There’s a lot riding on Max’s Creature Commandos. The seven-episode animated series from James Gunn about a squad of monsters/criminals working for the government is kicking off the new DCU, an overarching plan to produce 10 years of interlinked TV shows and movies (and video games) all set in the world of DC Comics. And while there’s plenty of humor, heart, and gross action at play, the series can neither hold up to that pressure — nor can it quite come together as a season of television.
While Creature Commandos ostensibly takes place in a new cinematic universe, it picks up right after the events of Gunn’s Peacemaker… Which itself picked up after the events of Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. With Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) unable to use human beings to do her dirty work, she assembles a squad of monsters called Task Force M. Or, more colloquially, the Creature Commandos.
The plot itself is light, and reminiscent of the plot of The Suicide Squad. The team is assembled, sent to the European country of Pokolistan, and told to protect the nation’s Princess, Ilana (Maria Bakalova) from an invading force. There are some twists and turns along the way, and some big action scenes. But Gunn’s real focus seems to be less on the spiraling, world ending stakes in the present day, and more on what happened in the past.
Each episode, by Gunn’s own admission, has mildly taken the structure of LOST, with one member of the team getting a flashback that either tells part or all of their origin story. These sequences are both the strongest part of each individual episode, and the weakest part of the season overall.
Clearly taking inspiration from the tragedy of Frankenstein in particular, the whole theme of the show is “who is really the monster?” In some cases, yes, these monsters are the monster. But for the most part Gunn points the finger back at members of society; from toxic masculinity, to overzealous cops, to our nation’s lack of support for science and healthcare. These are strong themes and play powerfully and tragically in multiple episodes… But they also often don’t connect with what’s happening in the main action, other than tangentially. To pick up the LOST thread, many of the flashbacks have the emotional gravitas of revealing John Locke’s (Terry O’Quinn) life before he could walk, but the thematic connection of revealing how Jack (Matthew Fox) got his tattoos.
It’s unfortunate, too, because it makes these episodes play out like character sketches, or backstory bits from a show bible, rather than cohesive parts of the show as a whole. Watching feels like Gunn was beginning to crack these characters, just as the season ends. The flashback structure also turns the series from a specific screed on toxic masculinity in the first half of the season, to something more amorphous in the back half, as certain parts of the main plot fall away and disappear entirely.
Despite all this, the voice cast is pretty spectacular throughout. Indira Varma anchors the cast as The Bride (of Frankenstein), a been there, done that action bada** who develops a deep friendship with the earnest fishwoman Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao). Alan Tudyk is excellent as always as the drily dark Doctor Phosphorus, as well as playing several other voices throughout the season, including several iconic DC characters. David Harbour gets the most laughs as the dangerously dim Eric Frankenstein, hopelessly in love with a Bride who will never return his feelings.
Frank Grillo also slots nicely into the universe as Rick Flag Sr., the father of Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman), who died in The Suicide Squad. He’s the straight man in the series, both literally and figuratively, and plays well off Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller, and Steve Agee’s also returning John Economos. As Grillo will be popping up again in both Peacemaker Season 2 and 2025’s Superman, getting him on board seems like a good call on Gunn’s part.
In fact, the voice cast is packed to the gills with both Gunn regulars like his brother Sean Gunn (who plays both the feral Weasel, and the Nazi-killing G.I. Robot), and veteran voice actors who pop in to play roles like “Guy 1” with aplomb. Which points to one of the stealth strength of the show: animation neophyte James Gunn wrote the episodes, but passed it off to animation experts to direct, smooth out, and cast the show. And the animation is very good throughout, bloody and adult with copious amounts of guts and flagrant nudity in equal portions. This is not a show for kids, by any stretch of the imagination. What that points to for the upcoming Superman and other movies is TBD. But this is in line content-wise with The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, rather than, say, DC League of Super-Pets.
Is it fair to judge a show based on what it says about an entire cinematic universe? Maybe, maybe not. But as an opening salvo for Gunn’s “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters,” aka the first chunk of stories in the DCU, Creature Commandos is a curious one. This is, for all intents and purposes, a continuing chapter in the story Gunn has been telling since The Suicide Squad rebooted Suicide Squad in 2021. It’s also — without getting into spoilers — very clearly a DC Universe that is already in progress, based on the copious surprising character cameos and Easter eggs littered throughout. Can you go into Creature Commandos clean without ever having watched anything in what was previously referred to as the DCEU? Sure. But it is massively helpful to understand the layout of DC’s universe to fully enjoy what’s happening on screen.
Likely this is because Gunn was writing this on spec before he got the job to chair DC, and crafted his new DCU. And because of that it’s straddling both what came before, and what comes next. There are points when it’s clear the “present day” story of Creature Commandos would have worked better as a movie, whether the flashbacks were peppered throughout or not. But this isn’t the sort of thing you open in theaters, or at least likely the bean counters at Warner Bros. Discovery wouldn’t think so. You want safe bets like Superman, or a forthcoming Batman movie — not Monster Squad 2k24.
Whatever the backstory, this show is the first out of the gate for the DCU. It’s not a bad start, mind you. As detailed, there’s plenty to like. If you’re a fan of Gunn’s work, this is a minor entry in his canon, but there’s pleasure to be had. This group isn’t the Guardians of the Galaxy, or even The Suicide Squad. Or The Specials, for that matter. But they are fun, violent weirdos — aka, Gunn’s speciality.
The issue, perhaps, is that Creature Commandos likely won’t sell anyone new on the DCU’s take on superheroes. Perhaps Superman will fit that bill. But as is, this is neither a monstrous misfire, nor a monster hit. It’s a generally enjoyable animated series that, like Frankenstein’s monster, feels cobbled together from multiple parts.
Creature Commandos premieres with two episodes Thursday, December 5 at 3 am ET / Midnight PT on Max.
Where To Watch Creature Commandos:
Creature Commandos Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The first two episodes of Creature Commandos premiere Thursday, December 5 at 3 am ET / Midnight PT on Max. One episode a week premieres after that, leading to the season finale on January 9, 2025.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Creature Commandos, with premiere dates:
- Thursday, December 5, 2024: Creature Commandos, Episode 1: “The Collywobbles”
- Thursday, December 5, 2024: Creature Commandos, Episode 2: “The Tourmaline Necklace”
- Thursday, December 12, 2024: Creature Commandos, Episode 3: “Cheers To The Tin Man”
- Thursday, December 19, 2024: Creature Commandos, Episode 4: “Chasing Squirrels”
- Thursday, December 26, 2024: Creature Commandos, Episode 5
- Thursday, January 2, 2025: Creature Commandos, Episode 6
- Thursday, January 9, 2025: Creature Commandos, Episode 7
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