Gorilla Girl
Gorilla Girl in her gorilla form. Art by Steve Uy.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Team-Up #91 (March 1980)
Created by	Steven Grant Pat Broderick
In-story information
Alter ego	Fahnbullah Eddy
Team affiliations	The Freaks Initiative
Notable aliases	Gorilla Woman
Abilities	Ability to shapeshift into a super-strong and highly agile gorilla

Fahnbullah Eddy, also known as Gorilla Girl, is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

Gorilla Girl first appeared in Marvel Team-Up #91 (March 1980), and was created by Steven Grant and Pat Broderick. She made her first full appearance years later in Marvel Tales #256, which reprinted the Marvel Team-Up story and added a new story featuring her and other circus freaks. She has since appeared in various comics as a member of the Freaks, the Initiative, and Counter Force. She has also crossed over with other Marvel universes, such as Marvel Apes and Marvel Zombies. In her earliest appearances, she was portrayed (in her human form) as an attractive, fully mature, woman, but in her later appearances, she is implied to be a teenage girl.

Fictional character biography

Fahnbullah Eddy,^[1] originally known as Gorilla Woman, is first seen serving as a carnival attraction as a member of the Freaks, a group of circus freaks that included Muck Monster and Six. No origin story is ever given, and so the circumstances surrounding neither the shapeshifter's strange condition nor her joining the carnival are ever explained. When Peter Parker came to visit the carnival, he realized that the Freaks, along with Ghost Rider, had been enslaved by the sorcerer Moondark, who forced them to battle Spiderman. After Parker manage to free Ghost Rider, the two found a way to release the captured souls from Moondark's orb, freeing the carnies and defeating the sorcerer in the process.^[2][3] After their escape, Gorilla Girl and the Freaks rescued the innocent Dr. Melloncamp from the two criminals Hammer and Anvil.^[3][4]

After the events of the "Civil War", Gorilla Girl was captured by the Thunderbolts. During her capture, she threw Penance down three flights of stairs, after which Penance beat her severely.^[5] She later registered with the Initiative and joined Camp Hammond along with Annex, Prodigy, and others.^[6][7]

During the Skrull invasion, she is one of the Initiative members to go into battle in Times Square. They join the 'Young Avengers' and are saved by the 'Secret Commandos'.^[8] Afterwards, Gorilla Girl asked to be put in the Initiative reserves. However, before she gets very far, the Thor clone attacks Camp Hammond, and Gorilla Girl fights him before Counter Force intervenes.^[9]

Gorilla Girl strikes up a friendship with the alternate universe simian version of Speedball, another Initiative recruit. She becomes involved in the plan of Norman Osborn to exploit the resources of her friend's home dimension. The two also work with Gibbon (another simian superhuman) as well as Red Ghost's Super-Apes.^[10][11]

When Gorilla Girl, the simian Speedball, and Gibbon ended up in the Marvel Apes universe, they find themselves during an invasion by the Marvel Zombies. Gorilla Girl shifted into her gorilla form and ripped off Zombie Medusa's hair to protect them. Just as they were about to be overwhelmed, a group of Marvel Apes appeared and helped to fight the Marvel Zombies. Gorilla Girl thinks that the simian version of Captain America can get them back to the Marvel Apes universe. Using the Wrencher, Gorilla Girl was able to destroy the Zombie Green Goblin. When Zombie Doctor Doom proved too much for Gorilla Girl, the Super-Apes were able to defeat them. Upon encountering a human Magneto, the simian Speedball figures out that they are in the Marvel Zombies universe. As Ape X plans to destroy the portal, he says goodbye to Gorilla Girl. However, Gorilla Girl kneed him when his guard was down so that she could go in his place. Using the Wrencher's wrench, Gorilla Girl attacked the simian heroes and destroyed the portal, setting time right.^[12]

Personality and traits

Eddy is shown to be rebellious, flirtatious, and coy but also brave and loyal to her friends. She is quick to defend her loved ones when they are threatened and is capable of great acts of self-sacrifice.

In her first incarnation, Gorilla Girl/Woman's human form is that of a beautiful, full-figured black woman in her prime. But in later incarnations, she appears to be much younger, implied to be a teenager.

In her gorilla form, she appears as a bulky, hairy, powerful, sometimes frightening, ape. However, it is only her body that changes; her personality remains the same in both forms.

Powers and abilities

Fahnbullah Eddy can shapeshift into a super-strong and highly agile gorilla. Even in her gorilla form, she can speak and think as a human could.

In other media

Gorilla Girl appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers, voiced by Cherise Boothe.^{[citation needed]}