‘Creature Commandos’ Is a Great Primer for the Weirdness of James Gunn’s DCU

I loved how the White Walkers were introduced in Game of Thrones. They kicked off the whole narrative, as we witnessed one of them show up, kill a couple of dudes, and be presented as a clear threat to everyone in Westeros. Then, they just kind of disappear. They are still around, but we don’t see them regularly until much later. Regardless, they are baked into the world in a way that we know our more grounded leads will have to deal with them eventually. Watching Creature Commandos, the first official entrant into James Gunn’s new DCU gave me a similar feeling.

*Slight Spoilers For Creature Commandos Ahead*

Creature Commandos is an animated series set in Gunn’s DCU; complete with the promise that the actors voicing the cartoon characters can and will appear as the live-action versions. Viola Davis reprises the role of Amanda Waller which she has already played in the flesh several times (and will continue to do so). Frank Grillo voices Rick Flagg Sr. who has yet to appear onscreen but is confirmed to appear in Gunn’s Superman and Peacemaker (season 2). The rest of the voice cast includes the likes of Indira Varma, Alan Tudyk, Zoë Chao, and David Harbour who play a rag-tag crew of monsters sent out by Waller on missions (replacing her Suicide Squad).

The show presents a world already populated by zany monsters and unfettered weirdness (which is right in Gunn’s wheelhouse). There is hyper-violence, foul language, intercourse between a man and the corpse he reanimated, and all the needle drops you would expect from a James Gunn-written creation (and he wrote all eight episodes of this inaugural season). In short, the show is not meant for everybody. It’s not just that you can’t (likely) sit the family down and enjoy it together. The show feels niche in a way that it may not have any broad appeal, and that’s part of the plan.

Gunn has not been shy about wanting his DCU to have many points of entry. The stories will be made as long as a good story is there. There will be room for a hopeful, more family-friendly movie (at least in comic book movie terms) like Superman, where an image of Supes with his lovable dog Krypto has been touted to show the film’s tone. There will also be room for a robot who desires little else in life than murdering hordes of Nazis (and look, that could be family-friendly too depending on the family). While these projects have different tones, that doesn’t mean they won’t interact.

If anything, Gunn is starting in a way that will allow those interactions to feel more organic. I am a big fan of Zack Snyder’s DC films, but Man of Steel implies that Superman was humanity’s first interaction with anything superheroic. Then, as more characters are introduced, it becomes harder to track who was there first and what the humans know of this world. Then it shifts to, “Well, some people knew but most didn’t because they were in hiding, but somehow it didn’t get out there that a Wonder Woman was throwing tanks in World War I.” It’s not even confusing, it’s just kind of annoying.

Plenty of that could have to do with Snyder staying more focused on his films and there not being a shepherd keeping all of the continuity nonsense on track. Gunn has the benefit of being Co-Chairman of DC Studios in addition to still working as a writer and director. He can oversee the creative aspects of other people’s films and shows while setting the tone with his own. His inherent weirdness will be at the base of the DCU, and Creature Commandos is a great example of that. It feels like it is intentionally setting a table that will be filled with different dishes from different chefs, but the plates and cutlery are sourced from the same place (one of my sweatiest metaphors but I’m sticking to it).

As I mentioned previously, Grillo has been spotted as his animated character filming scenes for Superman. He also has a fairly graphic (but mostly loud) sex scene in episode two of Creature Commandos. Those worlds will collide. I’m also not saying that Superman won’t have its own inherent weirdness. The “grounded” leads in Game of Thrones still had dragons and took people’s faces. But the White Walkers did eventually make themselves known with a vengeance. Gunn can build to a similar mix and match of tones and characters, but starting with his weirdest foot forward is a great way to prime his audience for what’s to come.