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| 4 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 9 | [[quoteright:270:[[VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gorilla_grodd_illustration_001_6877.jpg]]]] |
| 10 | [[caption-width-right:270:[[KneelBeforeZod YOU WILL KNEEL BEFORE GRODD!]]]] |
| 11 | ->'''[=SpongeBob=] (left half):''' Patrick? Sandy?\ |
| 12 | '''Patrick, Sandy:''' Y-Yeah, [=SpongeBob=]?\ |
| 13 | '''[=SpongeBob=] (left half):''' I'm sorry I caused all this. I'm not scared of going outside anymore... ''but I'm terrified of gorillas now.''\ |
| 14 | '''Sandy:''' ''[shaken]'' That's okay, [=SpongeBob=]... us, too. |
| 15 | -->-- ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E16BornAgainKrabsIHadAnAccident I Had An Accident]]" |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Gorillas, orangutans, and sometimes chimpanzees: about the same size and shape as humans (normally), but tougher, hairier and meaner ([[HumansAreTheRealMonsters maybe]]). Don't incite them to [[{{Pun}} gorilla warfare]], because the things they throw tend to hurt. They may also like to squeeze people or other animals to death. Or [[MetronomicManMashing pick them up and bash them to the ground]]. Sometimes they will even try to [[AscendedToCarnivorism eat people]], despite real gorillas being primarily herbivorous (though they can also be portrayed as [[XenophobicHerbivore herbivorous, yet pretty nasty]]). They'll also often be shown [[AnimalsNotToScale towering over humans,]] something real-life apes would have a hard time doing (Average gorilla heights range anywhere between 4’7 to 5’11, but many can grow up to 6 feet or more, with the tallest recorded one being about 6’5). |
| 18 | |
| 19 | In a nutshell, this trope is when gorillas and other great apes (excluding humans) are, contrary to their actual behaviour in real-life, treated as belligerent, pugnacious creatures. It's been a DiscreditedTrope since at least TheNineties, a notable swerve being when Disney's adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' changed the fictional [[FrazettaMan Mangani]] of [[Literature/{{Tarzan}} the original novels]] to gorillas to reflect how [[ScienceMarchesOn science has marched on]]. However, it still pops up in media from time to time, often with a LampshadeHanging that the violent behavior is not normal for gorillas, or as a SubvertedTrope where a gorilla first appears vicious, but then is revealed to be a GentleGiant. When they pull this trope in such situation however, that overlaps with BewareTheNiceOnes. Chimpanzees, meanwhile, are still subject to this trope, as they can be more dangerous than they appear--though since they tend to be smaller than gorillas, they're more associated with ManiacMonkeys rather than this trope. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | This trope was especially common in the Poverty Row {{B movie}}s and studio-produced "creepy cheapies" of the 1940s (and in comedy-horror spoofs well into the '60s) - [[PeopleInRubberSuits a cheap gorilla suit]] was the best monster a lot of these productions could afford, and a few prominent stuntmen (who brought their own gorilla suits from home) made entire careers out of roles like this - guys like Ray "Crash" Corrigan, George Barrows, and Steve Calvert. In the movies, the ape would typically be kept, MadwomanInTheAttic-style, in a cage in the [[MadScientistLaboratory laboratory]] of a MadScientist, who probably plans to [[FreakyFridayFlip put a human brain into the ape's body]]. They would probably also [[MarsNeedsWomen develop a sexual interest]] in human women (which, ludicrously enough, was [[ScienceMarchesOn in line with a lot of the science of the day]]). |
| 22 | |
| 23 | A subtrope of ManiacMonkeys. Often overlaps with KingKongCopy, and may also be a form of DireBeast. For other unlikable non-human primates, see KillerSpaceMonkey and CymbalBangingMonkey. Related to BigfootSasquatchAndYeti, another large, hairy and often dangerous hominid, and FrazettaMan, where primitive humans are portrayed as savage brutes with an ape-like appearance. See also CruelElephant, RhinoRampage, BrutishBulls, AngryAngryHippos, HellishHorse, and GruesomeGoat for the similarly malevolent portrayals of herbivorous animals. See AttackAnimal for when a human master is sending a killer gorilla after someone. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | For the GoodCounterpart to this trope, see GentleGorilla and, more generally, SillySimian. |
| 26 | ---- |
| 27 | !!Examples: |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 32 | * [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/%27Destroy_this_mad_brute%27_WWI_propaganda_poster_%28US_version%29.jpg This]] World War I propaganda poster depicts Imperial Germany as a savage gorilla wielding a club and [[TouchOfTheMonster carrying off a woman]]. |
| 33 | [[/folder]] |
| 34 | |
| 35 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 36 | * The Beast Titan, from ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. At [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever 17 meters]] tall, it towers over regular Titans and its CreepilyLongArms give it not only reach but complement its ImprobableAimingSkills. It doesn't help that it is also exceptionally cruel, with [[spoiler:a brilliant mind and possibly the ability to transform human victims into]] Titans it commands. It is very bad news, and causes a battle-hardened veteran to have a FreakOut just by [[spoiler:speaking to him]]. |
| 37 | * Wyald, a PsychoForHire [[TheHedonist hedonist]] and adrenaline junkie from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' closely resembles an ape even in his human form. He then reveals that his Apostle form is a colossal, three eyed gorilla with a tiny head, and an extra mouth (with a massive spiky penis for a tongue) on his chest. The Band of the Hawk know him as a "monkey monster" for good reason. |
| 38 | * Gorillamon from ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' and ''Anime/DigimonTamers''. It's a gorilla, with an ArmCannon. |
| 39 | * ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheRobotKingdom'' have Doraemon getting dragged into a series of GladiatorGames, including fighting a thirty-foot robot gorilla called Kongfighter. |
| 40 | * Oozaru aka The Great Ape Transformation from ''Franchise/DragonBall'', turns Saiyans and half-Saiyans into massive Baboon/Gorilla like ape creatures at the [[{{Lunacy}} full moon]]. The Saiyans used this transformation to effortlessly conquer a new planet from the Tuffles. The downside is the form is impossible to control for young Saiyans. (Gohan was the sole exception in the non-canon ''Anime/DragonBallZTheTreeOfMight''.) Adult Saiyans can control the form and used to wipe out populations under Frieza's orders (which led to him fearing the Saiyan's power and committing near [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide genocide]] on them). The after the battle with Vegeta, Great Apes have were never seen again in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' or ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', but ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' did bring them back having Goku, Vegeta and Baby transform into a Golden Super Saiyan Great Ape. |
| 41 | * ''Literature/TheFruitOfEvolution'' has the Kaiser Kongs, a species of powerful ape monsters that resemble 7ft-tall 400 pound gorillas with huge, boar-like tusks and a bipedal posture. They often associate with [[ManiacMonkeys Clever Monkeys]] and have a signature racial skill called "Kaiser Majesty", which lets them [[{{Determinator}} continue to act and fight for a short period after being reduced to 0 hit points]]. Female protagonist [[InconsistentSpelling Saria/Salia]], the first member of the BattleHarem, is a Level ''700'' female Kaiser Kong who [[LoveAtFirstPunch falls in love with Hiiragi Seiichi after he proves capable of withstanding her powerful attacks]]. Whilst she becomes a GentleGorilla with ''him'', she is still a monstrously powerful warrior who will rip apart anybody who threatens him, and she doesn't lose any of her strength after [[HumanityEnsues she turns into a beautiful human girl]]. |
| 42 | * Shoukaku from ''Manga/{{Gintama}}''. Yeah, he is in fact an alien gorilla who [[spoiler: is the 4th captain of Harusame and defies Katsura in a combat]]. |
| 43 | * Forever from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' is an orangutan who gained human-level intelligence after acquiring a Stand (in the form of a mind-controlled ship) and became a sea captain. He manages to give Jotaro quite a bit of trouble in the ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'' arc. |
| 44 | * ''Anime/KemonoFriends'': Western Lowland Gorilla is the leader of the Friends living in a jungle, appearing to be rough and scaring her followers into submission. However, she turns out to be a subversion. In reality, she is a pacifist who only intimidates her opponents, and acting tough in front of her followers causes her stress. |
| 45 | * ''Franchise/OnePiece'': Creator/EiichiroOda really loves this trope and puts [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/onepiece/images/8/84/Chapter_415.png/revision/latest?cb=20130121061436 badass gorillas]] all over the place. |
| 46 | ** Scarlet TheBrute (literally) from ''Anime/OnePieceFilmStrongWorld'' is a giant pink suit wearing perverted gorilla that pisses Sanji off when he captures Robin and proclaims his love for her on a tower. It's a big ShoutOut to ''Film/KingKong''. |
| 47 | ** In the [[Manga/OnePiece manga and anime]], Blackback the gorilla Mink from Zou is subversion though he seem like one when he first appeared, he is actually a big softie who loves bananas. |
| 48 | * In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', one of Leon's Pokémon is Rillaboom. It is very strong, being able to beat most of Diantha's team (Tyrantrum, Gourgeist, Goodra and Aurorus) before getting one-shotted by Gardevoir. During Ash's battle with Leon, Rillaboom is able to beat Dragonite (who had managed to beat Dragapult) and Sirfetch'd before being beaten by Dracovish who uses its extending spikes and Dragon Rush to beat the Grass-type. |
| 49 | * Both {{Invoked}} and {{Subverted}} in ''Manga/TigerMask'': when presenting Tiger's Cave wrestler Gorilla Man, Mr. X describes [[RaisedByWolves the gorillas that originally raised him]] as this trope, but later the CombatCommentator points out they're actually nice and gentle unless provoked, contrasting them to the (apparently) ferocious Gorilla Man. Everyone still agrees that provoking a gorilla (or Gorilla Man) is suicidal. |
| 50 | * The Iron Kong from ''Franchise/{{Zoids}}'' is modeled after the gorilla. |
| 51 | [[/folder]] |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [[folder:Arts]] |
| 54 | * 19th Century sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet created two statues, one in 1859 and one in 1887, depicting a vicious-looking gorilla [[TouchOfTheMonster carrying a woman]]. On the first one, the woman is fully clothed and appears unconscious or dead; on the second, award-winning one, she's naked and visibly struggling, implying that the gorilla is about to rape her. The statues were a major inspiration for ''Film/KingKong1933''. |
| 55 | [[/folder]] |
| 56 | |
| 57 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 58 | * ''ComicBook/AndersonPsiDivision'': After a mind-transfer goes wrong, Judge Anderson and Vernan D'Arque both end up trapped in the subconsciousness of an intelligent gorilla. D'Arque uses the gorilla's body to go on a killing spree to recover his fortune. |
| 59 | * ''Franchise/TheDCU'': |
| 60 | ** Obscure ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' villain Gorilla Boss is like Ultra-Humanite below; while he started as a human, his brain is in the body of a gorilla. |
| 61 | ** ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' villain Monsieur Mallah is an intelligent [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot gun-toting communist gay French]] gorilla who works for the BrainInAJar supervillain named "The Brain". |
| 62 | ** ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' villain [[Characters/TheFlashRoguesGallery Gorilla Grodd]] (pictured above) is an EvilGenius gorilla with telepathic powers who hates humanity and wants to TakeOverTheWorld. DependingOnTheWriter, DC comics may make the point that ''normal'' gorillas are {{Gentle Giant}}s, and that even most of Grodd's fellow Gorilla City denizens follow suit -- Solovar, for example, is usually the rightful king of Gorilla City, and is pretty consistently portrayed as a good guy. Then there are stories where the Flash says that every so often, he's reminded that Grodd is a wild animal... |
