- Creature Commandos episode 4 showed off the DCU’s Justice League for the first time
- DC Comics’ most iconic superteam, though, don’t appear in the manner you’d expect
- Showrunner Dean Lorey says fans “shouldn’t infer” anything from the brief scene, either
Creature Commandos episode 4 has handed us a first look at the DC Cinematic Universe’s (DCU) Justice League, but not in the way many would’ve predicted
I didn’t expect the Max series’ fourth episode, titled ‘Chasing Squirrels’, to mark the supergroup’s debut in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC Universe, but here we are. Well, I’m using the word ‘debut’ pretty liberally here, because they only show up in the briefest of scenes that showrunner Dean Lorey says you and I “shouldn’t infer” anything from said sequence.
Full spoilers immediately follow for Creature Commandos‘ fourth chapter, so turn back now if you haven’t streamed it yet.
As I said, the scene in question isn’t a full introduction to the DCU’s Justice League. Seven minutes into ‘Chasing Squirrels’, ARGUS chief Amanda Waller is shown a vision of the future by Circe, the series’ apparent villain-in-chief and who’s one of three big teases in Creature Commandos that predate Wonder Woman’s DCU debut.
But I’m getting off track. Circe, who was captured by the eponymous team in one of the best Max shows’ fourth entry, attempts to tell Waller, Rick Flag Sr., and John Economos that Princess Ilana and Pokolistan, the nation she rules over, aren’t what they seem. In a bid to convince them further, Circe says she can use her clairvoyant abilities on Waller to show her a vision of a potential future where Ilana and Pokolistan tyranically rule over the world.
It’s here where the Justice League appear – kind of, anyway. You see, as part of Waller’s vision, we see the Justice League, plus numerous other DC heroes and antiheroes, crucified, impaled on spears, or lying dead on a skull-littered ground. Among those depicted in this sequence are DC’s iconic trifecta of superheroes, aka Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
They aren’t the only ones, though. I also spotted Robin, Peacemaker, Supergirl, one of the Green Lantern Corps, Hawkgirl, Vigilante, and what appears to be a comics-accurate Aquaman (complete with blonder hair) among the dead. Let me know if you picked out anyone else, such as The Flash, Cyborg, and Martian Manhunter.
There are plenty of questions raised by Circe’s premonition. How powerful is the country of Pokolistan if it’s able to not only conquer the world, but also defeat so many metahumans? Is this a future that will happen or may only do so if Task Force M doesn’t stop Ilana? And is there anything we should read into the Justice League and their fellow heroes’ deaths in this DCU Chapter One project? Unfortunately, if you came here looking for answers to the above and any other queries you have, Lorey can only provide one answer, but it’s a pretty categorical one all the same.
“That scene is specific to the story [of Creature Commandos],” Lorey replied when I asked him if it sets up future scenarios in the DCU. “It’s not really meant to infer anything but, you know, it was meant to do what it does, which is show a very dark vision of the world if something isn’t done to prevent it. But, no, I would say fans shouldn’t infer anything about the Justice League [from that].”
Consider that case closed, then! For more of my Creature Commandos and wider DCU coverage, check out the section below.
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