James Gunn Unveils ‘Creature Commandos’ and Shares Updates on ‘Superman,’ ‘Supergirl’ and ‘Lanterns’
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James Gunn and the cast of his upcoming Max animated series Creature Commandos took to the stage at New York Comic Con on Saturday, promising a new DC Universe entry that is “something beyond what any of us expected.”
The series’ executive producer and writer was joined at the packed panel by fellow executive producer Dean Lorey, as well as voice cast members Frank Grillo (Rick Flag Sr.), David Harbour (Frankenstein), Zoë Chao (Nina Mazursky), Steve Agee (Economos), Maria Bakalova (Princess Ilana), Alan Tudyk (Dr. Phosphorus) and Sean Gunn (GI Robot and Weasel) for a series trailer and a conversation that teased the first installment in the new Gunn and Peter Safran-led DC Universe.
Gunn confirmed during the panel that the series will be “its own thing. Every single project out of DC Studios is going to be its own thing. We want this to be very different from what Superman is going to be when that comes out,” he said, pointing to Lanterns and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. “It’s a connected universe but we’re not imposing any overall aesthetic.”
That aesthetic, according to Lorey, is “a real sort of Eastern European kind of aesthetic to it. We were looking to do something that was sort of grounded, but with some style to it. It’s got a lot of really dark, dark tones. The palettes are really cool. But as you can see, it’s very action-oriented. It sets itself apart from, say, Harley Quinn and those kind of shows. It feels more adult.”
Gunn addressed the early process for the series, which was already in the works before he stepped on to helm DC Studios. “It was written when I started as the CEO of DC Studios. I had talked to Max about creating something after Peacemaker did so well. I talked to Peter Girardi about creating an animated series. I like the Creature Commandos. I love monsters. I love Frankenstein, the story of Bride of Frankenstein. It seemed like the perfect thing to do,” he said. “I wrote the scripts without a deal. then I happened to get hired instead of DC studios, and I very graciously. Thank you, self.”
During the panel, each of the performers teased their respective characters, many of which were described as complicated monsters, with Tudyk promising “you’re going see where everybody came from, their origins and it’s terrifying.” He added, “There’s moments where you are shocked and horrified and moved, and then, by the same characters, can make you laugh, and then also make you cringe because they’re so violent and screwed up.”
In terms of other guest spots, Linda Cardellini and Michael Rooker will be among the voices viewers can expect to appear. Gunn also shouted out actress Indira Varma, who could not be at the panel but is voicing the Bride who acts as the series’ protagonist, as well as Viola Davis, who returned to voice Amanda Waller. “She just grounded it so well, and she’s so incredible in the show,” he said. “She gets a chance to do a little bit of humorous stuff too. Some emotional stuff. She just really brought everything together. I’m so fortunate to have her as a person in my life and in my career.”
Speaking specifically to Frankenstein, Gunn noted he leaned into Mary Shelley’s original story for the character. “It’s definitely its own take, for sure. But you do have this Frankenstein and the Bride story, which has a bit of a traditional thing to it,” Harbour told the crowd. “It’s a familiar theme, but it’s a very original take, and it’s some beautiful storytelling. I just love the character, and I think people will be really surprised by it.”
Grillo also teased that there will be more adult depictions of romantic relationships: “Maria and I, we have a very steamy, X-rated kind of scene, which I watched with my 16-year-old son — fairly traumatic.” Added Gunn to crowd laughs, “I have video of Frank and Maria in the booth trying to coax them into the scene, and they’re moaning, and they’re making out, and they’re both just like making out with their hands.”
Added Tudyk, “It is an adult show, and it has all the adult things. One of those things is sex.” In terms of how far they went overall in terms of content, Gunn noted, “There was one thing in the show I remember that I thought was too much. I pulled back, but not very much.”
“Maybe the one thing that this series has in common with Harley and to some extent, Kite Man, even though those are pretty clearly comedies, we took them seriously dramatically. We took the relationships very seriously when there was a death or anything like that, but we wanted people to feel it,” said Lorey. “So that was a little bit of a crossover because this gave us an opportunity to more fully do that than we could do in a pure comedy.”
When asked about how they approached these animated characters with the possibility of seeing them in live action, Gunn confirmed plans to see some characters in both mediums.
“Not only do we want to but Rick Flag appears in Superman, he’s a major character in Peacemaker season two,” he said. “We wanted to cast people who could play those characters live action — at least for the major characters.”