| 63 | ** ''ComicBook/StarfiresRevenge'': ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s villainess Starfire keeps a vicious gorilla in a pit to get rid of anyone who displeases her. |
| 64 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': |
| 65 | *** The Ultra-Humanite is most commonly seen in the body of a great white ape. |
| 66 | *** Titano is depicted as a gorilla, though this is DependingOnTheWriter, as he's also been a chimpanzee. Regardless of his species, his backstory is usually that he's a lab animal that grew to gigantic size and gained kryptonite EyeBeams following a FreakLabAccident. In his episode of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', however, he's depicted as a sympathetic NonMaliciousMonster, and a [[InterspeciesFriendship childhood friend]] of Lois. |
| 67 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': |
| 68 | *** In [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Volume 1]], the villain Giganta is a very large and unusually strong gorilla that is going to be put down after she escaped the zoo and threatened many lives. She is instead bartered for by Dr. Zool for use in an experiment that turns her into a large woman who is ''even more'' murderous than she had been as a gorilla. |
| 69 | *** In [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Volume 2]], Giganta is the scientist Dr. Doris Zeul, whose mind is transferred into a gorilla kept for experimentation out of desperation when she's dying from an incurable illness. She later transfers her mind into a meta-human with {{sizeshift|er}}ing abilities. |
| 70 | * Don Martin drew a comic around the self-created holiday National Gorilla Suit Day (that's January 31st.) In it, recurring character Fester Bestertester is visited by several wearers of gorilla suits, many of them being actual killer gorillas who creatively mangle him several times. |
| 71 | * A comic book miniseries prequel to ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' called ''ComicBook/WelcomeToTheJungle'' plays with this, in that a silverback gorilla name Moe is a suspect for a number of murders at the Lincoln Park Zoo, but he is actually very gentle and protective with his handlers. [[spoiler:What he does to a hag who is threatening one of his friends is very messy, though.]] |
| 72 | * The White Plague in ''ComicBook/GungHo'' ranges from [[ManiacMonkeys child-sized Rippers]] to man-sized Drivers and larger-than-a-man Crushers, but all of the sub-species are vicious, flesh-eating primates who have overrun the planet. |
| 73 | * ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' gives us the Kriegaffes, cyborg gorilla henchmen of the Nazi MadScientist head in a jar Hermann von Klempt. One story has Hellboy initially hesitant to use violence against something he perceives to be just an animal, until he hears it talk, realizes it's an UpliftedAnimal -- and therefore, a willing accomplice to the Nazis. He kills it without any further hesitation, though he later wonders if he might have misheard it and misinterpreted events. |
| 74 | * One of the main characters in ''ComicBook/{{Cavewoman}}'' is Klyde, a gigantic, violent gorilla. |
| 75 | * The second arc of ''ComicBook/TheIncredibles'' comic series starts with an attack on the mall by the Ungorilla, a CaptainErsatz of Grodd. |
| 76 | * In ''ComicBook/RawhideKid'' #39, Rawhide battles the Ape: a trained gorilla under the control of MadScientist Dr. Karlbad. |
| 77 | * In the ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' album ''[[Recap/TintinTheBlackIsland The Black Island]]'', the villains keep a gorilla named Ranko to attack anyone who trespasses on the island of the title. Subverted, however, in that Ranko is mostly dangerous because it is abused by the villains, and in fact Tintin befriends it by helping it after it is injured. |
| 78 | * "Opium is the Religion of the People (''ComicBook/{{Vampirella}}'' #53): A drug dealer nicknamed the Abominable Snowman has his hideout in a haunted attraction on Coney Island. His guards stand around the place dressed in various monster costumes pretending to be décor and one of them is dressed as King Kong. When a vigilante comes looking for the main man, the costume proves to be all of the guard's bite because the vigilante breaks his neck without much trouble. |
| 79 | [[/folder]] |
| 80 | |
| 81 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 82 | * ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': An early strip has Calvin [[MrImagination imagining himself]] as a JungleOpera protagonist called "Safari Al", who is captured by a giant gorilla (actually Calvin's mom) who demands that he clean his room. |
| 83 | * ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'': The FemmeFatale Sleet is nearly done in by one and has to be rescued by Tracy. |
| 84 | * ''ComicStrip/SallyForthWood'': One appears as part of a ''Film/KingKong'' parody. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 88 | * ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': |
| 89 | ** Enjin is an AnimalisticAbomination kaiju whose full form resembles an amalgamation of different primates, with the body portion resembling a gorilla's. Other parts include tamarin claws and a mandrill-like face. |
| 90 | ** Subverted with King Kong, an evolved kaiju sized descendant of ''Ardipithecus'', meaning he's actually more closely related to humans than he is to gorillas. While brutal in combat against rivals and the skullcrawlers, he's a GentleGiant unless provoked and specifically protects the Iwi islands. He becomes the MentorArchetype to a young [[BigGood Godzilla Junior]]. |
| 91 | * In the WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}} fic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/41740821 Just Like Balloons]], Guadalupe, a chimpanzee, goes on a rampage in casita. Antonio and Isabela, are the only survivors, with Isabela [[FacialHorror being disfigured in the attack.]] |
| 92 | * ''Fanfic/HitmanMiami'': The last chapter has the protagonist up against genetically engineered, gun-toting, yet still bestial, gorilla assassins. |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 96 | * The BigBad of ''WesternAnimation/TheCroodsANewAge'' is a monstrous ape named Spiny Mandrilla. It's [[MixAndMatchCritters part gorilla, part mandrill and part spiny echidna]], [[{{Kaiju}} about the size of a mountain]], and it keeps a whole tribe of punch-monkeys in terror, who collect [[StockAnimalDiet bananas]] to appease the monster. |
| 97 | * {{Subverted}}, rather amusingly, in ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}''. During the circus parade at the start of the film, a gorilla ferociously shakes the bars of his cage, roaring at the audience. But when he accidentally loosens one of the bars, he gets embarrassed and puts the bar back in its place, implying that his ferocity was just part of his act. |
| 98 | * In ''WesternAnimation/FreeBirds'' when Reggie was channel surfing while screaming, [[FreezeFrameBonus he sees a killer gorilla on screen]]. |
| 99 | * Captain Gutt from ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeContinentalDrift'' is an evil ''Gigantopithecus'' (prehistoric giant ape) pirate captain. |
| 100 | * ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'': Those henchmen working for [[BigBad Lord Shen]] that are not wolves are apes that resemble gorillas. WordOfGod insists that they, too, are ''Gigantopithecus'', as that species was once native to the film's Chinese setting. |
| 101 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie'' had thousands of monkeys and apes Mojo Jojo juiced with Chemical X, and each simian trying to lay claim as Townsville's ruler. One particular is Rocko Socko, a violent gorilla who arms himself with metal gloves. Mojo himself juices up and becomes a giant monster chimp who overcomes the girls. Then the girls, having an epiphany, overcome him. |
| 102 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', Donkey Kong downplays this. He's a massive gorilla who, while by no means vicious or evil, is still a JerkJock who gives Mario a [[CurbStompBattle relentless beating]] in the arena while saying [[PrepareToDie death threats]]. |
| 103 | * ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'': |
| 104 | ** [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Disney's take on the story]] {{avert|ed}}s this when it comes to gorillas as a species- in [[Literature/{{Tarzan}} the original books]], gorillas are AlwaysChaoticEvil, while the fictional Mangani are the apes who raise Tarzan (and even they are rather aggressive and violent). This was generally considered AdaptationDistillation by all but the staunchest Burroughs purists thanks to ScienceMarchesOn. |
| 105 | *** {{Subverted}} with Kerchak, who is a very aggressive silverback, but he's just [[PapaWolf a bit overprotective of his family]]. He's much LighterAndSofter than his book counterpart, who was the one killing Tarzan's father, because [[CompositeCharacter his personality is mostly based on a much more passive ape from the books, named Tublat]]. |
| 106 | ** Tublat, the rogue silverback who takes over Tarzan's adopted family in ''WesternAnimation/Tarzan2013''. He tries to kill Tarzan several times over the course of the movie. |
| 107 | * In ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'', Gary Johnston's saddest memory is the day when his brother fell into the gorilla enclosure in the zoo and was pummeled to death. |
| 108 | * In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', the Ink & Paint Club had a ({{toon}}) gorilla named Bongo as the doorman/bouncer. He's not evil ''per se'', but he's gruff and rough with Eddie Valiant when he catches him spying on Jessica Rabbit. |
| 109 | [[/folder]] |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[folder:Films -- Live Action]] |
| 112 | * After attacking its cruel circus trainer and escaping, a gorilla in ''Film/TheApe'' is killed by the local scientist, who [[ThisBearWasFramed takes its fur to disguise his forced gathering of spinal fluids as gorilla attacks]]. |
| 113 | * The Ape Woman series. |
| 114 | ** ''Film/CaptiveWildWoman'': Cheela is an exceptionally intelligent gorilla, which draws the attention of Dr. Walters. He steals her to be the subject of his next grand experiment: to turn an animal into a human by means of human hormones backed up by a human cerebrum for stability. It all goes according to plan and Walters gives the gorilla-turned-human the name Paula Dupree. The new form's flaw is that strong emotions and the ape hormones released with them wreak havoc on the human tissue, causing the Ape Woman to reach a transitional state between gorilla and human or become Cheela fully again. As events unfold, Cheela ends up strangling and crushing the necks of three people: her abusers Gruen and Walters as well as one innocent woman when Cheela attempts to kill her romantic rival. Ultimately not evil, just an animal, Cheela dies while saving the life of Fred Mason, a man she was close with as gorilla and became infatuated with as woman. |
| 115 | ** ''Film/{{Jungle Woman|1944}}'': The possibility is brought up that the gorilla Cheela, who has been turned into the human Paula Dupree by means of hormone and cerebrum transplants, actually started life as a human and was turned into a gorilla by an undisclosed scientific experiment. Originally, the change was permanent, though damage to the human tissue could undo it, requiring another operation to bring back Paula. Possibly by simply getting the time to heal, the Ape Woman has become able to change freely. She enjoys the strength of a gorilla in all of her forms, but can only talk and supposedly swim in her human form. Morally, Paula retains her animalistic lack of a true conscience and on top of that is seemingly traumatized after her near-death experience. She goes on to kill Willie, who won't leave her alone otherwise, several chickens, and attempts to murder both Fletchers out of romantic jealousy and self-preservation. |
| 116 | ** ''Film/JungleCaptive'': Following her death and resurrection, the Ape Woman no longer has access to her human form Paula Dupree due to damage to her human hormones and cerebrum. Rather than fully reverting to her gorilla self Cheela, she is stuck in-between the two forms. Stendahl, who brought her back to life, gives her new hormones and prepares to get her a new cerebrum, but at this point the Ape Woman just wants to no longer be a scientist's plaything and kills both Stendahl and one of his guard dogs to achieve freedom. She does, however, also prepare to kill her would-be donor Ann, for which she's gunned down. |
