The first two episodes of the animated series Creature Commandos have arrived, for those DC fans who have a Max subscription, and with it we have the first steps into James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU. Many of you probably tuned in to see how Gunn’s voice would color this initial foray into a new comic book universe, and there are several indications that Creature Commandos is going to be hard-R, violent, foul, and sexy… all the things you want when you send a team of monsters behind enemy lines to battle a witch. There was even something in Creature Commandos Episode 2 that I wasn’t expecting: Sex scenes. Multiple sex scenes.
And poor Frank Grillo had to watch one of them with his teenage son.
Frank Grillo is an important addition to James Gunn’s new universe. He plays Rick Flag Sr., the leader of Task Force M who is expected to appear in Gunn’s live-action Superman, an upcoming 2025 blockbuster, as well as Peacemaker Season 2. But we start to learn about Flag in Creature Commandos, where – in the first two episodes – he starts to fall under the spell of Princess Rostovic (Maria Bakalova), soon-to-be leader of Pokolistan. In Episode 2, Flag and Rostovic have a bathroom “showdown,” and when we ask Grillo about recording the audio for this intense moment, he told CinemaBlend:
It's me making out with my arm, and Maria over there making out with her arm, and we're screaming, and we're writhing in ecstasy, and it's not easy! It really isn't. It's fairly embarrassing. There are 10 people in the booth listening to you. I had just told this story. When I first saw that episode, I was with my 16-year-old son at my house. And he got so embarrassed. He had to walk out. He goes, ‘I can't watch this!’ I go, ‘It's not me!’ He goes, ‘It's your voice I can't listen to you. Is that how you sound?’ I'm like, ‘No!’
No one – and I mean no one – wants to think about what our parents might sound like while they are having sex. Even in an animated form. So curse you, James Gunn, for making Grillo’s son have to even consider that. But the scene is necessary, to show that Flag is capable of being manipulated. That might mean something as the series continues.
So far, Creature Commandos is being well received by both critics and fans, who all seem to agree that the story falls right into the sweet spot of Gunn’s ability to build a team of misfits, but also inject the ensemble with heart. And yet, I don’t expect this tone to stay true to the other projects in the DCU. Specifically Superman, which likely won’t have sex scenes – even though there were sex scenes in Peacemaker. Huh. Maybe there will be sex scenes in all of the DCU projects? That’s going to make Lanterns very interesting.
New episodes of Creature Commandos will keep dropping on Thursday, so keep tuning in!
