WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Legends of the Dark Knight #11 by Becky Cloonan, Dike Ruan, Dave McCaig and Ariana Maher, on sale now. 

Solomon Grundy is one of the most misunderstood villains in the DC Universe. Grundy is a hulk of a creature that is cursed with a new personality each time he dies. Grundy is often represented as a rageful monster, but some of his personalities appear rather innocent, and not particularly intelligent. However, Batman just fought off the smartest and most dangerous Grundy personality yet.

Legends of the Dark Knight #11 depicts Batman on a stakeout as he searched for Solomon Grundy who had escaped from Arkham Asylum earlier in the year. He was able to prevent Grundy from murdering a pair of mobsters, but Grundy exclaimed that he had no choice in his actions before fleeing the scene. This led Batman to chase Grundy through Gotham's sewers straight into Grundy's home of Slaughter Swamp.

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Grundy showed strong signs of fear and hung mirrors all around his home in an attempt to keep a bad man away. He then looked straight into one of his mirrors and his temperament quickly changed from innocent to hostile. Grundy was no longer in control of his body as the persona of Cyrus Gold had returned. Gold was Grundy's original name before his inevitable turn into a monster. This new persona becomes increasingly threatening towards Batman as he speaks in long, eloquent sentences to make his point. He claimed that he was going to continue to take his revenge on those that led Gold to his initial death. Batman launched a flash grenade at Grundy and showed him his reflection in a mirror. This caused Grundy to return to his innocent personality, and Batman left him to contend with his own demons.

Cyrus Gold is Back Batman

Solomon Grundy and the Hulk have always drawn comparisons considering they are both monstrous beings that were transformed from ordinary men. This new revelation of Cyrus Gold's true personality shows that Grundy and the Hulk are actually opposites of each other. For many years, Bruce Banner felt his transformation was a curse and that the Hulk was his own personal demon. While the Hulk was causing chaos and wrecking havoc, Bruce was the positive conscious between the two, trying to get the Green Goliath to calm down. Legends of the Dark Knight #11 showed the opposite was true for Grundy.

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After Batman was able to bring Grundy's innocent personality back, Grundy exclaimed that Cyrus is his own demon. This shows that, in contrast to Hulk and Banner, Cyrus is the negative personality in the Grundy complex. While Grundy is mostly innocent in this version of his personality, he becomes immediately violent when Cyrus takes over. This could explain that the rage side of Grundy is the leftover essence of the negative energy of Cyrus Gold. While Bruce keeps the Hulk level, Grundy is trying to prevent Cyrus from taking over and wreaking havoc.

Cyrus is a demon for Solomon Grundy

It should be noted that this most recent Grundy personality is completely unique. When Cyrus takes over, he is able to speak in complete sentences and constructs thoughts that seem way outside the realm of Grundy's limited mind. While Grundy has certainly appeared rageful in the past, this new level of intelligence is unfounded. Every other time that Grundy has appeared with average or above intelligence, he has been controlled by another powerful force from the DC Universe.

With this reemergence of Cyrus Gold, a new slew of avenues have opened for Solomon Grundy. This shows that he is no longer restricted as a pawn in other villains' schemes, but could become one of the Dark Knight's greatest threats. With the raw strength of Solomon Grundy and the enhanced intelligence and criminal intellect that Gold possesses, Grundy has become an enhanced threat to Gotham.

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