Expanding on this conversation later in the panel about how else these characters might appear in the DCU, Gunn noted that “we have ideas for other things and a couple of these people may appear in other media as other characters soon.” But he was adamant that even with some references to things that have already been established, fans didn’t need to know all the DC lore to watch. “This is first and foremost about story. We don’t want anybody to come to Creature Commandos going, ‘Oh, you have to watch the Suicide Squad to understand what happened in Creature Commandos. We want people to be able to come in this blind and then be totally excited about it,” he added.
In terms of how the series will roll out, Gunn joked they stole the format from Lost. “The first episode is you see the team come together, but then every episode after that explores the backstory of one of these characters — not necessarily the origin, in some places, the origin — but just something from their past that we see about how they got to the place where they are today,” he said. “And we get to know these characters in a much more intimate way because of that. I think it’s a really fun way to get to know. You see that some of them are a lot better than maybe we think they are at the beginning of the series, and some of them are even worse.”
At one point, Gunn addressed those who have already linked the series to his other misfit tales, pointing out that, “This is kind of like Guardians of the Galaxy with the sentimentality stripped back. The characters aren’t all perfect, and the stories aren’t perfect, and characters die, and it isn’t always for a purpose, like when Yan dies at the end of Guardians 2. Sometimes it’s just a tragic circumstance. It’s a darker story than that in a lot of ways, but hopefully equally invigorated.”
The DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation series was first teased as far back as June 2023, during an Annecy panel featuring executives from Warner Bros. Animation, Max and Adult Swim. In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Suzanna Makkos, EVP, original comedy and adult animation at Max and Adult Swim, spoke to Gunn’s all-in approach and “passionate” dedication to the material. “James brought a whole other flavor to it, which is the sympathy that he has for these ‘monster’ characters,” added Girardi, EVP, alternative programming for Warner Bros. Animation. “I’ve never worked on something like that before.”
Gunn also gave updates on other ongoing DC Studios projects, including Peacemaker, Superman, Supergirl and Lanterns. Check each out below.
‘Peacemaker’
Gunn revealed he was shooting the series late last night and will return to filming on Monday, while providing updates on star John Cena’s performance growth, and speaking to the work of one director in the series. “The new series has been going exceptionally well. Somewhere we have Greg Mottola in the audience, the great director of Superbad film, who directed two of the best Peacemaker episodes ever — episodes two and three of season two. John Cena has like, honestly, God, I’ve never seen anyone who has gotten so much better in such a short amount of time. He was great in the first season. This season he owns it and he’s amazing,” Gunn said.
‘Superman’
In terms of Superman, Gunn reiterated past statements about canine hero Krypto, commended stars David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan and also provided some edit and trailer timing updates.
“Krypto, that’s been something that’s just been amazing. We’ve been working with him in the edit. He’s an incredible part of the story to me personally. When I was writing the screenplay, he came in and kind of changed everything up. We’re deep in the process of editing. David Corenswet is going to fucking blow people away. He is the movie star that everyone just dreams he could possibly be. I don’t think anyone really understands the depth of this guy’s talent dramatically, comedically. He’s the best physical action star I’ve probably ever worked with…” Gunn said before being jokingly cut off by another panelist. “I feel good about it, and I’m really hard on stuff, so it’s been fantastic… It won’t be too long before we see a trailer, but it also won’t be too soon.”
‘Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow’
Gunn spoke to how the film will be based on Tom King’s comic Woman of Tomorrow, and called it “a completely different, unique take on a superhero,” before revealing he had just seen the screentest for Ruthie.
“That’s another project that’s just been left from the beginning. [Writer] Anna [Nogueira] came in, and she pitched the story to me of Supergirl, and it was just one of the best pitches I’ve ever heard, and she immediately wrote it. She came in with the first draft that was great, and it’s just gotten better and better. Then [director] Craig [Gillespie] has been incredibly easy to work with, and I can’t wait for that to come out,” he said. “It’s a three-act structure, so it’s a little bit different than the structure, which kind of goes through various stories, but as all those major characters, the major themes.”
‘Lanterns’
Much of Gunn’s focus was on star Aaron Pierre, whose casting as John Stewart was recently announced, who the DC Studios head also revealed had almost been cast as another superhero character.
“Aaron Pierre is somebody who I’ve wanted to work together with for a long time. People don’t know, but he was almost cast as Adam Warlock. He’s an amazing actor, and I just really admired him from the beginning of his career. Seeing him read with Kyle was one of those miraculous moments. I don’t care what they’re saying, I just love what they’re saying together,” he said. “When we first started the DCU, the first couple of weeks of heading this out, we got together with a group of writers, and Tom King was one of those writers, and we were in this room, and we came up with sort of this concept for Lanterns. It’s a much more it’s a very grounded series, a very real series, which is a strange thing to say about a Green Lanterns show. But it’s going to be something like nobody’s ever seen before.”
