What Is Creature Commandos? DC Show & Team Explained

Here's everything you need to know about Creature Commandos, an animated series set in James Gunnn’s new DCU. A “Monsterverse meets Captain America’s Howling Commandos,” the Creature Commandos are among the most obscure DC teams, especially because they do not interact with the main DC heroes like the Justice League very often. Still, considering that James Gunn is set to focus not only on DC powerhouses like Superman but also on lesser-known characters, similar to what he did in James Gunn's Superman Needs To Ditch A Classic DC Villain

Creature Commandos DC Comics History

An unusual team of creatures and monsters put together during World War II, the Creature Commandos made their debut in 1980s Weird War Tales #93 by J.M. DeMatteis and Pat Broderick. As the comic book series title suggests, Weird War Tales combined mystery and the supernatural with World War II in an anthology where Death would present readers with a different story in every issue. Despite the anthology approach, some of the Weird War Tales characters became recurrent ones, many of whom would later form the Creature Commandos. Similar to how the Justice Society came to be, the Creature Commandos were sort of a Weird War Tales crossover.

Among the many secret, metahuman-based projects developed during World War II that often appear in the DC or Marvel universes was Project M. With the enemy, Axis, getting access to highly advanced technology and about to win the war, the Allies had to come up with their own unconventional team of soldiers. In addition to sending the Justice Society to the front, the United States tried to develop a new technique of psychological warfare. The idea behind the Creature Commandos was not necessarily having an army of powerful metahuman creatures, but rather putting together monsters that would terrify whatever opponents they had to face.

A group of people with special powers sent on secret missions during World War II has been done several times in the comics and other media, such as X-Men's worst movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, yet the Creature Commands are unlike any of those. In a way, the Creature Commandos was a combination of the Suicide Squad and what became known as Justice League Dark. The Creature Commandos are not the only Word War II-inspired group of DC characters, with The Losers also being an important example. Despite not being that well-known, the Creature Commandos made an appearance in the Batman: The Brave and The Bold animated series.

Creature Commandos Team In DC Comics

DC Comics has its own versions of iconic pop culture creatures, many of whom were part of the Creature Commandos. That includes Frankenstein, which in the DC Universe is an actual creature and not just a popular character, as well as the Bride of Frankenstein, which also exists as a real creature in the DC Universe. The original Creature Commandos lineup also included Lt. Matthew Shrieve, the only fully human member and team leader; Bogman, DC’s version of the Black Lagoon creature; Dr.Medusa, whose snake-crafted hair resembles that of Medusa, and G.I. Robot, a reinterpretation of the 1960s’ Star Spangled War Stories comic book character of the same name.

Other Creature Commandos team throughout the years included G.I. Zombie, a zombie trained to become a soldier; Ben Hunter, a human who was enhanced with technology from the future; Doctor Phosphorus, who would later serve as inspiration for Batman Beyond’s main villain Blight; Elliot Taylor, who was supposed to be the Creature Commandos’ version of the Frankenstein creature before the actual one was brought into the DC Universe continuity; Aten, DC's version of a mummy creature, and Man-Bat, the flying Batman villain. Similar to the 2008 DC animated movie Justice League: The New Frontier, one of the Creature Commandos’ first missions was to explore the mysterious Dinosaur Island.

DC Universe Creature Commandos Show Explained

DC Comics' Bride of Frankenstein Creature Commandos show

In the Creature Commandos DCU animated show, the team will consist of Rick Flagg Sr. who is set to appear elsewhere in live-action with the same actor in both projects; Nina Mazursky, a version of Bogman who’s linked to the founder of Project M in the comics; Eric Frankenstein, which appears to be a version of Elliot Taylor rather than the actual Frankenstein creature, and the Bride of Frankenstein, who will be Creature Commandos’ protagonist. The Creature Commandos lineup will also include G.I. Robot, Doctor Phosphorus, and Weasel, the latter of which briefly appeared in 2021’s The Suicide Squad movie.

Creature Commandos will have 7 episodes, all of which were written by James Gunn himself, and will take place in the new DC Universe. The choice for Rick Flagg Sr. to be part of the Creature Commandos rather than something like the original Suicide Squad team or The Losers is interesting, and it suggests that the Creature Commandos show will be quite important to the future of the DCU. Rick Flagg Sr. can work as a link between this World War II-set group and present-day DCU stories, with the Creature Commandos perhaps serving as an in-universe inspiration for Task Force X, popularly known as the Suicide Squad.

The “horror side” of the DC Universe has yet to be explored in mainstream adaptations. Apart from the Swamp Thing show. DC never really dove into its supernatural side when it comes to movies or TV shows despite several attempts at a Justice League Dark movie in the past. Though the Creature Commandos are not as recognizable as Constantine or Zatanna, a Creature Commandos animated show for the DCU is a promising start. Between the World War II setting and the chosen Creature Commandos lineup, Creature Commandos is already quite different from other DC animated shows and superhero adaptations in general.

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