Creature Commandos: HBO Max release date, trailer, confirmed cast, plot synopsis, and more

Creature Commandos is set to usher in a new era of live-action and animated DC Comics projects. With the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) making way for the rebooted DC Cinematic Universe (DCU), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will hope its superhero-led cinematic franchise can finally give Marvel a run for its money.

James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new-look multimedia franchise may well do that, too, with numerous DCU Chapter One movies and shows piquing the interest of established DC fans and newcomers alike. Among that contingent is Creature Commandos, an adult animated series aiming to get the DCU off to the best possible start.

In this guide, you’ll learn more about the forthcoming Max series, including its release date, confirmed cast, plot details, first footage, and how it may impact future DCU productions. Potential spoilers follow for Creature Commandos, so proceed at your own risk.

Creature Commandos release date

Creature Commandos will debut on Thursday, December 5. Its release date was announced in early September and, with the animated show arriving just before Christmas, Creature Commandos will go up against two big Disney Plus series in the festive season fight for viewers’ attention.

Unfortunately for UK and Australian audiences, the project’s Max launch date has only been confirmed so far, so we don’t know when or where it’ll be available to stream on British and Australian shores. It’s likely, though, that it’ll air on Sky/Now TV in the UK and Binge in Australia. Once its release dates and platforms are officially locked in for these regions, we’ll update this section.

Creature Commandos trailer

Creature Commandos‘ first teaser arrived in August. While it didn’t reveal too much about the overarching plot, it gave a tantalizing glimpse into the dynamics at play between its roster of superpowered misfits and the series’ hyper-stylized animation style.

We’ll likely get another trailer in the near future, too. A Creature Commandos panel will be held at New York Comic-Con on October 19, so we’d be amazed if we aren’t treated to some new footage as part of this presentation.

Creature Commandos confirmed cast

Here’s the confirmed cast for Creature Commandos so far:

• Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr.
• David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein
• Indira Varma as The Bride
• Alan Tudyk as Doctor Phosphorus
• Sean Gunn as G.I. Robot and Weasel
• Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky
• Anya Chalotra as Circe
• Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic
• Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
• Steve Agee as John Economos

The anthropomorphic Weasel’s brief appearance in 2021’s The Suicide Squad movie notwithstanding, none of the show’s superpowered characters have appeared in previous DC live-action or animated projects. So, who are they?

Rick Flag Sr. is the father of Rick Flag Jr., who showed up in The Suicide Squad. Essentially, Flag Sr. is hired by Amanda Waller to keep the eccentric group of monsters and supervillains in check. Like his son, Flag Sr. doesn’t possess superpowers, but his tactical know-how and leadership qualities make him the ideal candidate to be this group’s commander-in-chief. Joining Flag Sr. and Waller on the human front is John Economos, who readers might recognize from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker season 1.

Unsurprisingly, Frankenstein and The Bride are DC’s take on the iconic horror couple. Considering Frankenstein is DC’s answer to Bruce Banner/The Hulk – the mild-mannered but incredibly clever scientist who transforms into a green, monstrous entity when his anger gets the better of him – we expect Frankenstein to be a similarly super-strong and immortal being.

As for The Bride, the first trailer suggests she may be a skilled magic wielder, with Frankenstein’s estranged wife turning a hail of bullets into a kaleidoscope of butterflies. She’s also immortal and may possess other superhuman qualities. One key difference from her comic book counterpart is that this iteration of The Bride will have two arms rather than four. Responding to a fan on Threads (thanks to Reddit for the screenshot), Gunn also implied The Bride is “the lead character, in a lot of ways”, so it sounds like she’ll get plenty of screen time.

Doctor Phosphorus is a villain/anti-hero who can manipulate radiation and temperature levels. Judging by the show’s first footage, he can use his thermonuclear abilities to temporarily fly, leap high into the air, and fire radioactive blasts at his foes. Meanwhile, Mazursky is an amphibious scientist who’s more at home in the lab than out in the field. Indeed, outside of some basic hand-to-hand combat training, she’s not action-oriented. Expect her to be the brains of the operation who uses her intellect to get the group out of sticky situations.

Elsewhere, G.I. Robot is a military android created to hunt down German soldiers during World War II. His mechanical exterior means he’s bulletproof, but he also possesses superhuman strength and carries a middle handgun/machine gun extension in his right hand and forearm. Originally a Wonder Woman foe, Circe is a master sorceress who’s basically DC’s female answer to Marvel’s Doctor Strange.

