“ | Let me tell you tadpoles how I work: I seek out the lost little lambs society has cruelly abandoned, I take them lovingly under my wings, give them the power to face the cold heartless world... and kick its butt! | „ |
~ Granny Goodness on how she recruits new members for Intergang. |
Granny Goodness is a recurring antagonist in the DC Animated Universe, serving as a supporting antagonist in Superman: The Animated Series and a minor antagonist in Justice League Unlimited.
She is one of Darkseid's lieutenants and the commander of the Female Furies, a trio of Apokoliptian New Gods that carry out Darkseid's will. Granny Goodness becomes an enemy of Superman after she targets Supergirl.
Despite being female, she was voiced by the late Ed Asner.
What Makes Her Pure Evil?[]
In General/Background[]
- Runs the Granny Goodness' Orphanage for Wayward Brats where orphaned children are raised to be loyal to Darkseid and trained as warriors.
- However, while the orphanage's nature is barely explored in the shows, the tie-in comics depict it as a deplorable place where the children are forced to do the laundry, eat hot liquid rations from a huge barrel and presumably have their heads shaven.
- What's worse is that it's even implied by Granny that not all these children, who are forced to think that their lives are insignificant and that hope is a lie, survive those conditions.
- However, while the orphanage's nature is barely explored in the shows, the tie-in comics depict it as a deplorable place where the children are forced to do the laundry, eat hot liquid rations from a huge barrel and presumably have their heads shaven.
- Brainwashes some of her victims, either to torture them or to force them into serving either her or her master, such being the case of Big Barda.
- Horribly treats her henchmen, even her Furies, insulting them or physically abusing them, sometimes even accusing them of being inconsiderate with her due to failing in accomplishing the tasks she gives to them.
- Overall, if someone doesn't talk with the respect she thinks to deserve, she is quick to try to kill that individual.
- Even her "loyalty" to Darkseid seems more like she is serving him out of fear for what he could do to her (such as when he has his furies torture her when her plan to destroy Earth fails) or fanaticism towards rather than genuine care for him, as she is seen scared whenever she displeases Darkseid and is quick to try to usurp Darkseid's throne the moment he's gone.
- While she did have a tragic background due to being a "lowlie" (lower class citizen in Apokolips) and was abducted from the streets alongside Big Breeda to serve Darkseid's forces, it doesn't justify any of her horrible actions against the orphans she "takes care" of, given how she ends up becoming far worse than those who molded her into a warrior.
- Originally lived up to her name due to feeling an attachment for her battle hound Mercy, to the point she killed her trainer instead when she was ordered to kill Mercy for her initiation, under the pretext that Mercy could still be a valuable asset.
- However, once Darkseid ordered Mercy to kill her then, she quickly killed Mercy, impressing Darkseid with her lack of compassion.
- Informed Darkseid about Big Breeda's secret relationship with an unnamed warrior and murdered her so she could take Breeda's daughter Big Barda to train her as a warrior, even though Big Breeda and her were playmates as children and considered themselves sisters in all but blood.
- Tortured Scott Free, Highfather's son, in the Pit-X, hurting him whenever he tried to escape and trying to psychologically break him, which resulted in Scott developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after escaping.
Superman: The Animated Series[]
- Is tasked by Darkseid to build the Doomsday Device, a lethal magnet that would redirect the incoming Fleischer's Comet into Earth to wipe out humanity and allow Darkseid to take it without technically violating the peace treaty with New Genesis, just to avenge her master's failure in invading the Earth beforehand, but taking delight in doing so, feeling the mission like a "hobby".
- Recruits several homeless human teenagers of Metropolis into Intergang to assist her in her plans, but harshly punishes them with physical harm or an Apokoliptian weapon if they displease her with their "bickerings".
- Sends her henchmen to beat up Jimmy Olsen and Kara Kent when they claim to be interested in joining Intergang to change their "skins" due to them not having been mistreated and shunned by society like the rest of her recruits.
- Order his henchmen to kill Supergirl just for insulting her.
- Summons her Female Furies to attack Supergirl, asking her to make Supergirl's last moments "special".
- Kidnaps Superman, puts a shock collar on him and electrocutes him as she takes him to Darkseid, even electrocuting him to force him to walk faster or to kneel before her master.
- Tries to electrocute Supergirl as well.
- Brainwashes Superman into thinking that he is Darkseid's "son" so Darkseid could use him to conquer some worlds and then invading the Earth, literally erasing his memories from his life on Earth and convincing him that whenever he had some memories of his past life these were "nightmares", leading Superman to always come to her to be rid of "those nightmares", which she enjoyed doing by electrocuting him with her brainwashing device.
- While not explicitly stated (likely for censorship reasons), it's heavily implied that Superman had an intimate relationship with Lashina (if not with Big Stompa and Mad Harriet as well) while he was brainwashed, so this would indirectly make Granny accountable for rape, as Superman didn't give his consent to Lashina.
- While it can be argued that this doesn't really count as rape because, while Superman was brainwashed by Granny Goodness into forgetting his life on Earth and thus wasn't in control of his real self, Superman was still able to make his own decisions, so while he let Lashina seduce him, he still had the option to give his consent or not. However, Granny did encourage Superman to spend time with his Female Furies, making her responsible for psychologically tampering with his faithfulness towards Lois Lane.
- While not explicitly stated (likely for censorship reasons), it's heavily implied that Superman had an intimate relationship with Lashina (if not with Big Stompa and Mad Harriet as well) while he was brainwashed, so this would indirectly make Granny accountable for rape, as Superman didn't give his consent to Lashina.
- Keeps two prisoners restrained in her orphanage, likely to torture them.