| 117 | * ''Film/TheBattleWizard'': The main villain's RightHandAttackDog is a carnivorous, ''kung-fu fighting'' gorilla, which he sics on the titular wizard late in the film. |
| 118 | * ''Film/BelaLugosiMeetsABrooklynGorilla'' plays its gorilla this way. |
| 119 | * ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'': The Jabari's totem animal is a gorilla and come off as a tribe of brutish warriors, their leader M'baku being the most aggressive of them all. [[spoiler:Turns out M'baku's an honorable and reasonable leader despite political differences. He even pokes fun at this trope by threatening to eat people, only to reveal he's a vegetarian.]] |
| 120 | * ''Film/BlackZoo'': Conrad uses the gorilla from his zoo to murder Jenny Brooks. |
| 121 | * In ''Film/TheBoweryBoysMeetTheMonsters'', the MadScientist Dr. Gravesend wants to [[FreakyFridayFlip put Huntz Hall's character's brain into the body of a gorilla]] he keeps in the attic of his OldDarkHouse. Naturally, the gorilla escapes and attacks people. |
| 122 | ** The Bowery Boys would run into this trope again in ''Film/SpookBusters'', where another MadScientist tries to [[FreakyFridayFlip transplant Hall's brain]] into a gorilla's body. This one is kept in the basement, instead of the attic. |
| 123 | * ''Film/TheBrideAndTheBeast'': A GreatWhiteHunter has a gorilla caged in his basement. It breaks out and [[MarsNeedsWomen attempts to get with his wife]], who was apparently a gorilla in a previous life. Gorillas are discussed throughout the movie as if they're the deadliest predators of the jungle, and in the movie's climax, gorillas are shown in their natural African habitat: the [[BronsonCanyonAndCaves Bronson Caves]]. |
| 124 | * ''Film/CircusOfHorrors'': While fleeing from Rossiter, Martin releases a gorilla from its cage that subsequently chases and attacks Rossiter. |
| 125 | * ''Film/{{Congo}}'': has a pack of hyper-territorial albino gorillas guarding the lost city of Zinj. The film goes out of its way to mention that gorillas aren't normally aggressive, and that the hostile ones in the film had been specifically bred for violence - a sort of CannibalClan of gorillas. Also, they're [[ItCanThink smarter than normal gorillas]], capable of using tools, tactics, and ''teaching the same behavior to their offspring.'' This is in contrast to Amy, a [[GentleGorilla kind and intelligent gorilla]] who knows sign language, and is a key member of the main cast. Toward the end of the film, Amy encounters a troupe of regular gorillas, whom - though they're a little threatening at first - she ultimately decides to join, saying goodbye to her human friends. |
| 126 | * The BigBad of ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire'' is an orangutan-like Alpha Titan tyrannically ruling over other Titans in the Hollow Earth. |
| 127 | * The 1939 Ritz Brothers comedy ''Film/TheGorilla'' has an escaped gorilla causing havoc during the reign of terror of a notorious criminal who, coincidentally, is also dubbed "The Gorilla". |
| 128 | * ''Film/GorillaAtLarge'' is a movie about a circus gorilla that escapes and kidnaps Creator/AnneBancroft. However, the gorilla is portrayed as a NonMaliciousMonster, as the climax of the movie revolves around distracting him into letting Anne go. Most of the murders in the movie are actually [[ThisBearWasFramed committed by the human villain in a gorilla suit]]. |
| 129 | * ''Film/GorillaInterrupted'': Ray turns into a gorilla when he's angry, so whenever he's angry, his gorilla-self beats up anyone nearby and trashes the place. |
| 130 | * The 1967 comedy ''Film/HillbilliesInAHauntedHouse'' has a gorilla caged in the [[HauntedHouse house]]'s basement. |
| 131 | * ''Film/HollowMan'' has an invisible and somewhat vicious gorilla at the beginning. (which could count as {{Foreshadowing}}: if a gorilla was altered, how would [[InvisibleJerkass a human perform]]? |
| 132 | * ''Film/HouseOfMystery'' features a cast of characters staying in mansion whose owner is targeted by a Hindu curse that takes the form of a murderous orangutan. |
| 133 | * ''Film/{{Ingagi}}'' was a {{mockumentary}} ExploitationFilm from 1930 about vicious gorillas taking African woman (actually white women in {{blackface}}) as sex slaves. The general consensus is that it's pretty awful and incredibly racist, although it was enormously popular at the time. |
| 134 | ** The [[DolledUpInstallment not-quite-sequel]] ''Film/SonOfIngagi'', from 1940, featured an ape-like monster named N'Gina, who is kept in a cage in the basement of a female MadScientist and said to be a "[[FrazettaMan missing link]]". This movie had no blackface, and was, in fact, the first monster movie ever made with an all-black cast, so that's cool. |
| 135 | * The first part of ''Film/ItCameFromHollywood'' covers killer gorillas, though most of them [[ManInARubberSuit aren't quite as terrifying]] as they're supposed to be. It opens with a comic sequence of a ScreamingWoman being warned on the radio about an escaped gorilla, who then proceeds to [[TooDumbToLive inadvertently do everything she's warned will attract said gorilla.]] |
| 136 | * While King Louie in the 1967 adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Jungle Book|1967}}'' was a goofy, scat-singing orangutan who mostly averted this trope, [[Film/TheJungleBook2016 the 2016 live-action remake]] [[AdaptationSpeciesChange changes]] him to a very large and violent ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantopithecus Gigantopithecus]]'' whose mannerisms evoke a Mafia don with a dash of [[Film/ApocalypseNow Colonel Kurtz]]. For extra scare value, he's voiced by Creator/ChristopherWalken. |
| 137 | * ''Film/TheKentuckyFriedMovie'' has a gorilla who goes on a rampage and trashes the studio after his [[TheLoinsSleepTonight sexual impotence]] is mentioned. The gorilla is named "Dino" and played by simian impersonator Creator/RickBaker, who also played the title part in Dino de Laurentiis' 1976 remake of ''King Kong''. |
| 138 | * ''Film/KingKong'', no ordinary gorilla but a member of a giant prehistoric species. The natives present human sacrifices to him, he [[PrimateVersusReptile wrestles giant reptiles]], and rampages through a city, killing numerous people. He pretty much [[TropeCodifier codified]] this trope for modern media and spawned [[FountainOfExpies numerous]] [[KingKongCopy expies]]. |
| 139 | * ''Film/MightyJoeYoung'': |
| 140 | ** In the 1949 original, the eponymous giant gorilla is fed liquor and goes on a drunken rampage, turning lions loose and causing tremendous damage. Overall, though, Joe is treated a lot more sympathetically than most of these examples; the movie was made largely for people who were sad when Film/KingKong died, and lets its own big ape live happily ever after at a ranch in Africa. |
| 141 | ** The rampage also happens in the remake, albeit with him getting angry andor scared instead of drunk. Like the original, this one mostly treats Joe as kindhearted GentleGiant, stressing that HumansAreTheRealMonsters. |
| 142 | * In ''Film/TheMonsterAndTheGirl'', a MadScientist transplants [[BrainTransplant a human brain into the body of a gorilla]]. The man whose brain it is - a mild-mannered church organist who was wrongly convicted of murder and executed - uses his new body to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the gangsters who framed him, and have also kidnapped his sister. Ultimately a justified trope, since the gorilla brain is no longer in control. |
| 143 | * In ''Film/TheMonsterMaker'', Dr. Markoff keeps a murderous gorilla in a cage in his lab. He eventually uses it in an attempt to dispose of his lab assistant Maxine. |
| 144 | * In ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', the man whose hand is shown turning the pages of the book telling about the search for the Grail gets grabbed suddenly at one point by a gorilla, who proceeds to take over the page-turning role. |
| 145 | * ''Film/{{Nope}}'': Ricky is the FormerChildStar of ''Gordy's Home'', a 1990s sitcom which featured a family living with a pet chimpanzee named Gordy. [[spoiler:However, during the filming of a BirthdayEpisode, some of the balloons in the scene popped, frightening Gordy, who went on a rampage, killing two members of the cast and maiming a third before being gunned down.]] This ties into the movie's theme that NatureIsNotNice and no animal is ever 100% tamed. |
| 146 | * In ''Film/PacificRim'', one of the {{Kaiju}}, Leatherback, resembles a gigantic, hairless gorilla, with a bulky body, long arms, large fists and walking on his knuckles. |
| 147 | * Creator/DarioArgento's ''Film/{{Phenomena}}'' climaxes with a razor-wielding chimpanzee on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. She's actually heroic, though, and [[BigDamnHeroes saves the heroine]] from the film's [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters real villain.]] |
| 148 | * In ''Film/{{Pixels}}'', the final boss is the Donkey Kong, who has his entry in Video Games section. |
| 149 | * In the original ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' and sequels gorillas are the soldier class, and are the only meat-eaters. ScienceMarchesOn, though, and it's now known that gorillas generally don't eat meat, but chimpanzees do. Which makes the scenes where Zira frowns at the gorillas, calling them "meat-eaters", quite ironic. It's also mentioned (most explicitly in ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes'') that calling apes "[[IAmNotWeasel monkeys]]" is considered a ''very'' severe insult. |
| 150 | ** Both ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes'' and ''Film/BattleForThePlanetOfTheApes'' have GeneralRipper type villains who happen to be gorillas - respectively, General Ursus and General Aldo. Ursus is shown to be a warmongering demagogue BloodKnight whose [[VillainWithGoodPublicity values are largely embraced by the society around him]], while Aldo is a treasonous DirtyCoward who WouldHurtAChild and explicitly violates his society's [[ApeShallNeverKillApe most sacred law]]. |
| 151 | ** ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes'' also has the intelligent, future chimpanzees in a run-in with a modern-day, unintelligent gorilla, which is depicted as a violent brute that [[spoiler: [[SacrificialLion kills Dr. Milo.]]]] Throughout the movie, Dr. Zira goes to great lengths to make clear that the apocalyptic war in ''Beneath'' was the doing of gorillas, [[CulturalPosturing not chimpanzees like herself]]. |
| 152 | ** ''Film/ConquestOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' largely averts this, but is worth bringing up nonetheless because of a scene in which the wicked Governor Breck tries his best to explain the strong aversion humans have to apes - and by extension, the reasoning for this trope. |
| 153 | -->'''Breck''': Because your kind were once our ancestors. Because man was born of apes, and there's still an ape curled up inside of every man. You're the beast in us that we have to whip into submission. You're the savage that we need to shackle in chains. You taint us, Caesar. You poison our guts. When we hate you, we're hating the dark side of ourselves. |
| 154 | ** [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001 The 2001 remake]] still has the gorillas as soldiers, but the 'aggressive killer' stereotype is instead used on the chimpanzees, true to what was discovered by ape researchers. |
| 155 | ** ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' zigzags this. On one hand, Buck, Caesar's friend and main gorilla of the film, kills more people on-screen than any other ape by virtue of being big, strong and not particularly keen on restraint. On the other hand, the greatest contribution of the gorillas to the collective effort of the apes was to move a bus, which a large group of chimpanzees later use as cover to attack. |
| 156 | ** Pretty much averted in ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' as far as gorillas go. In combat situations, the movie focuses more on the gorillas taking wounded apes out of the line of fire or assisting the other apes in hunts, not by killing preys, but by carrying weapons for the actual meat-eaters to use. |
| 157 | * In ''Film/PootieTang'', a gorilla kills Pootie's dad. Apparently, it's [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight a common form of working hazard in the factory he worked]]. |
