After the announcement of a new DC Universe spearheaded by James Gunn and Peter Safran, the question of how this new continuity will differ from the one established by Zack Snyder has been a point of constant and impassioned discussion. Following the reveal that Peacemaker will continue into the new universe, many have wondered if it would be any different from the mess of rejected ideas and mismatched creative visions that plagued the 10-year run of films from Man of Steel to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Would this be more of the same? Will Warner Bros fall into the same potholes that have derailed so many filmmakers over the last decade? How does this universe differ from the previous if it does at all? The answers to these questions are surprisingly found in the form of a short 7-episode animated series about a bunch of E-list DC monsters, The Creature Commandos, and while many might expect this to be a frivolous side dish before the main course, Creature Commandos instead acts as a sort of thesis statement what this new DCU can be.
Creature Commandos follows on from the events of both The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, where Waller’s Task Force X division has been outed to the world and shut down by the US government. Never one to lay down and follow orders Waller finds a loophole, a new group made up of monsters, creatures, freaks, and anything that can conceivably be ruled out as human. This gives us our team, The Bride, Nina Mazursky, previous Squad member Weasel, G.I Robot, and Doctor Phosphorus all led by Rick Flag Sr who has assumed the position of Squad leader following his son’s death in Gunn’s previous DC film. Immediately the show establishes canonical connections to the previous universe but Creature Commandos quickly establishes its setting as something altogether different.
If Man of Steel established the DC Universe as something resembling our own reality, a world where the introduction of Superman changes everything, Creature Commandos is its polar opposite. Gunn’s DCU is built upon decades of history that establishes the fact that superheroes, monsters, and general oddities are not a recent addition to this world but an accepted part of everyday life. Metahumans are commonplace, no one bats an eye at a robot fighting in World War 2 and a teenage girl with scales and gills has no issues enrolling in a high school. This is not the real world, any notion that a cinematic universe needs to feel grounded and rooted in our real world is out the window, Gunn’s world emphasizes magical realism first and foremost, it’s a massive pulp sandbox where anything and everything from DC’s vast history can be brought in naturally and easily without sacrificing the world’s believability or sense of tone. As someone who took great issue with Snyder’s emphasis on realism being the foundation for the DCEU, this approach already leaves me incredibly optimistic about the directions this new world can take.
The Commandos themselves feel like the perfect vessel to build out the world as well with each of the seven episodes focusing on a different character with half of each episode focusing on the team’s mission in the present day balanced out by flashbacks into a character’s past. These flashbacks manage to all feel incredibly tonally distinctive with the gothic horror of Frankenstein and the Bride’s stories feeling quite distinctive from the hilarity of GI Robot’s Nazi killing purpose and the bleak exploration of Gotham’s underworld which can be found in the flashbacks starring Doctor Phosphorous. Each story manages to feel tonally distinctive while feeling totally at home in the melting pot of the overall show’s narrative and style all vividly rendered with a crisp, fluid animation style that can emphasize the reality of the character’s circumstances while embracing the inherent absurdity of each Commando. The story of Each character functions very differently and manages to color different shades of the same world in a way that makes the setting feel richer and more full than it would have had we started with Superman. There are plenty of fun moments of worldbuilding and a few character appearances that got an old nerd like me really excited for where this universe may be headed, Gunn’s made it clear that the DCU will have an emphasis on worldbuilding and that is certainly clear in Creature Commandos.
The show’s flashback structure presents a lot of diversity in the show’s tonal palette but it also presents some pacing and structural problems that hold it back from reaching the same heights as some of Gunn’s other work. With each episode spending half of its already short running time in the past following stories that don’t affect the plot of the present-day mission the series lacks the buildup to a clear dynamic between its characters. Certain pairings gain prominence like Nina and The Bride but it doesn’t feel like the Commandos as a whole really get to come into their own as a team in the same way as the Suicide Squad and the Guardians. By the end of the first Guardians of the Galaxy I felt like I completely knew every character inside and out, Drax seemed as familiar to me as some members of my own family. I don’t think I could say the same about Doctor Phosphorous. In some ways, this feels intentional as these characters feel guarded and defensive in ways that make Rocket Raccoon seem positively vulnerable.
The flashbacks each have enough overlap thematically and emotionally to draw connections between characters. Still, those connections are rarely built upon in the present day as there’s just too much plot to move through. Thematically all of the flashbacks link together effectively with the main narrative, weaving together a story about a group of characters who have embraced their monstrous nature to cope with the various ways that the world has beaten them down, it works and when the show is at its most effective it manages to be genuinely touching and melancholic in a way that most superhero fare never even tries to achieve. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t take a little more time to build upon these ideas to create a more effective emotional throughline to really bring everything together. Even still Creature Commandos ends up as a slick and stylish invitation to explore a world filled with mysteries and stories just waiting to be uncovered even if the series itself can struggle to build up to something more complete.