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A team of monsters sent on secret missions by the government. What a concept. Consisting of Frakenstein’s Bride, a Nazi-killing robot, a feral man-beast, a permanently radioactive corpse, an amphibian woman who is as smart as they come, and Rick Flag Sr. (a rather ordinary but ambitious army general), the first installment in James Gunn’s cinematic universe calledCreature Commandosis currently living up to its hype over on Max. Not only do audiences seem to love the zany but violent dynamic of the team, but authoritative sources like ComicBook.com gave the limited series a perfect five out of five rating, and Screen Rant called the show “a very worthy foundation for the DCU.”
As much as the animated hit has seemingly introduced a new host of characters to the mainstream,this isn’t the first time theCreature Commandoshave graced the small screen. Not only do we have to go back about five years to 2019, but you have to look closely within the DC direct-to-video library to find them. Obviously, if this team of superhumans had their own release at some point in time, the internet would be all over it by now.Instead, they were relegated to a DC Showcase short specifically found on the Blu-ray edition ofBatman: Hush. Even though it’s only 14 minutes long, the violence and voice cast will surely surprise you.
‘DC Showcase’ Is an Underrated Line of Animated Shorts
Creature Commandos
DC Showcase: Sgt. Rockseems to be the sixth entry in a long line of anthology-style shorts. Starting with a 12-minute cosmic odyssey featuring The Spectre (that was located on theJustice League: Crisis on Two EarthsDVD) in 2010 and the most recent beingConstantine: The House of Mystery(which was released in 2022 and is almost a half-hour long), these underrated stories featured many ofDC’s more obscure faces. Putting aside the fact that these features could be where James Gunn gets his inspiration from (there is aSgt. Rockmovie coming, after all), these “hidden” small-screen adventures were all treated with immense care and respect.
‘Creature Commandos’ Is Our First Taste of the DCU, and It Does a Great Job of Setting It Up
‘Creature Commandos’ first two episodes lay the groundwork for ‘Superman’, ‘Paradise Lost’, ‘Sgt. Rock’ and many more DCU projects.
Take, for instance, the one we are talking about here. Not only did this cartoon spotlight Sgt. Rock (a character from 1959), but it also brought one of the most accurate and earliest renditions of theCreature Commandosto life. All three army monsters depicted in the short — that is Pvt. Elliot “Lucky” Taylor (who is Frankenstein), Pvt. Warren Griffith (who is the werewolf) and Sgt. Vincent Velcoro (who is the vampire) — all come leaping out of the pages ofWeird War Tales,a DC comic seriesfrom the early 1980s. Even though members of James Gunn’s team have all been in assorted DC publications,there is no group closer to the source material than those featured in the Sgt. Rock short.
Three Classic Monsters Make Up These Commandos
They may be the classic version of the Commandos, but they are just as brutal. While fighting their way through a huge castle trying to capture a Nazi scientist, Frankenstein literally tears a zombie (that was once one of Rock’s squad members) in half with his bare hands, and the vampire tears one to shreds (blood squirts out of his chest).
The pacing never slows down, andthe animation is surprisingly very crispfor it being labeled a special feature that was tacked onto a Batman movie. What’s even more outlandish is that the director behindSgt. Rockis Bruce Timm, producer and developer behind other DC animated features likeBatman: Mask of the Phantasm,Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker,and theJustice League Unlimitedseries.
Two of DC’s Freakiest Villains Just Showed Up in ‘Creature Commandos’
They’re even weirder than the main characters (if that’s even possible)
Did I mention Karl Urban (the actor fromThe Boyswho plays Billy Butcher) voices Sgt. Rock? This vastly unknown DC Showcase series seems to be full of surprises. Just like how Gunn’s new series immediately finds a balance between old-school warplayand fantastical beings, there is more of that to be found inSgt. Rock(which didn’t require an entire revitalization of the DCU, I may add). While the mission is being completed right in front of our eyes, looking for their intended target, there are moments wherethe hardened soldierhas to restrain the monsters from going too far with their viciousness (even though he lets them give in to chaos at the very end).
A Great Behind-the-Scenes DC Team
With the rough-sounding voice that he’s known for, Urban does a good job at conveying a subtle leniency towardthese new allies of his(easing them into his leadership) but also being the tough troupe leader when the time calls for it. In such a short time, you see the four of them become a well-oiled machine, ready to go into any battle.
Not only do new DC fans get to meet characters from the past (with a little help from a well-known actor to voice Sgt. Rock), but the story comes together so well because it was written by those alreadyin the comic book industry! Credited with helping to create numerous characters, like Beta Ray Bill (fromThor), as well as Doomsday and Steel (fromSuperman), Walt and Louise Simonson teamed with DC legacy writer Tim Sheridan to help makeSgt. Rockpossible.
They decided to bring their expertise to a short that many would probably skip if it weren’t tethered to an animated adaptation of one ofBatman’s best comic arcs. Their hand on the project really shines through in how the characters are handled and what becomes of theCreature Commandosby the end of it all. That being said, the short can still be seen on everyBatman: HushBlu-ray copy. You’ll get to see where James Gunn gets his inspiration from!Creature Commandosis streaming onMax.