| 158 | * Zigzagged in ''Film/Rampage2018'' with George, an unusually large and intelligent [[AlbinosAreFreaks albino]] gorilla. In his natural state at the beginning of the movie, he's a friendly, mischievous fellow with a mastery of sign language and a strong bond with his animal handler. Once he gets a dose of the mutagen, he gets [[KingKongCopy bigger, hungrier, and angrier]], and starts acting more like this trope. [[spoiler: He does eventually manage to shake off the behavioural effects of the mutagen, and heroically fights the other monsters in the movie's climax.]] |
| 159 | * Towards the end of ''Film/RoadToZanzibar'', Creator/BobHope's character gets tossed in a cage with a wrestling gorilla. |
| 160 | * ''Film/Shazam2019'': Out of the seven demons resembling the SevenDeadlySins, Wrath has a distinctly gorilla-like body, with long arms he uses for knuckle-walking and GroundPunch. |
| 161 | * In ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'', the [[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] walks on its knuckles and has the general body proportions of a gorilla. The [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins]] in the sequel, ''Film/TheHuntsmanWintersWar'', are even more ape-like: not only they essentially look like large black apes with goat horns, they also swing on trees and generally move like apes. |
| 162 | * While it stretches the definition of "gorilla," the main antagonistic force in about the second half [[Film/ASoundOfThunder the infamous film adaptation of]] ''Literature/ASoundOfThunder'' are alternate-timeline pseudo-primates that look like a cross between a mandrill and a giant lizard and are as big or even larger than your typical silverback. You do ''not'' want to get on the bad side of these "monkeysauruses". |
| 163 | * The ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe: |
| 164 | ** Wookiees, despite being an alien species, look and act this part (albeit as a mostly heroic {{proud warrior race|Guy}}, rather than villains). As Han says, they're known to rip people's arms out of their sockets. |
| 165 | ** In the ExpandedUniverse book ''The Wildlife of Star Wars'', there's the Veermoks, large predatory apes that stalk the swamps of Naboo. |
| 166 | * ''Film/TeenageZombies'', another '50s BMovie, has a MadScientist trying to turn people into {{Technically Living Zombie}}s. She already has a zombified gorilla under her control as [[TheDragon her main henchman]]. It is, of course, caged in the basement. |
| 167 | * ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1924'' provides one of the earliest examples in cinema. One of the beasts guarding the palace is a monstrous ape, played by a live chimpanzee that looks taller than a human thanks to forced perspective. Ahmed is nearly executed by [[FedToTheBeast getting thrown to the ape]]. |
| 168 | * Film/TheThreeStooges were often terrorized by, [[GentleGorilla and sometimes befriended by]], various gorillas. |
| 169 | [[/folder]] |
| 170 | |
| 171 | [[folder:Folklore]] |
| 172 | * Myth/BrazilianFolklore: The Arranca-LÃngua (Tongue-Ripper) is an enormous and monstruous ape from the Midwest region, especially in Goiás. It has a taste for tongues, ripping them off cattle and sometimes even humans to eat. The legend was even, appropriately enough, nicknamed "Brazilian Film/KingKong". |
| 173 | [[/folder]] |
| 174 | |
| 175 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 176 | * ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': Played with, but mostly averted. |
| 177 | ** Marco goes on quite a few rampages in gorilla morph, but it's the bad guys he's usually throwing around. Unlike many of their combat morphs, though, he never mentions the gorilla's instincts as being particularly violent (as opposed to many predators, like big cats or even eagles, that they [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody sometimes have trouble controlling]]). He does repeatedly state that gorillas aren't aggressive because they don't need to be. |
| 178 | --->''Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger using his entire body could not have bent back my wrist if I didn't want him to.'' |
| 179 | ** Indeed, Marco actually comments at least once that he's fully aware that real gorillas actually aren't usually violent -- but Marco still uses it as his combat morph, because they're nevertheless strong. On the other hand, Marco is one of the most ruthless members of the team, so in that regard its played straight. |
| 180 | * In ''Literature/BulldogDrummond'', the villains' BoobyTrap-filled lair also has a savage gorilla that is let loose at night to discourage anyone from wandering in or out without permission. The hero escapes death at its hands, but is told of another man who was less adept and was found with his throat torn out. |
| 181 | * ''Literature/CAugusteDupin'': In "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", the murderer is an escaped orangutan. The [[Film/MurdersInTheRueMorgue Universal film]] adaptation [[AdaptationSpeciesChange changed it]] into a gorilla, both because of this trope and because it's really hard to squeeze an actor into a convincing orangutan suit. |
| 182 | * Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian takes on an intelligent ape-like creature that has usurped its master in the short story "Literature/RoguesInTheHouse". |
| 183 | * The Librarian of the Unseen University in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' is an orangutan (formerly a human until a mgical accident), prone to violently correcting anyone who [[IAmNotWeasel calls him a monkey]]. |
| 184 | * {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheFantasticFlyingJourney'': when the Dollybutt siblings and Great-Uncle Lancelot look for the gorillas in the jungles of Africa, the kids are concerned that the animals might be dangerous, but Lancelot explains that they are docile animals who don't deserve their fearsome reputation. The first gorilla they encounter is a silverback who charges at them, but calms down when Lancelot explains to him that, unlike most humans, they mean no harm. The silverback tells them afterwards that he's rather tired of [[MonsterFacade acting fierce]] to keep humans away from his family. |
| 185 | * ''Literature/InDesertAndWilderness'' has one attack the protagonists, quite randomly. |
| 186 | * The feral plague in ''Literature/JanitorsOfThePostapocalypse'' which turned half of the population into {{Technically Living Zombie}}s also affected great apes. A troop of feral chimpanzees is encountered in the second book, making moose and bison stampede away in panic. Smaller but faster, stronger, more agile, and toothier than humans, they're considerably more threatening than human ferals. |
| 187 | * The ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' series feature the white apes -- [[KillerSpaceMonkey gigantic, carnivorous white Martian gorillas]] [[MultiArmedAndDangerous with six limbs]]. |
| 188 | * In the children's book ''Killer Gorilla'' (also published as ''Gorilla! Gorilla!'') by English writer Jeanne Willis, a mother mouse loses her baby in the African jungle, and encounters a gigantic gorilla. The mouse runs all around the world, believing that the ape wants to kill and eat her -- but as the gorilla finally catches up with her, [[SubvertedTrope he reveals that he was only chasing her because he wanted to return her baby]]. |
| 189 | * Creator/HPLovecraft: |
| 190 | ** The "Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn" mentions that one of Jermyn's ancestors, a circus performer whose act consisted of a mock boxing match against a gorilla, was brutally killed by it after he had a breakdown and assaulted it after it accidentally punched him too hard during practice. Said story also has a twist ending based on FrazettaMan and a very grim take on Darwin, in which [[spoiler:the Jermyn family are revealed to be descended from a GreatWhiteHunter who married a [[BestialityIsDepraved white ape]]]]. |
| 191 | ** "Literature/TheLurkingFear" describes the bloodthirsty monsters lurking in the OldDarkHouse (actually the [[spoiler:InbredAndEvil CannibalClan remnants of the household]]) as vaguely simian. |
| 192 | * ''Literature/ModestyBlaise'': In ''The Impossible Virgin'', the villain has a gorilla in a cage at his compound in Africa. He keeps it around mainly to make a point about how he, [[MisterBig small and physically unimposing as he is]], has more power than the hulking beast, but there are also times when people get locked in the cage to be torn to shreds. |
| 193 | * {{Parodied|Trope}} in the Creator/PGWodehouse story "Monkey Business": the Hollywood-based protagonist ends up face-to-face with a baby-stealing gorilla... only to learn that it's actually a human in a costume who is embarrassed to explain he got a [[MethodActing little too into]] his role. |
| 194 | * ''Literature/ThePlantThatAteDirtySocks'': Invoked -- Jason owned a realistic-looking rubber gorilla mask, but traded it to Michael, who uses it to try and scare whomever's breaking into their room at night and causing their socks to disappear (later revealed to be their plants). Michael later traded it to Norman, who likes to pop out of various places and surprise people with it. It pops up at least once in each of the first six books. |
| 195 | * ''Literature/QuestForFire'', a novel written and published not long after the Mountain gorilla was discovered by science, is one of the earliest subversions of this trope long before Diane Fossey's work. The gorilla-like "Blue-haired men" initially appear agressive and inspire fear from the humans who encounter them but they turn out to be peaceful foragers who just want to be left alone. |
| 196 | * A gorilla takes a brutal, if entirely justified revenge, on one of the villains at the climax of the Literature/SolomonKane story "Red Shadows". |
| 197 | * Kovo The Ape in ''Literature/SpiritAnimals'' was one of the two [[PhysicalGod Great Beasts]] to turn evil and help the villain. Being locked up in the middle of a scorching desert for several millennia as punishment has not inspired him to change his ways. |
| 198 | * ''Literature/TarzanOfTheApes'' and the other Literature/{{Tarzan}} books have the Mangani (FrazettaMan-like humanoid apes) and the Bolgani (actual gorillas). The two species are mortal enemies, and both of them are portrayed as pretty violent. |
| 199 | [[/folder]] |
| 200 | |
| 201 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 202 | * ''Series/{{The 100}}'' features the extra-large, [[NuclearMutant probably mutated]], [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] descendant of a zoo's gorilla habitat, with a habit of [[RoarBeforeBeating letting out monstrous roars]] before it rips people's limbs off with its bare hands. |
| 203 | * ''Series/AnimalFaceOff'' has one in "Gorilla Vs. Leopard". That said, its more the [[GentleGorilla oppisite trope]], as the narrator say its a GentleGiant that only attacks when it or its family is threatened. |
| 204 | * In one episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Penny confesses that she had a topless scene in a B-movie about a killer gorilla called "''Serial Apist''". In a later episode, she is offered a part in its sequel, ''Serial Apist 2: Monkey See, Monkey Kill'', in which [[{{Animorphism}} she herself turns into a killer gorilla]]. |
| 205 | * ''Series/DustysTrail'': In "Love Means Not Having to Say You're Bananas", a gorilla that has escaped from a traveling circus invades the camp and captures Betsy. Dusty, Andy, and Mr. Callahan try to think of some way to get her out of the cave the gorilla has put her in. |
| 206 | * ''Series/TheElectricCompany1971'': Several gags involving Paul the Gorilla, although he is completely harmless. Most notably is a skit about f-words (''no, [[ClusterFBomb not THAT word]]'') where Melanie Henderson blindfolds Luis Avalos, brings in Paul and has him feel fingers, feet, fur and a face before he takes off his blindfold, sees Paul staring him in the face, and then he feels funny and faints. Paul looks at Avalos then stares into the camera. |
| 207 | * The above mentioned Grodd appears in ''Series/TheFlash2014'', where he's the victim of sadistic AnimalTesting from the military prior to his intelligence being enhanced, leaving him to think none too highly of humans. In season 2, he's sent to Gorilla City Earth 2, figuring he'd be happier among his own kind. It turns out not to be the case, as there's AlwaysSomeoneBetter. In season 3, it's revealed that Grodd feels chafed under Gorilla City's ruler Solovar, who is stronger than him. While Barry does end up battling Solovar, he spares his life, and Solovar later stops the gorilla invasion of Central City in return. |
