Few in Hollywood bear the weight of expectations like James Gunn, the recently appointed ruler of the DC Studios entertainment empire.

In 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery hired Gunn as the co-head of DC Studios. They’ve entrusted him with the future of their film and television franchises, including iconic properties like Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Justice League. 

For nearly two decades, comic book films have been Hollywood’s lifeblood. Yet, Warner Bros.’ DC heroes struggle to match the box office success and cultural cachet of their Marvel competitors. During the comic book movie boom, Warner Bros. hit-or-miss run of films diminished their standing among moviegoers while leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table.

With public interest in superheroes showing signs of waning, the studio can’t afford to whiff on their upcoming slate of DC movies and TV shows. It’s put up or shut up time for DC Studios, which makes Gunn’s hiring such an intriguing gamble.

GUNN TAKES THE REINS

Gunn isn’t the safest choice. While he achieved mainstream success with Guardians of the Galaxy, his sensibilities are anything but conventional. He’s a Troma artist to the core, and he thrives at telling violent and twisted stories about weirdos, outsiders, and freaks. He’s an unconventional choice to direct a wholesome character like Superman, but a bonkers concept like Creature Commandos is tailor-made for his off-kilter style. 

If you’ve never heard of Creature Commandos, you’re in good company. Imagine the Suicide Squad comprised of the Universal Monsters and you get the concept. The series features the type of C-list comic book characters Gunn loves treating like restoration projects. 

Gunn created and co-wrote Max’s seven-episode animated series, Creature Commandos, the first official entry in his reimagined DC universe. The series offers a first glimpse of the style and tone that will define DC’s film and television projects for the next decade.

SUICIDE SQUAD REMIX

The Creature Commandos first debuted in a 1980 issue of Weird War Tales, chronicling a team of classic monsters on Inglourious Basterds-style Nazi-hunting missions. The team’s roster evolved over the years, and the animated series delivers a modernized take on the original premise.

The story picks up a couple years after the events in The Suicide Squad wreaked havoc in Corto Maltese. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is as ruthless as ever and still willing to do whatever it takes to keep her country safe. Her secret weapon, the Task Force X (aka the Suicide Squad) program, places bombs inside criminals’ heads and blackmails them into defending their country. But once Congress learns of Waller’s inhumane tactics they shut down her Task Force X program.

When the rogue Amazonian sorceress Circe (Anya Chalotra) attacks the nation of Pokolistan, Waller bends the rules to assemble a new team of “not-quite-humans.” She tasks General Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) with leading a “non-human” team of criminals locked away in Belle Reve Penitentiary. The team includes Victor Frankenstein’s creation The Bride (Indira Varma), radioactive scientist Doctor Phosphorus, feral man-beast Weasel (Sean Gunn), Nazi-hating war machine G.I. Robot (also Sean Gunn), and Creature from the Black Lagoon-inspired Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao). 

The team is a walking disaster. They don’t get along and have no respect for their handler, Flag. 

Making matters worse, the team’s presence in Pokolistan draws the attention of Frankenstein’s original monster, Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour). Eric loves The Bride with all his rotting heart, and his toxic quest to win her affection threatens to derail the Pokolistan mission.

A KILLER CAST

Creature Commandos features a top-tier cast whose performances don’t always hit their mark. Davis and Grillo are the worst offenders. To be fair, Davis doesn’t have much to do in her small role, but her performance often sounds like she’s phoning it in. Grillo, despite much more screen time, turns in a one-note performance, as a battle-hardened soldier. In an ensemble cast of supernatural kooks, Flag should be the most grounded and relatable character on the show. Instead, he comes off as the most forgettable.

On the other hand, Harbour is phenomenal as Eric. His unhinged incel-coded take on the character swings between hilarious and shocking. He’s a hulking psychopath with a toddler’s temperament making him the show’s chaos agent — often the most monstrous monster on the program.

Indira Varma steals scene after scene as The Bride. She’s an ice-cold badass, but Varma lets enough hints of vulnerability trickle through to give The Bride some actual depth. She’s one of the few characters on the program I would love to see cross over into a live-action film — but I’ll settle for an animated spinoff. Tudyk was born to voice zany animated characters, and he had a blast as Doctor Phosphorus, but the series underserves his talents. And therein lies the show’s biggest flaw.

PACING ISSUES

Creature Commandos‘ seven (roughly) 22-minute episodes don’t provide enough runtime to serve its entire cast. The show borrows Lost’s template, with each episode delving into a character’s past via flashbacks. By covering the past and present within each episode, both segments feel rushed.

Episodes blast through the plot so fast it’s like skimming bullet points in a Wikipedia entry. I appreciate how each episode seeks to examine the humanity within each “monster.” The issue is that these capsule stories don’t have enough breathing room. Creature Commandos would benefit from longer runtimes and an extended season. By episode seven I understood each character’s motivations but rarely cared about what they were going through. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

For better or worse, Creature Commandos delivers 100% pure-uncut James Gunn — a vulgar, flippant, horny, thrilling, schmaltzy, and ultra-violent story about a band of outsiders. Above all, the show is unapologetically earnest. Gunn uses an elevated world of gods and monsters to reflect on what it means to be human. Like all his best work, he focuses on themes of redemption, found family, and discovering one’s self-worth.

This show doesn’t take itself seriously, while still having love and respect for its offbeat characters and the DC universe mythology. If you enjoyed The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker you’ll feel right at home. If you prefer dark and gritty comic book adaptations, you may struggle with the cheeky vibes. The big question now is whether future DC films and series will follow Creature Commando’s action-comedy template or branch out into different styles and tones. Either way, this opening salvo is worth a binge — you can burn through all seven episodes in under three hours. While its scale and scope make for a modest intro to the new DCU, Creature Commandos still delivers a devilishly entertaining first impression.

Creature Commandos is now streaming on StackTV and AppleTV.