Rounding out the cast is Princess Ilana, an original character created for the series that the titular group, also known as Task Force M, is reportedly sent after for reasons unknown. It’s unclear what powers, if any, she’ll possess.

Creature Commandos plot synopsis and rumors

Potential spoilers follow for Creature Commandos.

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Here’s the official, albeit brief, story synopsis, courtesy of a Max press release: “Creature Commandos tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option.”

Not a lot to go on, but we’ll learn more about the forthcoming show at New York Comic-Con. Before those details are revealed, DCU co-helmer James Gunn has been pretty open about what to expect from the R-rated series. The DC Studios’ co-head provided intel via his personal Threads and Instagram accounts, as well as in a recent Entertainment Weekly (EW) interview.

“Creature Commandos is kind of like Guardians [of the Galaxy] without the sentimentality,” Gunn told EW. “The Guardians are all really good characters at their heart, and that just isn’t necessarily the case with the creatures. [2025’s] Superman is the true start of everything, it’s a humongous epic. [But] this is a way for people to just take a little nibble and see what it tastes like. There are a ton of fun references to other DC stuff and a bunch of hints for things that are coming. So I think it’s just an extraordinarily fun way to start.”

Speaking to The Wrap, executive producer Dean Lorey also revealed that the show will be “the first expression of Gunn’s DC Universe”, before adding “We’re considering that canon, and I think it expresses his perspective, tonally, on where he wants the universe to go. I think they [viewers] will be really encouraged to see how completely it’s going to inform this new version of the DCU.”

The DCU isn’t throwing out everything associated with the DCEU, though. As Gunn pointed out via a pre-recorded message at Annecy Film Festival 2024 (per The Hollywood Reporter (THR)), Task Force M’s journey begins “directly after Peacemaker season 1, which leaves Waller with her hands tied operationally, meaning 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.”

Like those two DCEU projects – the latter is also part of the DCU, but more on the complexities of both cinematic franchises later – Creature Commandos will lean heavily into the hyperviolence and dark humor that are cornerstones of DC Comics. In conversation with CBR.com, Frank Grillo confirmed it’ll be a “hard R” series and that fans can expect “funny and filthy” moments to be dotted throughout.

And, don’t worry – despite Gunn’s assertions that Creature Commandos‘ story won’t be a sentimental affair, it’ll still be heart-wrenchingly relatable. Discussing Frankenstein and G.I. Robot in particular, Gunn told EW: “Frankenstein is this incredibly well-spoken intellectual but is still driven by his rage and his anger and his inability to really be a human being, and the inability for the one that he loves not loving him back. That’s what drives him.

“He [G.I. Robot] has got this very sad history from World War II,” Gunn added. “The only time I think he felt at home was with the soldiers he served with in DC’s alternate history of World War II, where metahumans were involved”. In short: expect the DCU’s opening salvo to tug at the heartstrings as much as Gunn’s other big- and small-screen ventures have.

How will Creature Commandos impact the DCU?

We’ve had no indication about how Creature Commandos‘ story will affect future DCU productions, but one thing is clear: characters from this series will appear in other Chapter One movies and TV shows.

Discussing how the revised cinematic franchise will be more interconnected than its predecessor was during a DCU Chapter One line-up announcement in January 2023, Gunn said the DCU’s various projects would “work within one story” before adding that characters will cross over into other films and shows – be that live-action and/or animated ones – as Chapter One progresses.

We already know that one individual will appear in the next two DCU productions, too. Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. will appear in Gunn’s Superman movie, which flies into theaters in July 2025, before showing up in Peacemaker season 2 later that year. In our view, Flag Sr.’s appearance in Peacemaker 2 will make it harder to discern between events in the DCU and DCEU, but that’s an argument for another time.

As for who else might cameo in greenlit projects, such as Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Lanterns, that’s ‘TBC’. Speaking to Collider, Alan Tudyk revealed he was open to playing Doctor Phosphorus again, but had no idea where he might pop up next. Keep your eyes peeled for more details as and when we have them.

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For more DC Comics-based coverage, read our guides on how to watch the DC movies in order and the best Batman movies. Alternatively, see which DC films made it onto our best superhero movies list.