- Her brainwashing to Superman would leave long-lasting consequences, as Superman's actions against humanity during his brainwashing led the Earth's population to wonder if they should ever trust him again, nearly caused Superman and Supergirl to be executed and had a part in planting the seeds (alongside President Luthor's actions against Superman and the Justice League in the Justice Lords' universe) of what would eventually become Project Cadmus.
- Once confronted by Superman after he recovers his memories, she pleads for mercy by trying to pass her actions as a joke before attacking him with her baton.
Justice League Unlimited[]
- Kidnaps Scott Free's friend Oberon (the closest thing he has to a parental figure) and threatens to kill him if Scott and Big Barda (who escaped with him from Apokolips) don't aide her in rescuing Darkseid's son Kalibak so she can take over Apokolips.
- Leaves Oregon to be fatally sliced by a pendulum just because he mocks her despite promising Scott to return Oberon to him unharmed, using Oregon's understandable lack of education towards her as an excuse to kill him, likely never intending to fulfill her part of the deal.
- Leads her troops in a battle against Virman Vundamar and his forces to claim the throne of Apokolips before Darkseid returns thanks to his resurrections at the hands of the Legion of Doom.
Comics[]
- Dispatches Kanto to Metropolis and has him threaten to blow up the Kimball Mall if Superman doesn't come to stop him to allow Kanto to stab Superman with a Kryptonite dagger.
- Releases the Argoan killer Zod from the Phantom Zone so he can free Jax-Ur and Mala on Earth and kill Superman, enabling them to cause some destruction over Metropolis.
- Whips Darkseid's chained slaves to pull a cart with a giant Darkseid bust faster one day in Apokolips.
- Sabotages Scott Free's Rocket Sled of Death act through two Paracadets placing a bomb so Scott would either get himself killed and/or destroy half Metropolis if attempted to escape, while also having her Paracadets mutate some elephants to cause chaos in the circus.
- Tries to "lethally spank" Scott by shooting him just after he breaks free from the Rocket Sled of Death, but desists once she realizes that all her orphans are escaping due to the explosion destroying part of her orphanage.
- Promises her orphans as they run away to kill them if they try to leave her.
- Prepares all newcomers of Apokolips to a lifetime of servitude to Darkseid, which according to the Parademons, simply consists in suffering.
- Even goes back behind Darkseid to kill Scott Free while ordered to kill Superman, leading her to trick Scott into falling through a tunnel rigged with explosives (powerful to level at least one square mile of Metropolis) and booby traps while inciting Oberon to call Superman for help, intending to shoot him dead with a new weapon Kanto had designed for her.
- Restrains Livewire and knocks her out for speaking too much when she, Superman and Lex Luthor end up in Apokolips, then joining all of Darkseid's servants in seeing how Desaad nearly destroys the Earth with his Armageddon Cannon before Luthor chooses to help the heroes.
- Attacks the headquarters of the Justice League as they celebrated a party for the Flash and ordered her Parademons to kill them all and leave no witnesses just so she can gain the respect of the Apokoliptians.
- Tries to kill Kalibak and his forces so she can take over Apokolips.
- Kidnaps Aquaman's daughter Marina in an attempt to make her one of her Female Furies, leading Aquaman to save Marina but becoming an overprotective parent in the process, straining his relationship with his daughter.
- While she does have a few comedic moments, they don't detract from her villainy and she is still taken seriously as a threat in-universe.
Trivia[]
- Granny Goodness is, alongside Grant Walker, one of the two DC Animated Universe villains to qualify as Pure Evil based on her actions in the tie-in comic books in addition to her appearances in the television shows, as all the other DCAU Pure Evils, even one-shots, qualify based on their actions in the shows.
- That said, however, there were two scrapped ideas for the DCAU that would have made Granny stand out for her actions in the shows she appeared in had they been kept:
- In Evan Dorkin's and Sarah Dyer's original outline for the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Little Girl Lost", Granny Goodness was originally going to recruit and train wayward Metropolis teens with Apokoliptian technology because she was harvesting them as source material to create new Parademons to bulk up Darkseid's army in a plot inspired by the Coachman's Pleasure Island scheme from Disney's Pinocchio. Not only that, but the episode would have revealed that all Parademons were genetically-engineered beings such as Armaghetto inhabitants, slaves or even captured aliens like the Thanagarians and Martians, who were all transformed into soulless Parademons in Nazi-like chambers, all under Granny's supervision.
- Bruce Timm and Paul Dini initially planned to follow up the Superman two-parter series finale "Legacy" in Batman Beyond with a Justice League-centric episode in which it would have been revealed that thanks to the liason Superman had with Lashina when brainwashed by Granny Goodness, Lashina conceived a Kryptonian-Apokoliptian son who ended up overthrowing Darkseid and would try to launch an attack on Earth with his Apokoliptian forces, leading Superman, Terry McGinnis and the new Leaguers to face the Man of Steel's illegitimate son with Superman feeling guilty for not raising his son all the way.
- That said, however, there were two scrapped ideas for the DCAU that would have made Granny stand out for her actions in the shows she appeared in had they been kept:
- Granny Goodness has the distinction of being the sole DC Animated Universe female Pure Evildoer, as all the other Pure Evildoers of the DCAU are male.
- She is one of the two versions of Granny Goodness to be Pure Evil, alongside the Young Justice version.
External Links[]
- Granny Goodness on the Villains Wiki
- Granny Goodness on the DC Database Wiki
- Granny Goodness on the DC Animated Universe Wiki
[]
Animated Universe Pure Evils | ||
Batman: The Animated Series: Joker |
Grant Walker |
Pure Evils | ||
Comics Movies TV Shows Novelizations Video Games |
Pure Evils | ||
Comics Television Movies Video Games |