength, durability, speed, and agility * Thought reading * Diplomatic immunity (Formerly): Undead physiology

Publication history

Solovar first appeared in The Flash #106 (May 1959) and was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.

Fictional character biography

For many years, Solovar is the leader of Gorilla City, a hidden city inhabited by intelligent gorillas. Renowned for his wisdom and psychic powers, he is virtually unchallenged, except by the villainous Gorilla Grodd and his servant Monsieur Mallah. Under Solovar's guidance, Gorilla City is a technological utopia.

In the storyline JLApe: Gorilla Warfare!, Solovar decides his people can no longer use their science to hide from the human world. Believing that the world's ecological and political problems cannot be solved by ignoring them, he opens Gorilla City's borders to the world and asks for membership in the United Nations. During his second visit to the United States, Solovar is assassinated by the Simian Scarlet, a group of rebels from Gorilla City.

Following his death, Solovar is briefly succeeded as king by his nephew Ulgo, who declares war on humanity and attacks the United Nations and the Justice League with a weapon that transforms them into gorillas. After the Justice League stops Ulgo, he is succeeded by Nnamdi, Solovar's son.

During the Blackest Night event, Barry Allen races to Gorilla City to seek aid from Solovar, not knowing of his death. Finding the city ravaged, Barry assumes that Grodd has attacked, only to discover that Solovar has been resurrected as a Black Lantern. Barry destroys Solovar by dragging his body through the air at super-speed, reducing him to dust.

In The New 52 reboot, Solovar is the founder and first ruler of Gorilla City, regarded as the Forefather of his species. He, his followers, and his family have existed since the apex of the Maya civilization, which was destroyed in a Speed Force storm. A bolt of Speed Force energy struck Solovar and a few other apes within the vicinity, creating the first few in a new generation of intelligent gorillas who would come to found Gorilla City.

Powers and abilities

Solovar possesses physical and mental abilities akin to those of Gorilla Grodd, stemming from the same meteorite that evolved them and the rest of their brethren. Though not as significantly developed as his evil counterpart, Solovar is a gifted mentalist in his own right. He is an able political activist, being king of his own highly advanced civilization and an accomplished diplomat with savvy knowledge of world affairs. Solovar, like all apes of Gorilla City, boasts an accomplished intellect. He was a contributing pioneer to the development of his nation's advanced science and technology, and knows all its workarounds. He also has the augmented physical abilities of all Super Apes of his homeland.

In Blackest Night, Solovar is reanimated by a Black Power Ring and given the standard abilities of a Black Lantern, such as accelerated regeneration, emotional reading and consumption by removing the hearts of the living, simulation of old powers from his previous life and the typical functions allotted by a Power Ring.

Other versions

• Solovar makes a minor appearance in Flashpoint as the original ruler of Gorilla City before being overthrown by Gorilla Grodd.
• Solovar appears in Scooby-Doo Team-Up.

In other media

Television

• Solovar appears in the Challenge of the Superfriends episode "Revenge on Gorilla City", voiced by Michael Rye.
• Solovar appears in the Justice League two-part episode "The Brave and the Bold", voiced by David Ogden Stiers. This version is an albino gorilla with white fur and black skin who lacks psionic powers and is Gorilla City's chief of security.
• Solovar appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Dead Reckoning", voiced again by David Ogden Stiers.
• An alternate universe version of Solovar appears in The Flash two-part episode "Gorilla City", voiced by Keith David. This version is a gruff yet wise, valiant, and honorable albino gorilla from Earth-2. Additionally, a mental projection of Solovar appears in the episode "Grodd Friended Me".

Film

Solovar appears in Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, voiced by Darin De Paul.

Video games

• Solovar appears in Justice League Heroes, voiced by Nick Jameson. This version is an albino gorilla with white fur and gray skin.
• Solovar appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.
• Solovar appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains, voiced by JB Blanc. This version overthrew Gorilla Grodd to become ruler of Gorilla City.

Miscellaneous

• Solovar appears in Young Justice #18 and #19. This version is the leader of a gorilla troop from Bwunda who were captured by a group of scientists led by the Brain and Ultra-Humanite and experimented on, gaining increased strength, intelligence and telepathy. In the present, Ultra-Humanite uses the gorillas to attack and capture the Team before they liberate them.
• Solovar appears in Injustice 2 as the kind yet ruthless leader of Gorilla City who shares Grodd's enmity towards humanity and seeks out aid from Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins to prune mankind's population to a more manageable size. He eventually agrees to peace talks with Atlantis and officiates the marriage of Killer Croc and Orca, but is overthrown and murdered by Grodd and a mind-controlled Deadshot soon afterwards.

References

• Rovin, Jeff, The Encyclopedia of Super-Villains, 1987, Facts on File, New York, Jeff Rovin
• Solovar Voices (Flash), July 19, 2024, Behind The Voice Actors
• Perlmutter, David, The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows, May 4, 2018, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 328
• TheEricGoldman, Eric Goldman Likes the Star Wars, 818180969525956608, 8 January 2017, Oh and the new Grodd storyline will introduce Solovar, voiced by @ImKeithDavid! #TheFlash
• Burlingame, Russ, February 7, 2020, The Flash: Grodd Friended Me Synopsis Released, February 8, 2020, ComicBook.com
• Hurley, Laura, February 7, 2020, The Flash May Have Revealed Another Major Villain Changed By Crisis On Infinite Earths, February 8, 2020, CinemaBlend
• Harvey, James, February 21, 2024, Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths, Part Two Arrives April 23, 2024, February 21, 2024, The World's Finest, en-US
• Eisen, Andrew, October 2, 2013, DC Characters and Objects - , Scribblenauts Unmasked, Guide, July 19, 2024, IGN, en
• Michael, Jon, Veness, John, November 2, 2018, Characters - , LEGO DC Super-Villains, Guide, July 19, 2024, IGN, en