| 208 | * In an episode of ''Series/GetSmart,'' "The Apes of Rath," KAOS scientist Dr. Matthew Rath transforms Chucko the Gorilla to appear human, and inserts him into CONTROL as "Agent Chuck Armstrong," who then murders CONTROL agents on command. He falls to his death after slipping on a [[BananaPeel banana peel]]. |
| 209 | * ''Series/TheGongShow'': A recurring gag saw a giant gorilla hand often grab a hilariously bad act – often a stunningly beautiful girl – and yank her offstage, with host Chuck Barris implying the worst. These were non-scoring acts done for comedy relief. |
| 210 | * ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977'': In the episode "The Beast Within", Dr. Banner ends up working at a zoo, and meets a gorilla named Elliot, who is initially [[GentleGorilla friendly and docile]], but turns violent after getting injected by an aggression-inducing serum by the bad guys. Naturally, Banner ends up [[HulkingOut turning into the Hulk]] and fighting the frenzied ape. |
| 211 | * ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': Dr. Bunsen Honeydew invents a machine that he claims will alert you if a gorilla is near. A gorilla promptly breaks onto the set and starts trashing the place. Even as it begins devouring Honeydew, he insists this cannot be a gorilla, because the machine isn't going off. |
| 212 | * ''[[Series/WonderWoman1975 Wonder Woman]]'': In "Wonder Woman vs Gargantua", the Nazis train a gorilla named Gargantua to kill Wonder Woman. However, [[FriendToAllLivingThings Wonder Woman]] understands that Gargantua himself is innocent and works to befriend him and [[{{Deprogram}} help him overcome his training]], rather than just killing him. |
| 213 | [[/folder]] |
| 214 | |
| 215 | [[folder:Magazine]] |
| 216 | * ''{{Magazine/Analog}}'': The [[Recap/Analog1930 December 1930 cover]] depicts a man and woman fighting against five apes, one of whom has an [[OddlyShapedSword undulating dagger]]. |
| 217 | [[/folder]] |
| 218 | |
| 219 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 220 | * In the music video for "Clint Eastwood" by Music/{{Gorillaz}}, a bunch of [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot zombie gorillas]] show up in a graveyard that the band members need to fight. |
| 221 | * Lee Scratch Perry's albums ''Super Ape'' and ''Return Of The Super Ape'' use a gigantic killer gorilla on their album covers. |
| 222 | [[/folder]] |
| 223 | |
| 224 | [[folder:Pinball]] |
| 225 | * Naturally, these are featured all over the place in ''Pinball/{{Congo}}''. |
| 226 | * The backglass for Creator/{{Atari}}'s ''Pinball/MiddleEarth'' pinball shows a giant hairy ape holding a human in one clawed hand while fighting against a giant horned {{Kaiju}}. |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
| 228 | |
| 229 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 230 | * Dr. Cube's monster Grudyin of Wrestling/KaijuBigBattel is part gorilla. |
| 231 | * The gimmick of Nemesis, who frequents Wrestling/ProWrestlingGuerilla in a gorilla mask. |
| 232 | * Leva Bates in her gorilla gear, channeling Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes. |
| 233 | [[/folder]] |
| 234 | |
| 235 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 236 | * Various kinds of monstrous, malevolent apes have turned up in various editions and settings for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and assorted spin-offs, such as ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}''. In fact, the last module Creator/GaryGygax created for 1st edition before leaving Creator/{{TSR}} was ''Isle of the Ape'', which was basically a riff on ''Film/KingKong''. |
| 237 | ** Girallons appear in several editions, resembling large, white gorillas with four arms (as a likely ShoutOut to [[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars the White Apes of Mars]] listed above). ''TabletopGame/TombOfAnnihilation'' gave us an undead variant. |
| 238 | ** Blood Apes are red-furred 6-foot tall gorillas that behave like regular animals... except the part where they can increase their size (which not only gives them more hit points, they also do more damage) to fend off threats. And unlike gorillas, they go straight for the kill instead of making threat displays, giving them an undeserved reputation as murderous carnivores. |
| 239 | ** The Barlgura is a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]] appearing in every edition of D&D. It's a large but stocky, hairy monster with long arms and short legs, resembling a monstrous orangutan. Like all demons, it is chaotic evil, and possesses a handful of magical powers such as seeing through invisibility and turn invisible itself. |
| 240 | ** Another type of demon, the Nalfeshnee, resembles a cross between a gorilla and a [[FullBoarAction boar]], with filthy vulture wings on its back. They're antisocial, even by demon standards, and in some versions of the game are made from the souls of especially greedy and self-interested mortals. |
| 241 | * Most of the above monsters also appear in ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', which also adds a few of its own. The city of Usaro, deep in the [[DarkestAfrica Mwangi Expanse]], is devoted to this trope - and a bit of ManiacMonkeys, as its rank-and-file warriors are mostly the mandrill-like charau-ka. The city is ruled by The Gorilla King - a [[WasOnceAMan formerly human]] warlord turned into an [[UpliftedAnimal intelligent]] [[DireBeast dire ape]] to better serve Angazhan, the [[DemonLordsAndArchDevils Demon Lord of Apes]], who resembles a cross between a KingKongCopy and a BigRedDevil. Usaro is also populated by angazhani, or "high girallons" - intelligent and evil versions of the above girallons. |
| 242 | ** Angazhan's layer of [[{{Hell}} The Abyss]] is naturally a HungryJungle full of demonic apes [[PrimateVersusReptile in constant battle with demonic dinosaurs]], as well BigCreepyCrawlies and {{man eating plant}}s. |
| 243 | * In the obscure D20 setting ''WeirdWars II'', the bestiary (''Horrors of Weird War II'') includes three kinds of ape-man monster; apes given near-human intelligence and trained as Nazi soldiers, apes with Nazi soldier brains transplanted inside of them, and humans mentally devolved into quasi-ape monsters. |
| 244 | * Although Venusians are an intelligent, cooperative and developed people in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' this doesn't change the fact that they are two and a half meter tall war-like ape men. |
| 245 | [[/folder]] |
| 246 | |
| 247 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 248 | * In Eugene O'Neill's play ''Theatre/TheHairyApe'', the protagonist goes to the Zoo to talk to a gorilla and releases it from its cage, whereupon it crushes him to death. |
| 249 | [[/folder]] |
| 250 | |
| 251 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 252 | * ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'': The original gorilla Transformers, Apeface and Beastbox, were brutish and violent, even for Decepticons, and [[PintSizedPowerhouse despite the latter's small size]]. |
| 253 | [[/folder]] |
| 254 | |
| 255 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 256 | * ''VideoGame/ApeEscape, Pumped and Primed'' has Pipotron G, a white-furred mutant who serves as [[TheBigGuy the most physically intimidating member]] of the New Pipotrons working for [[BigBad Nazo]]. |
| 257 | * ''VideoGame/ApeOut'': You play as a gorilla which breaks out of a cage and smashes gun-toting humans into piles of giblets. In [[https://youtu.be/JfmRnDM_eMI this preview]] by Rock Paper Shotgun, they describe it as the most violent game of 2019 (but it was only February). |
| 258 | * ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' has a [[MultiarmedAndDangerous four-armed]] variation known as bullymongs. Like many of [[DeathWorld Pandora's]] wildlife, they are hostile to everyone. |
| 259 | * There is one hairy white gorilla in the Trophy Room in ''VideoGame/BrainDead13''. And surprisingly, [[PaletteSwap it has the same atomic wedgie kill scene as Moose]]! |
| 260 | * Applies to Bongo from the Sega's ''VideoGame/CongoBongo'', which was essentially [[FollowTheLeader their]] [[AlternateCompanyEquivalent answer]] to the original Donkey Kong. |
| 261 | * Koala Kong from ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' is a muscular, gorilla-like koala who's known to have a vicious temper and fights Crash inside of an active volcano by [[FastballSpecial throwing boulders at him]]. Rilla Roo from ''VideoGame/CrashBash'' looks the part, but mainly serves as an EvilCounterpart for Dingodile (who along with Tiny Tiger was subjected to HeelFaceTurn for this particular game only). There's also the [[MixAndMatchCritters Scorporilla]] from ''VideoGame/CrashOfTheTitans'' and ''VideoGame/CrashMindOverMutant'', a massive gorilla-scorpion hybrid and one of the strongest Titans in the game. |
| 262 | * ''VideoGame/CrazyClimber'': The 1980 video game, which cashed in on the media fad where stuntmen attempted to climb the side of tall skyscrapers, featured a King Kong-type gorilla (on buildings 1 and 3) whose punch was deadly. He returns in ''Crazy Climber 2'' to throw bricks. |
| 263 | * ''VideoGame/DeepDuckTrouble Starring WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'': The boss of [[JungleJapes the Jungle]] is the Jungle King, a gorilla whose crown is one of the four treasures that Donald is seeking in his quest to rescue Scrooge [=McDuck=]. The Jungle King chases Donald and causes fruits to fall from trees. Donald cannot damage him directly, but [[AdvancingBossOfDoom must evade him]] so that he will eventually [[WatchOutForThatTree slam into a tree]]. |
| 264 | * Donkey Kong in the original ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' was a woman-kidnapping, barrel-tossing antagonist. In most later games, however, Donkey Kong (actually the son of the original 1981 DK) is more fun-loving than threatening... until someone [[LostFoodGrievance steals his bananas]]. He fits this trope the most in the Gamecube version of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJungleBeat'' where he goes around beating up a bunch of jungle rulers to become "King of the Jungle'' whereas the [=Wii=] version has him doing so because the Party Monkeys contacted Donkey Kong for help after the Ghastly King invaded the Kingdoms and brainwashed the kings to steal all of the bananas. |
| 265 | * Tongada from ''VideoGame/DustyRevenge'' is a giant gorilla brute who made his intro by derailing the train Dusty is on with his ''fists''. Cue boss battle. Tongada is also the largest boss in the game, and will repeatedly try pounding Dusty to a pulp with his PowerFist. |
| 266 | * ''VideoGame/EvilGenome'' has a robotic gorilla mech, Scarlet Storm, introduced taunting you with a PrimalChestPound. During the boss fight it chases after you while on all fours like an angry gorilla, and can even jump around the area to GoombaStomp you. |
| 267 | * ''VideoGame/EXTRAPOWERGiantFist'': The gorillas are normally docile, and Zophy's team is even on first name basis with one of them. But thanks to the frenzy wind, even the gorillas have become hostile. The majority of them are content to sit in place and throw rocks, but the aforementioned friend is a larger specimen that attacks directly. |
| 268 | * ''VideoGame/FantasticFour'' have gigantic, genetically-modified orange-furred gorillas as recurring GiantMook enemies, though they can be easily beaten even in large numbers. |
| 269 | * ''VideoGame/{{Gekido}}'' have a fierce gorilla boss who's simply named... [[ADogNamedDog gorilla]]. It greets you with a PrimalChestPound during a cutscene before the boss fight commences proper. |
| 270 | * ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' has gorillas as part of the RandomEncounters. Infamously, ''The Lost Age'''s first boss is a trio of gorillas named "Chestbeaters" that attack you [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere because they happened to be at the end of the dungeon]]. |
| 271 | * ''VideoGame/GryphonKnightEpic'': Simiel Totec, one of the bosses of the game, rides a gorilla named Gronko. |
| 272 | * The ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' mod ''VideoGame/HeartOfEvil'' has a lot of them. |
| 273 | * ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon'' has the boss Kommie Kong (renamed Gorillazilla in the [=PS3/Xbox360=] release), which is a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot giant communist mecha gorilla]] that throws exploding rockets and tries to stomp the player. |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'': When SARU mixi-maxes with the S Gene, he bulks up and starts resembling a furious gorilla. |
