Series Review: Creature Commandos
Series Review: Creature Commandos is a strange, violent, and pretentious beginning
It seems that the competition to see which cinematic universe of the superhero genre is better than another continues to be a hot topic, while Marvel prepares the premiere of the third and final season of the animated series What If…? DC Studios does the same by presenting what is the beginning of a new universe.
After the failures and cancellations of the SnyderVerse and other productions for film and television, two years after James Gunn was assigned to this position, and things have taken a different direction, we still don’t have a clear idea of how he wants to do things.
On the one hand, the “famous” ArrowVerse started a franchise on CW in October 2012. That connected directly with other series and spin-offs such as The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Black Lightning, and the recently finished Superman & Lois as well as the animated miniseries Freedom Fighters: The Ray and Vixen tried to create something new and never before seen on television by exploring the multiverse of these characters in more depth.
It is now in 2024 that Creature Commandos arrives, an animated series for adults based on the eponymous DC Comics team produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation is the first television series and the first installment for the new DC Universe led by James Gunn.
What is the animated series Creature Commandos about?
After the events of The Suicide Squad (2021) and the first season of Peacemaker (2022), Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assembles a very unconventional secret operations team made up of monstrous beings they call Creature Commandos, led by General Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo). Together, they will have to put aside their differences to rescue a small nation from the power of Circe (Anya Chalotra), who threatens to start a war.
After a controversy of back and forth after this series was announced by Gunn and Safran in 2023 and they revealed the plans and projects on their list of a new DCU, for or against this, we ask ourselves why formally start with this animated series? The answer is simple and it is because the formula that Gunn has to rescue secondary or canceled teams of antiheroes works under the context of being able to delve deeper into them and humanize them.
This peculiar team has been published by DC Comics, Creature Commandos are impossible and military beings located during World War II, created by JM DeMatteis and Pat Broderick, the original team made its debut in the comic Weird War Tales # 93 in November 1980, and was made up of the human leader Matthew Shrieve, a werewolf, G.I. Robot, a vampire, Frankenstein’s monster and a gorgon, after its medium success and acceptance, a more modern team was introduced in its miniseries Creature Commandos #1/8 in 2000, written by Tim Truman and drawn by Scot Eaton.
This controversial and long-awaited release has finally been released dividing opinions, some believe that this is good and for those who do not, this is a pretext to integrate them into what will be the new Superman movie soon to be released in 2025, we are facing an animated series for adults with language, sexual scenes and explicit graphic violence that focuses on a team made up of monsters The Bride (Indira Varma), G.I. Robot, Weasel, Doctor Phosphorus, Nina Mazursky/The amphibian Woman and Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour) who use and hold captive below the law to undertake impossible missions to save the world.
This series could seem like a new version of Guardians Of The Galaxy and Suicide Squad in a different version, the comparisons are obvious since Gunn uses the same formula to humanize them, however, what we have seen on screen in these 3 episodes of the 7 that complete the first season have gone from good to better to much better.
As expected, the references give a definitive closure to what the previous DCU and raise what this new adaptation according to Gunn’s own words will not be linear as they have done in the House of Ideas, although there will be a connection between all of them, things will be told at different times and flashbacks within the same projects, a risky idea that if put into practice before possibly would have worked better, which does not guarantee that in these new projects, it will work as the studios expect.
Once again we see that the director of A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans), Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) does not understand that using criminals and now monsters to do the dirty work behind the back of an American government that prefers to look at the other way in situations of imminent danger to humanity is not a good idea, now she has been restricted by Congress from using humans in this type of mission.
The best option and the only one she has is to recruit Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) as a leader, in this team of non-human prisoners for a mission that consists of helping the small nation of Pokolistan that is an ally of the U.S. and taking care of the safety of the soon-to-be-throned Princess Ilana Rostovic (Maria Bakalova) against the Amazonian Sorceress Circe (Anya Chalotra) and her allies The Sons of Themyscira who support this villain to conquer the rest of the world.
The team is made up of monstrous and unusual beings, they have a sensitive, deep, and even human side with their tragic and tortured souls, Doctor Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk) is a radioactive being who can burn everything around him and who has a cynical and sarcastic attitude, G.I. Robot (Sean Gunn) has been programmed to kill Nazis regardless of his main directive having a specific timeline, Weasel (Sean Gunn) from the Suicide Squad a child-killing and very violent weasel, Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao) is an amphibious woman, The Bride (Indira Varma) the second creation of Victor Frankenstein who is also the internal leader of this team and finally Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour) the now intelligent and millionaire stalker and murderer.
In its context and style, this series could be defined as a bloody, obscene, and vulgar adventure. The fact that Gunn uses this type of character again to deepen and humanize them is already a very worn-out cliché that ensures media success. Each of these 3 episodes dedicates its own time to tell us 2 stories in one. On the one hand, we have the conflict of this nation, and on the other, the internal conflict and the story of these characters who in a forced way share a camaraderie that turns out to be very familiar to them so as not to feel so alone and disoriented in a world that they no longer know and to which they do not belong.
