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James Gunn: Creating CREATURE COMMANDOS “one of the absolute joys of my life.”

Chris Well

Military monster TV show scheduled to hit Max in December.

“The new series picks up directly after our Peacemaker season one finale. Which leaves Waller no longer able to get away with putting human lives on the line to carry out her clandestine morally questionable missions.”

One of the first new projects coming out of the DC Comics media relaunch is Creature Commandos, based on the comic book with soldiers who copy classic monsters like Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, and the Wolf Man. This is the first article to come to market since James Gunn and Peter Safran were put in charge as the bosses of DC Studios.

Gunn talked about the upcoming cartoon show in a video presentation at the Annecy Animation Festival. (He couldn’t be there in person because he was busy shooting the new Superman movie in Atlanta.)

This version of Creature Commandos will feature a group of monsters led by Amanda Waller (from Suicide Squad fame). The voice cast was picked so the various actors can also play these these characters in live-action productions as well.

Waller is being voiced by Viola Davis, who has already played her onscreen. The cast also includes Frank Grillo voicing Rick Flag Sr., set to also show up on screen in Peacemaker Season 2. (BTW, Flag is the father of the leader who was murdered—by Peacemaker—in The Suicide Squad.)

Gunn, talking to the audience at the festival, mentioned how his and Safran’s plans involve creating a unified vision that includes DC film, TV, animation, and games. The idea is to bring a sense of unity and consistency into the DCU as a whole.

“This frees us to create a range of products that are diverse and compelling,” Gunn told the crowd, “and deliver great stand-alone entertainment experiences on every medium, while also being part of a larger story that we’re telling within our unified DCU.”

As such, Gunn pointed out, that means the various characters can move in and out of a movie or game or cartoon and have a consistent presence. For example, the details of the Creature Commandoes animated show are a direct follow-up to what happened in the first season of the live action show Peacemaker.

“The new series picks up directly after our Peacemaker season one finale,” Gunn said. “Which leaves Waller with her hands tied operationally, meaning that she’s no longer able to get away with putting human lives on the line to carry out her clandestine morally questionable missions. Instead, she recruits a ragtag band of misfits, not unlike the Suicide Squad and Peacemaker.”

Of course, what makes the lead characters from Creature Commandos different from the other shows is that these are actual monsters. Gunn said, “Creating this series has been one of the absolute joys of my life.”

Now the co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn is a filmmaker and studio executive whose resume includes writing and directing projects like the 2006 horror-comedy movie Slither, the MCU movies involving the Guardians of the Galaxy, the underrated 2021 movie The Suicide Squad, and the HBO Max original show Peacemaker. He is currently directing the upcoming 2025 movie Superman.

His partner at the top, Peter Safran, has been a movie producer and manager. His projects have included producing The Conjuring Universe, plus The Suicide Squad, the Peacemaker TV show, and movies like Aquaman, Shazam!, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Find Gunn’s original announcement for the DCU here: Military Monsters ‘Creature Commandos’ returning in new TV show, new comic book. (Including several other projects they plan—with mentions of Swamp Thing, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and more.)

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How The Creature Commandos Got Started

The Creature Commandos were introduced as soldier monsters that were serving during World War II. Making their debut in Weird War Tales #93 (1980), the original team was created by J.M. DeMatteis and Pat Broderick. Led by a human, the team included a version of Frankenstein’s monster, a werewolf, a vampire, and a gorgon.

In an interview with Comics Interview in 1985, DeMatteis said he got the idea for the team as he had been writing the Weird War Tales anthology comic book series for a while. He kept looking at the title “Weird War” and thinking, Ya gotta have a lot of monsters.

Over time, the series included stories written by several writers and artists. Find this Creature Commandoes collection at Amazon. You can also talk about Creature Commandos with the folks at your local comic book store. Click HERE to find a comic book store near you.

Creature Commandos on screen

Although the original comic was set in the 1940s, the new version will take place in the present day. In addition to Viola Davis and Frank Grillo, the cast will include David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein, Indira Varma as The Bride, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic, and Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky.

Sean Gunn will reprise his role as Weasel (from the movie The Suicide Squad) and also play G.I. Robot. Steve Agee will once again play Waller’s staffer John Economos (also from The Suicide Squad and the show Peacemaker).

In a previous interview, Harbour had talked to Happy Sad Confused about the possibilities of playing a role for DC that could show up in multiple media. “I suppose in terms of building this universe there’s a lot of opportunity for these characters to be all sorts of different iterations. There might be a live thing, there might be a cartoon, there might be whatever. And James is just such an incredible guy. I've always wanted to work for him.”

Harbour also talked about his character in the show: “It’s a very interesting take on Frankenstein, because one of the great things about Frankenstein is he was sort of raised to be this erudite model of a man, and he still has this weird inhuman rage and confusion within him. So, it was a great character to play. It’s very funny. ”

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