| 275 | * ''VideoGame/Injustice2'': Gorilla Grodd, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin obviously]]. When we first meet him, he's established himself as the leader of [[LegionOfDoom the Society]], to take over the world after the fall of the Regime. On a team including ''ComicBook/{{Cheetah}}'', ''ComicBook/PoisonIvy'', and ''ComicBook/TheScarecrow'', he comes across as the most depraved of them, [[spoiler: to the point that he betrays Earth to ally with Brainiac purely for his own gain.]] Outside the main story, Grodd is still pretty threatening: he enters the battlefield carrying the skull of his [[IAmAHumanitarian latest victim]], which he then [[DramaticShattering crushes]], he roars while beating up his opponent and [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou jumping towards the screen in his victory animation]], and if his arcade ending is anything to go by, [[spoiler: he kills Brainiac, enslaves humanity and goes on a world-conquering spree.]] |
| 276 | * ''VideoGame/KeinegedAnNor'': Pulling a lever to the left in the third room releases a bunch of gorillas to trample you. |
| 277 | %%(ZCE)* Micro Power put out a similarly blatant ''Donkey Kong'' clone with the simple title ''VideoGame/KillerGorilla''. |
| 278 | * ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': |
| 279 | ** One of Kirby's recurring foes is Bonkers, a muscly gorilla-like BeastMan with a huge mallet. He can also toss [[AbnormalAmmo exploding coconuts]] at Kirby. He's usually only a MiniBoss, but he gets upgraded to a full-fledged boss in the ''Clash'' subseries. In the 3D games, Bonkers is depicted more like a gorilla such as always supporting himself with one hand and his ''Star Allies'' description in ''Guest Star'' mode mentioning how much he loves bananas. |
| 280 | ** In ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', the boss of [[SlippySlideyIceWorld White Wafers]] is Goriath, an aggressive, [[ConfusionFu unpredictable]] gorilla-like WaddlingHead who attacks Kirby with various [[ShoutOut anime-inspired techniques]]. [[spoiler:If you fight him on [[NewGamePlus Extra Mode]], he even gets a ''Spirit Bomb''.]] [[spoiler: The Magolor epilogue in ''Deluxe'' introduces a water-themed version called Hydriath who not only has water versions of Goriath's attacks but can also teleport!]] |
| 281 | ** ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'', in addition to Wild Bonkers, has Gorimondo, the enormous "Strong-Armed Beast". He's part of the [[ArmiesAreEvil Beast Pack's]] "executive council", and he uses his colossal strength to hurl boulders at Kirby. [[spoiler:In the first stage of Forgo Dreams, the [[WakeUpCallBoss much more dangerous]] Phantom Gorimondo appears as one of [[BigBad Fecto Forgo]]'s malevolent thought constructs.]] |
| 282 | * ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' has one at the end of the "Hakuna Matata" level. Subverted in that he's not actively attacking Simba, only throwing coconuts at him, because apparently he wants to be left alone. It doesn't stop him from being widely considered ThatOneBoss. |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/ListenToTheWind'', for some inexplicable reason, sics a gigantic albino gorilla as one of the bosses, who immediately tries pounding you into a pulp on sight. Despite every single boss before (and after) being humans. |
| 284 | * The General enemy and its variants in ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'' are giant gorillas that have nastily powerful fists. |
| 285 | * ''VideoGame/MonsterEye'' have a zoo level filled with hostile simians, culminating in a gigantic King Kong-esque gorilla monster who repeatedly tries to squash you as you flee atop a {{Ferris Wheel|of Doom}}. |
| 286 | * ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' has a number of ape- and monkey-like Monsters, classified as Primate Fanged Beasts: |
| 287 | ** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter2Dos'': |
| 288 | *** Rajang is a highly aggressive ape-like monster with [[ShockAndAwe powerful electric attacks]] that's one of the most feared monsters in the series, being TheDreaded both InUniverse ''and'' by players. It has a six star danger rating, something that's usually reserved for Elder Dragons (indeed, ''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld Monster Hunter World: Iceborne]]'' shows Rajang ties in Turf Wars against most Elder Dragons) and other monsters of exceptional power like Deviljho and Akantor. ''Frontier'' even reveals that ''[[OurDragonsAreDifferent Kirin horns]]'' are one of its favorite foods. ''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunterFreedom2 Freedom Unite]]'' introduces an even stronger variant that is permanently enraged. |
| 289 | *** [[FatBastard Congalala]] is this to a lesser extent, being a horn-headed, fat, hippo-faced ape that annoys players with its reliance on deadly [[{{Fartillery}} flatulence]]-based attacks. ''Freedom Unite'' introduces a green-colored subspecies that is even more prone to farting. |
| 290 | *** Blangonga is a strong, aggresive primate with mammoth-like fangs that lives in snowy mountains. It can uproot and throw large snowballs, exhale a freezing breath, and launch itself at the hunters with a powerful punch. ''Freedom Unite'' introduces a brown-orange subspecies that lives in deserts, and can unearth large rocks from the ground. |
| 291 | ** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter4'': Kecha Wacha is an early-game monster that resembles a giant lemur, with gliding membranes like a flying squirrel, an elephant-like trunk that shoots water bombs, and enormous ears it can fold over its face to block Flash Bombs; it's also a fairly agile climber. The expansion ''4 Ultimate'' introduces an indigo-colored subspecies that shoots {{fireballs}} instead of water and likes to hover in the air more often. |
| 292 | ** ''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak]]'' introduces Garangolm, a massive monster that looks like a mix between a gorilla, a {{golem}}, and FrankensteinsMonster. Whenever it's provoked enough, it'll use magma and moss to empower its punches with fire and water, making its already devastating attacks even more fearsome. [[SubvertedTrope Most of the time]], however, it's a GentleGorilla, meaning any instance of it going berserk [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness is to be treated as seriously as the plague]]. |
| 293 | * The Steel Mechorilla, fought at the top of Snowcap Mountain in ''VideoGame/Mother3'', is a powerful [[{{Cyborg}} mechanical chimera]] whose hands have been replaced with wrecking balls. You might think it a good idea to [[ShockAndAwe strike it with PK Thunder]], since it's weak to electric attacks. [[TurnsRed Think again.]] Additionally, there are [[MixAndMatchCritters biological chimarae]] in the form of the Batangutan (an orangutan head with bat wings) and the Monkalrus (a walrus head on an orangutan's body). It's suggested that the same orangutans were used to create both creatures. |
| 294 | * Zigzagged with Winston of ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''. Normally he's a friendly and cute talking gorilla who's interested in engineering. But when he uses his Ultimate, he loses his calm demeanor and goes on a roaring rampage (combined in-game with increased health and mobility.) Played straight with the rest of the enhanced gorillas from Winston's lunar colony. They violently took over the colony and killed the human researchers who were working there, partially out of jealousy towards Winston for being smarter than them. |
| 295 | * ''VideoGame/{{Palworld}}'': Gorirat is a [[{{Mons}} Pal]] that is highly aggressive and will attack players on sight, announcing their presence with a PrimalChestPound before hitting hard with their attacks. Unlike most depictions of fictional gorillas, they sport long tails due to being a [[MixAndMatchCritters cross between a gorilla and a rat]], like their name suggests. |
| 296 | * ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'': The legendary video game series stars three mutated monsters, including George – a King Kong-like gorilla. George (along with his "friends") could eat people to earn bonus points and maintain/gain energy. |
| 297 | * T-virus infected zombie gorillas were a planned monster for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', and had been successfully modeled and programmed by the "1.5" edition, but they were cut from the released game. The concept would be revived in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0''; originally, a giant killer monkey named "Wesker's Monster" was planned as a boss monster, but it was scrapped. Instead, the game featured the Eliminators; Progenitor-infected laboratory chimpanzees whose small stature, quick movement rate, leaping & grappling abilities, and surprising durability would see them become one of the more infamous members of [[DemonicSpiders/ResidentEvil the series']] DemonicSpiders. |
| 298 | * ''VideoGame/{{Riot}}'': Every now and then, the game will throw a giant gorilla as a [[RecurringBoss Recurring]] MiniBoss who will jump up and down attempting to crush you, or swat you with its fists. The gorilla may or may not have other mooks flanking him, and in one occassion you fight ''[[DualBOss two]]'' of them at the same time. |
| 299 | * Mechapon, a giant mechanical gorilla, appears as one of the Stage 2 mid-bosses in ''VideoGame/StriderArcade'', and returns as a proper boss in the [[VideoGame/Strider2014 2014 HD version]]. |
| 300 | * ''VideoGame/SaiyukiJourneyWest'' has one of these as Son Goku's SuperMode. |
| 301 | * ''VideoGame/ScrapGarden'': One of the bosses [[PlayerCharacter Canny]] faces is a giant gorilla. |
| 302 | * One enemy type in ''VideoGame/StarFoxGuard'' is Big G, a robot that resembles a large gorilla. It approaches the base's tower at a very slow speed, but its large body gives it lots of health, and it's a Combat Class bot, so it aims to destroy the tower in the bases. |
| 303 | * As if the half-possessed humans of The Many, two malevolent [=AIs=] and suicide bomber robots aren't enough problems for ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'' to throw at you, turns out the scientists on the ''Von Braun'' brought along some chimps for experimentation...and gave them the ability to throw ''psychic fireballs!'' |
| 304 | * ''VideoGame/{{Temtem}}'': Gorong resembles an ape and is implied to have a violent reputation, because its Tempedia entry says it assaults anyone who insults it. |
| 305 | * In ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'', the Grecian ruins are populated by [[MisplacedWildlife lions, crocodiles, bats, and aggressive gorillas]]. |
| 306 | * One of the roaming monsters in ''VideoGame/TheUltimateHauntedHouse'' is one of these, a tormented pet gorilla kept in a cage in the Menagerie. |
| 307 | * One of the bosses ''VideoGame/VentureKid'' is a giant long-armed gorilla. |
| 308 | * In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', most gorilla mobs are are aggressive and will attack on sight. In a typical Blizzard manner, there are lots of {{Shout Out}}s: [[Film/KingKong a giant gorilla living on an island and holding a woman captive]], [[Literature/{{Congo}} a (robotic) gorilla called A-ME trained to communicate with humans]] and [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong gorilla mobs dropping barrels of death]]. |
| 309 | * Gorilla-type enemies are a RecurringElement in the ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' series, in the form of Gogols in the [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 first]] and [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 second]] mainline games, and Simius in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' It's also something of a RunningGag that a gigantic, ludicrously high-levelled red-furred unique {{Superboss}} of this type (with a name that usually translates to 'Redbeard'; 'Territorial Rotbart' of ''[=XC1=]'' and ''2'', 'Hayreddin, the Territorial' of ''X'' and 'Jingoistic Gigantus' of 3) patrols an early area of each game, along with an even bigger blue-furred one named "Immovable Gonzalez" in the numbered titles providing a roadblock of some kind. |
| 310 | [[/folder]] |
| 311 | |