The 3 episodes that are already available are:
1. The Collywobbles.
The small nation of Pokolistan is being attacked by the sorceress Circe and her followers, in response to this the now director of A.R.G.U.S. Amanda Waller assigns Rick Flag Sr. as leader of the mission who will have to protect, defend and help her heir Princess Ilana Rostovic and in turn stop, Cire after the US Congress canceled the Task Force X program after what happened in Corto Maltese and for endangering human lives now recruits a team of non-human inmates from Belle Reve penitentiary, The Bride, Doctor Phosphorus, G.I. Robot, Weasel and Nina Mazursky under the code name Task Force M, the plan is for the team to settle in the castle and from there carry out the assigned operations.
2. The Tourmaline Necklace.
In 1831, Eric asks his creator, Dr. Frankenstein, to create a wife for him from female corpses. After successfully fulfilling his request, Victor teaches the Bride how to speak and function normally, much to Eric’s dismay. Despite his advances, the newborn creature continues to fear the presence of this monster, causing her to flee and take refuge in her creator. Sometime later, Victor gives the Bride a tourmaline necklace, and as expected, the two fall in love and have sex. Eric, upon seeing this, kills his father and creator, causing the Bride to attack him and then flee. For decades, Eric harasses and pursues her around the world, even though she rejects him at each encounter. In the present, the Bride and Nina are searching for the necklace in Victor’s mansion when they are attacked by Circe, and although they fight, they have already lost this battle.
3. Cheers to the Tin Man.
G.I. Robot is created and programmed to join the Easy squadron to fight during World War II defending them and killing Nazis, years later in the 60s the United States government gives him to the scientist Will Magnus to study him and create a new robotic army, years later and already in the 90s G.I. is found in a military antiques store by the collector Sam Fitzgibbon establishing a new friendship with him, which will be put to the test when the robot learns that his now friend is part of a neo-Nazi group and carries out his main and most important directive: kill all Nazis and their allies, after this crime G.I. is sentenced to prison in Belle Reve, already in the present, Task Force M arrives at Victor’s mansion and rescues Nina and the Bride but Flag realizes that it was a distraction from Circe to attack Rostovic’s castle and kill the princess, when the team returns and finds the castle being attacked Flags with the help of G.I. They manage to stop Circe, who, now defeated, is the one who has condemned the world.
While these 3 episodes go from good to very good and better, James Gunn’s handling of the stories is more fluid than in his previous live-action productions, the fact that it is an animated series gives him more freedom to tell each thing in more detail and go deeper with them in a perverse game with the viewer, making us empathize with these characters and their tragic stories, which he has adapted to a more modern and real world.
The first episode focuses on political issues and a direct attack on feminist groups by a group of activists who are now fighting for men’s rights and who are also helping a villain. On the other hand, and in the same vein, the Creature Commandos’ mission is to protect American interests because of their interest in oil, which has unleashed this whole conflict that may or may not end in a war.
The second episode manages to have three important things in favor of its plot: it goes deeper into the main conflict, then details the story in more depth, the origin of The Bride, and finally sets out what direction the mission will take.
The third episode presents us with a flashback of what G-I-Robot has been since its creation and why it is considered a danger to humanity.
The animation, while good, is nothing new. We have already seen this type of design in Warner Studios Animation’s animated films for some years now, only now it has the bonus of being explicitly more violent. The character designs are intended to be like an animated vignette with CGI backgrounds when presenting its action sequences, which are very well done.
The flaw here is that we again see Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad but with another name and other characters. It is disappointing that Gunn uses a comfort zone to his advantage, which he is already used to and which has worked for him according to the team and context he handles. Something simple so as not to go into so many details and which serves only to link facts and situations with the main project, which is the Superman movie.
Following this, the series regrettably and pretentiously stumbles over its narrative rhythm, which leaves things unfinished to complete others. Its format and duration, which ranges between 20 and 27 minutes in length, interrupt what we want to continue watching, a strategy that ensures that as viewers we are hooked on watching it week after week, which in turn increases the number of followers and subscribers to the platform.
Its structure also has a design that we have seen before, directors Matt Peters and Sam Liu alternate the episodes trying to make them have a symmetry that is very identifiable, while one focuses more on the drama and the other focuses on the action, something that could well be an exercise that works in another medium but that here poses its own rules.
The voice cast is made up of Indira Varma, Sean Gunn, Alan Tudyk, Zoë Chao, David Harbour, Frank Grillo, Maria Bakalova, Anya Chalotra, Peter Serafinowicz, Benjamin Byron Davis, and Viola Davis who do a great job with these characters, who understand, develop and deepen with the dialogues written by Gunn.
The music is composed by Kevin Kiner and Clint Mansell who return to work with Gunn after their time on the Peacemaker series with new songs that, although none of them are completely outstanding, do not go unnoticed, the help of classic songs such as the opening theme is a new version of the song Moliendo café by Venezuelan Hugo Blanco, now performed by the Romani band Fanfare Ciocărlia.
In conclusion, Creature Commandos works halfway as a worthy opening for a new universe, something incoherent but that works under its context and that, although it does not disappoint, it does not meet the expectations that were had of this new DCU. Let’s hope that the episodes that follow conclude in a good way and that we have better projects in the future.
Creature Commandos is now available on the Max platform.