| 312 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 313 | * ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars'': In ''The Ultimate Crossover'' and ''Remastered'', there's [[VideoGame/{{Rampage}} George]], who serves a major obstacle to [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 Ness']] team and [[spoiler: gulps up [[VideoGame/HalfLife Gordon]] immediately after the latter escapes G-Man/[[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} Radec's]] grasp]]. Another example of a villainous ape would be [[VideoGame/ApeEscape Pipotron G]] in ''2'', though unlike George, she's defeated within the span of the first episode. |
| 314 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Beringels are [[AnimalisticAbomination gorilla-like Grimm]], known for being [[SuperToughness more durable]] than their size would indicate. The ones Team RNJR faces are also rather intelligent, though that might have just been a sign that they were [[StrongerWithAge older than most Grimm fought previously]]. They also occasionally [[FastballSpecial throw other Grimm at the enemy]]. At the end of volume 6, [[spoiler:Salem begins crafting Beringels with Nevermore wings to create more mobile shock troops]]. |
| 315 | [[/folder]] |
| 316 | |
| 317 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 318 | * In the {{Creepypasta}} ''Normal Porn for Normal People'' [[spoiler:the last video, "useless.avi", shows a woman getting mauled to death by a chimpanzee.]] |
| 319 | * [[http://www.theonion.com/article/gorilla-sales-skyrocket-after-latest-gorilla-attac-30860 This article]] by ''Website/TheOnion'' uses killer gorillas as a thinly-veiled metaphor for guns. [[http://www.theonion.com/article/man-dies-after-secret-4-year-battle-with-gorilla-2836 Another article]] uses the violent gorilla metaphor again, but this time for cancer. Averted in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJkWS4t4l0k this video]], though, where a once kind and happy gorilla is taught that one day it will die. |
| 320 | * The "[[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ride-wife-life-good Ride Wife, Life Good]]" meme features a HulkSpeak-talking gorilla who kills his wife after she refuses to let him ride on her back. |
| 321 | [[/folder]] |
| 322 | |
| 323 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 324 | * ''WesternAnimation/AceVenturaPetDetective'': In "Night of the Gorilla", a female gorilla is accused of killing and eating the scientist that raised her. Ace seems to be the only one aware that gorillas aren't carnivorous, and does his best to prove the ape's innocence. [[spoiler:[[AvertedTrope He's right]], the gorilla was [[ThisBearWasFramed set up]] by a rival scientist as part of a revenge scheme.]] |
| 325 | * Kiki from the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' episode "Kiki's Kitten" is a violent female gorilla, who only calms down if she gets kitten whom she can [[AndCallHimGeorge play with]]. Poor Rita gets to be her toy. Unlike many examples, she is clearly shown to be an outlier; the other gorillas are shown to be happy and peaceful. |
| 326 | * The ColdOpen of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "War of the Worms" has Fern narrating a story about an explorer who gets menaced by a giant talking gorilla that tries to eat her for lunch. [[TheSmartGuy Brain]] calls her out on it, pointing out that gorillas are not as big as the one in the story, they don't eat people (they're herbivores), and they don't talk. This coming from [[HypocriticalHumor a talking anthropomorphic bear.]] |
| 327 | * In an episode of Creator/{{Nelvana}}'s ''Literature/{{Babar}}'' animated series, Babar and his friends get shipwrecked on an island and get antagonized by a King Kong-like giant gorilla named "Conga the Terrible". Subverted at the end of the episode - Conga is revealed to be a GentleGiant who tried to scare Babar and his friends away because he believed they wanted to capture him. |
| 328 | * The villain of the obscure Creator/RankinBassProductions special ''The Ballad of Smokey the Bear'' is a gorilla who escaped from the zoo and proceeds to make a mess of the forest for no apparent reason. |
| 329 | * An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' heavily based on ''Literature/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'' has a mook gorilla-human hybrid made by a villainous MadScientist. |
| 330 | * WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts: |
| 331 | ** WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse was antagonized by a gorilla named Beppo in several shorts. In ''The Gorilla Mystery'' (1930) and ''The Pet Store'' (1933), Beppo kidnaps Minnie, whom Mickey rescues; in ''Mickey's Mechanical Man'', the gorilla, dubbed "The Kongo Killer", gets into a boxing match with the titular robot. |
| 332 | ** Averted with the gorilla in ''Pluto at the Zoo'' (1942). Although it looks scary and Pluto [[{{Fainting}} faints]] at its sight, it's just a curious ManChild who plays with Pluto as if he was a toy. |
| 333 | ** In ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and the Gorilla'' (1944), Ajax, the titular antagonist, is an extremely violent gorilla escaped from a zoo who chases Donald and his nephews through the house before being subdued with a tear gas grenade. |
| 334 | ** In ''WesternAnimation/DuckPimples'' (1945), as Donald Duck listens to the radio, one of the programs he tunes into is about a killer ape. He briefly imagines his armchair turning into the ape (who [[ReusedCharacterDesign looks the same]] as Ajax from ''Donald Duck and the Gorilla'') and trying to strangle him. |
| 335 | * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', Jay announces that they have "decided we need more gorillas in our empty lives", and they free the gorillas from the fair across the road from the [=QuikStop=]. The gorillas proceed to attack everyone in sight. ("Oh no! Caitlyn!" "Except Caitlyn Bree and Dan Whiffler who are making out in a car!") |
| 336 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': |
| 337 | ** A cutaway gag at first subverts, then horribly and hilariously plays it straight when Peter mentions how he once introduced a gorilla to a kitten. |
| 338 | --->'''Lois''': Awww look Peter! She's taking care of that kitten like its her own child!\ |
| 339 | '''Peter''': Yes, I knew that eventually she'd stop tearing them in half. *the camera pans out to show the gorilla sitting next to a small mountain of dismembered kittens* |
| 340 | ** Another gag shows Stewie rushing out of a building, finding a door saying "Not An Exit". [[SchmuckBait He opens it anyway]], and gets pounced and beaten up by a vicious gorilla. |
| 341 | --->'''Stewie''': Why did the sign say "Not An Exit"? It should have just said "Gorilla Door"! |
| 342 | ** Played straight again in the episode "Adoptation", where the gorillas [[HilarityInZoos in the zoo]] are portrayed as quite violent; they [[WouldHurtAChild surround Tatum menacingly]] when she ends up in their enclosure, they tear the zookeeper trying to rescue her from limb to limb (with one gorilla putting on his torn-off face as a mask to [[HughMann disguise himself as a human]] to escape the zoo), they charge at Lois when she climbs into their habitat to rescue Tatum, and finally they brutally beat up Brian [[DisproportionateRetribution because they didn't like his book]] (though ''he'' makes the mistake of [[TooDumbToLive actually going into their habitat to ask them directly]] despite how a similar line of thinking got him mauled earlier by a duplicitous wolf). |
| 343 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Fangface}}'' ("The Great Ape Escape") had the gang imprisoned in an UndergroundCity of gorilla-men (straddling the line between this trope, BeastMan, and FrazettaMan) inside a mountain on an IslandOfMystery. They practiced HumanSacrifice via a number of overly-elaborate {{death trap}}s and prayed to an "ape idol". A scene in the kitchen of their city's prison, however, implied that they were vegetarians, as the larder was well-stocked with veggies and no apparent meat. |
| 344 | * ''WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle'': In the episode "Ungawa the Gorilla God", the eponymous creature is a "ten-foot-tall man-eating gorilla" who is [[GiantAnimalWorship worshipped by a native tribe]]. They capture the district commissioner and his wife, Shep the Elephant and George and present them as sacrifices to the giant ape. |
| 345 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatGrapeApe,'' a GentleGiant who DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength, only looks like this, but is actually quite harmless. Nevertheless, a RunningGag that happens at least OnceAnEpisode has people running away from what they believe to be a ferocious "goril-il-il-il-il-il-il-il-la". |
| 346 | * In ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'', Susan and Mary's oblivious love interest, Gil, is accidentally transformed into a gorilla and causes general mayhem in Porkbelly for awhile before he changes back. |
| 347 | * Tublat from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTarzan'' is a violent, downright murderous silverback who got exiled from Tarzan's family. While Tublat's comparatively passive personality from the books were used to make Disney's Kerchak a much gentler character, Kerchak's personality from the books were consequently used to make Disney's Tublat more violent. |
| 348 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' episode "Beshte and the Beast" starts with a immensely powerful and gigantic Hulk-like mountain gorilla named Shujaa seemingly being this trope, scaring away some giraffes and zebras from a watering hole. But when the Lion Guard confront him, [[SubvertedTrope he quickly reveals that he's actually friendly]], he came to help the Lion Guard, and believed that the giraffes and zebras were the enemies. He causes a lot of destruction later on, but it is either accidental or targeted at the villains, prompting Beshte to teach the great ape how to think before he acts. |
| 349 | * ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': |
| 350 | ** In the 1942 short "Aloha Hooey", Cecil Crow manages to impress a hula girl after rescuing her from a brutish, mean-looking gorilla (who happens to be wearing a shirt with "THE VILLAIN" printed on the front, and [[ObviouslyEvil "AS IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW"]] printed on the back). |
| 351 | ** Gruesome Gorilla from "WesternAnimation/GorillaMyDreams" and "Apes of Wrath" (renamed Elvis in the latter cartoon) is a "ferocious ape" who isn't willing to accept WesternAnimation/BugsBunny as his son, and beats him up. |
| 352 | ** In "WesternAnimation/TheDucksters", Porky Pig finds out the hard way that WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck's special guest "Miss Shush" is actually an ill-tempered gorilla named [[PunnyName Mamie]] when he receives an off-screen beating and barely escapes with his life. |
| 353 | ** In "Hurdy-Gurdy Hare", Bugs becomes an OrganGrinder but fires his monkey because it was pocketing some of the change. The monkey goes to a gorilla in the zoo, who breaks out and goes after Bugs. Bugs eventually finds that MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast and makes the gorilla his new hurdy-gurdy monkey. The gorilla looks identical to Gruesome from "WesternAnimation/GorillaMyDreams", with a [[FieryRedhead red tuft of hair on his head]]. |
| 354 | * Lord Tirek from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'''s Season 4 finale is a [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centaur]] with a simian head and torso. |
| 355 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'': "Ape Army of the Amazon". In South America, an exiled military officer named Colonel Vasta and a disgraced scientist named Dr. Rucas control apes, with the transmitter on Dr. Rucas's back, in a plot to rob an underground treasure. |
| 356 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'' has a schoolhouse terrorized by a wild gorilla, who turns out to actually be [[spoiler: the teacher's human fiance, who had gotten a job wearing a gorilla suit at the circus and become trapped in the costume.]] |
| 357 | * Downplayed with Bada and Bing in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'': they are [[DumbMuscle dumb and thuggish]], and occasionally act as TheBully for the other animals, but they are part of the zoo gang and are often friendly with the penguins. They're still [[AnimalsNotToScale disproportionally big]], roughly the same size as a rhinoceros. |
| 358 | * In ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'', the strongest warriors of the [[FrazettaMan ape-man tribe]] resemble enormous gorillas. [[spoiler:The SuperSerum that their champion drinks makes him even bigger and more aggressive, turning him into a Franchise/KingKong-like monster.]] |
| 359 | * Rollo is Boris Badenov's pet gorilla in the ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' story arc "Wailing Whale." He looks for victims for Rollo to play with "because they break so easily." The EitherOrTitle of one of the episodes is "Playtime For Rollo, or: Rest In Pieces." |
| 360 | * The ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' franchise features several gorilla-like monsters, including: |
| 361 | ** The Ape-Man from ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou''. |
| 362 | ** The escaped circus ape in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMeetsTheBooBrothers''. |
| 363 | ** Genghis Kong in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheReluctantWerewolf''. |
| 364 | ** The Jungle Demon taking the form of a gorilla in ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo''. |
| 365 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 366 | ** "Bart Gets an F": Bart and Homer watch a killer gorilla movie where the ape eats people at random. |
| 367 | ** "Treehouse of Horror III": The segment "King Homer" is a direct parody of ''Film/KingKong1933'', where Homer plays the role of a giant gorilla who eats several people, including Mr. Smithers, Lenny and a Shirley Temple-lookalike. |
| 368 | ** "To Cur With Love" reveals that the predecessor to Krusty's chimp Mr. Teeny was a gorilla who would beat up Krusty, causing him to remark, "next time I get a smaller monkey." |
| 369 | ** "Gorillas On the Mast" features a female gorilla named Lolo, who [[EscapedAnimalRampage goes on a destructive rampage after being freed from the zoo]] by Bart and Milhouse. Somewhat subverted in that she only threatens people rather than actually hurting them (other than throwing a Duff bottle at Ned, and even then it was an accident), and it's implied that her rampage may have been due to stress. |
| 370 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' |
| 371 | ** [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E16BornAgainKrabsIHadAnAccident "I Had an Accident"]] ends with Sandy and Patrick attempting to coax [=SpongeBob=] out of his house by having Patrick "attack" Sandy while in a gorilla suit. This is then interrupted by a ''real'' gorilla [[MediumBlending (portrayed by a live actor in a gorilla costume)]] who sticks Sandy and Patrick in a sack and begins beating them senseless, and rips [=SpongeBob=] in half (non-fatally) when he tries to intervene. [=SpongeBob=] finally gets it to leave by asking, "What's a gorilla doing underwater in the first place?" |
| 372 | -->'''Gorilla:''' W-Well, you see... George, they're onto us! |
| 373 | -->''[George, a horse portrayed by two live actors in a costume, gallops on-screen]'' |
| 374 | -->'''George:''' Let's get outta here! |
| 375 | -->''[[GainaxEnding [The gorilla rides George into the sunset as Patrick, Sandy, and [=SpongeBob's=] two halves watch]]]'' |
| 376 | ** Another gorilla appears in the last Patchy segment of "Friend or Foe", who is hired at The Poop Deck after Patchy and Potty get fired. It violently throws all the burger toppings at Patchy after being called a "hairy fleabag". |
| 377 | * One of the WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons, "Terror on the Midway" is about a giant gorilla accidentally getting released in the circus and [[EscapedAnimalRampage going on a rampage]]. Its tamer was nowhere to be found. |
| 378 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'', one of [[MisterBig Trader Moe]]'s goons is a gigantic gorilla who is taller than Baloo (the other goon is a [[RhinoRampage rhinoceros]]). |
| 379 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'': |
| 380 | ** One of the many supervillain {{Captain Ersatz}}es is King Gorilla, a ManlyGay supervillain gorilla who spent some time in prison with the Monarch. He got thrown into prison for murder and rape [[{{Squick}} (yes, in that order)]]. He was later let out of prison since he was dying of lung cancer. |
| 381 | ** There was a "normal" gorilla in the E-Den at the Venture Compound. Dr. Venture apparently had no idea that it was in there, because he led a group of small children into the place as part of a tour of the compound. It mauled one of them to death and Dr. Venture "fixed" it by cloning the kid and giving the clone to his parents when they came to pick him up. |
| 382 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'' episode "Adopted", the three bear cubs get adopted by an eccentric billionaire, to be the companions of his pet silverback gorilla Carl. Carl's room is littered with torn-apart teddy bears and it's implied he'd do the same with the bear cubs when he gets bored. [[spoiler:In the climax of the episode, Carl saves the bears from a big fall and is revealed to be genuinely fond of them.]] |
| 383 | * An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys'' has Eliza and Darwin trying to sneak a wheel-shaped rock (as a replacement wheel for the comvee when it loses one) from some gorillas in order to avoid invoking this trope. The gorillas turn out to be aversions, being willing to negotiate and give the rock to Eliza if she asks for it, with the troop leader teaching her an example about taking things without permission. |
| 384 | * Despite looking like a gorilla, Rondo Jr. from ''WesternAnimation/YakkityYak'' serves as a threat to the titular character. |
| 385 | [[/folder]] |
| 386 | |
| 387 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 388 | * This trope especially comes into play when misguided humans, charmed by how much a baby chimpanzee resembles a human child, try to take one as a pet. The problem comes when this cute little infant hits puberty and becomes a very aggressive primate strong enough to rip your arm off and beat you to death with it. Or, if you're lucky, they'll stop at merely ripping your face off. |
| 389 | ** Chimpanzees are among the few animals (along with hippos, swans, and other species) that are much ''more'' dangerous than people generally think. Almost every individual chimpanzee has the potential to play this trope straight, and some chimpanzees play it straight a lot of the time. |
| 390 | ** Also, in contrast to gorillas, who are almost exclusively vegetarians, chimps also often supplement their plant-based diet with animal protein, including monkeys, antelope, pigs, and even [[EatsBabies infant chimps kidnapped from other troops or their own]] if food is scarce--or if they're just feeling lazy. There's a reason Jane Goodall locked her son in a cage when studying them. |
| 391 | ** When chimpanzee troops undergo a change in leadership, it's not uncommon for every chimp in it to go berserk in a bid for power. |
| 392 | ** In one very infamous case, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_(chimpanzee) a woman's pet chimp]] attacked her friend. The woman tried to fight her pet chimp off with a ''shovel and a knife'', but the chimp was unfazed and continued to attack the friend, with the carnage only stopping once the chimp was ''gunned down by the cops''. The friend of that woman is ''blind and mutilated'' now, and ended up having to get a ''face transplant''. The extent of her injuries were so horrific that her ''doctors'' had to undergo therapy. |
| 393 | ** It has become somewhat of a running joke on Website/{{Reddit}} that any time a chimpanzee is mentioned, there will inevbitably be a slew of replies going along the lines of "chimps will literally rip your face off!!!" |
| 394 | ** Jane Goodall discovered the extent of chimps' "dark side" during the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War Kasakela territorial dispute]] in the 1970s. Goodall was quite shocked and horrified by the brutality of the attacks and describe the whole thing as a "war". |
| 395 | * Largely {{Inverted|Trope}} with real life gorillas, who fall into the GentleGiant category and are RealLife examples of HerbivoresAreFriendly. |
| 396 | ** They are usually pretty passive towards humans unless they feel threatened, and even then they will normally try to fend off intruders with bluff attacks rather than actually hurting them. While early reports by hunters painted gorillas as vicious brutes who attack humans with little to no provocation, this public perception was changed largely due to the research of primatologists George Schaller and Dian Fossey. That does NOT mean you should [[RageBreakingPoint push them too far]], though... |
| 397 | ** If you encounter gorillas, do not look them in the eye, show your teeth (even by smiling), or [[PrimalChestPound pound your chest]], as they may interpret them as a challenge. If you avoid doing these, the gorillas are likely to leave you alone. |
| 398 | ** Male gorillas occasionally commit infanticide, which means that they kill the offspring of rival males they defeat for mating opportunity. |
| 399 | * There's been some argument among paleontologists if extinct super-ape ''Gigantopithecus'' was like this or not. It clearly was omnivorous and bamboo stalks were a major part of its diet (similar to the giant panda). Paleontologists find a lot of animal bones in caves where ''Gigantopithecus'' supposedly lived and some of those caves are quite far above ground, meaning the dead animals were brought there by some predator. To complicate matters, we know very little about ''Gigantopithecus''' anatomy -- all skeletal remains found are fragmentary; most of the finds are just mandibles (the rest of the skeleton has historically been used in traditional Chinese "medicine"). Of course, unless someone stumbles across one on a deserted island, [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti in Asian mountains or in the backwoods of Washington state]], it's all rather academic. Studies on tooth enamel indicate ''Gigantopithecus'' was effectively a pure herbivore and unlikely to attack an animal with the intent of eating it. That said, HerbivoresAreFriendly is a trope that is very much ''not'' true in nature, so how aggressive or dangerous the big ape was is anyone's guess. |
| 400 | * There have been several incidents in zoos where gorillas behaved violently with visitors: |
| 401 | ** In 2007, at the Rotterdam zoo in the Netherlands, a male gorilla named Bokito [[EscapedAnimalRampage escaped his enclosure]] and attacked a woman, biting her multiple times and dragging her around for tens of meters. The ape was sedated with a tranquilizer gun and returned to the enclosure. The woman was a regular visitor to the zoo who often engaged in eye contact with Bokito and smiled at him, which the gorilla might have misinterpreted as an aggressive display and a challenge to fight. |
| 402 | ** In 2016, a boy fell into the gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. A 17-year-old male named Harambe caught the kid and proceeded to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEU2FyMNEpc pick him up and drag him around]]. Not wanting to see whether this trope became TruthInTelevision or not, zookeepers shot and killed the ape in order to save the boy's life. Much controversy arose by objectors to the act, including several biologists and primatologists, who argued that Harambe was actually trying to protect the boy and/or merely behaving curious about him, or was nervous due to the screaming crowd, as well as animal rights activists [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman who saw the decision as unfairly placing human life above animal life by blind policy alone]]. The debate about the zookeepers' decision to kill the gorilla continues over five years on, and Harambe himself has since been notably memorialized through [[MemeticMutation ambiguously ironic memes]]. [[note]] It's a li'l bit deeper, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6rocZbplkI this vid explains]] (at about 8:33). The alternative was to risk the kid being worse than injured and, thus, losing the zoo entirely because the optics were already pretty bad since the kid managed to bypass safety measures put in place and Harambe was starting to get agitated. It wasn't a good situation all around.[[/note]] |
| 403 | ** Magnificently averted in 1986, when a boy named Levan Merritt fell into a gorilla enclosure in Jersey Zoo; one of the gorillas, Jambo, caressed his back, and kept the other gorillas away from the unconscious boy. The zookeepers managed to get young Levan out. Sadly, Jambo died in 1992, but a memorial to him stands to this day. |
| 404 | [[/folder]] |
| 405 |
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