Creature Commandos is about to premiere on Max, officially launching James Gunn’s DCU – so, make sure you know exactly when to tune in and stream Episode 1.
In 2013, the DCEU launched with Man of Steel. It was the beginning of a beleaguered, occasionally brilliant, often muddled big-screen endeavor that always struggled to keep up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it was laid to rest with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Now, with James Gunn and Peter Safran at the helm, Warner Bros is about to reboot the franchise with the DCU. It’ll properly kick off with Superman in 2025, introducing David Corenswet as the titular icon.
First, Gunn has prepared an aperitif for fans: Creature Commandos, a bloody, hilarious animated series that’ll appeal to those who enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad.
What time is Creature Commandos out?
Creature Commandos will premiere on Max at 12am PT / 3am ET on December 5, 2024.
Episodes 1 and 2 will be available to watch straight away, with the rest of the first season airing on the streaming service weekly thereafter.
Unlike The Penguin, Creature Commandos won’t air on HBO – it’ll stream exclusively on Max. And if you’re not based in the US, there are two things to note: it’s probably not available in your territory, so you’ll need to use a VPN; and you need to line up your time zone with the US. Don’t worry, we’ve handled the latter:
- 4am Brazil
- 8am UK
- 9am Central European Summer Time
- 12:30pm India Standard Time
- 5pm Australia
- 7pm New Zealand
How many episodes are there?
There are seven episodes of Creature Commandos in total.
This may seem like an atypical episode-count… and it is. For example, The Penguin had eight episodes, Peacemaker had eight episodes, and most shows tend to produce an even number of episodes.
In Gunn’s eyes, there’s a simple reason for it. “The story dictates the amount of episodes,” he wrote on Threads.
Creature Commandos release schedule
Every episode of Creature Commandos will drop on Max on Thursdays. It’ll premiere with Episodes 1 and 2, but there’ll otherwise only be one episode per week until the end of the season.
- Episode 1: ‘The Collywobbles’ – Thursday, December 5
- Episode 2: ‘The Tourmaline Necklace’ – Thursday, December 5
- Episode 3: ‘Cheers to the Tin Man’ – Thursday, December 12
- Episode 4: ‘Chasing Squirrels’ – Thursday, December 19
- Episode 5 – Thursday, December 26
- Episode 6 – Thursday, January 2
- Episode 7 – Thursday, January 9
Peacemaker Season 1 (one of the best superhero TV shows) is also available to stream on Max, if you get bored in the week-long gap between new episodes.
What is Creature Commandos about?
Creature Commandos follows Task Force M, a group assembled by Amanda Waller and led by Rick Flag Sr who are assigned to protect the princess of Polokistan from a superpowered threat.
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More specifically, they’re tasked with protecting her from Circe, a rogue Amazonian.
The group is hand-picked from the Non-Human Internment Division, including the Bride, Doctor Phosphorus, Nina Mazursky, G.I. Robot, and Weasel (yes, the same one from The Suicide Squad).
“I’m used to dealing with oddballs and irregular types and weirdos,” Gunn explained to Entertainment Weekly.
“That’s what Guardians is, and Creature Commandos is kind of like Guardians without the sentimentality. The Guardians are all really good characters at their heart, and that just isn’t necessarily the case with the creatures.”
In another interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gunn also explained that it wasn’t mean to start the DCU, but “the main thing is that it was already written. HBO Max asked me to do another show after the success of Peacemaker, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do.”
“Committing to a TV show is a big deal, so I just started playing with different ideas, and then I started writing Creature Commandos on spec,” he said.
“I wrote all seven episodes in a few weeks, and then right around the time that I was finishing those scripts, I got hired as the co-head of DC Studios. So we were ready to go [with Creature Commandos].”
Creature Commandos cast & characters
While Creature Commandos is an ensemble piece, there are ultimately two leads: the Bride (Indira Varma) and Rick Flag Sr (Frank Grillo). The cast also includes:
- Alan Tudyk as Doctor Phosphorus
- Sean Gunn as G.I. Robot and Weasel
- Zoë Chao as Nina Mazursky
- David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein
- Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
- Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic
- Anya Chalotra as Circe
There are also guest appearances from Michael Rooker, Benjamin Byron Davis, Peter Serafinowicz, and Linda Cardellini.
Speaking to UPI, Grillo said: “It’s been a gift. It’s been really challenging in a fun way, and, for me, it’s exciting to be an integral part of something, and this character is that.
“James has let me kind of run with it and do my thing – as long as I don’t change his words – to create this guy… just when you think you have him figured out, especially for me, he does something and you go, ‘Oh, wow, that’s interesting! I didn’t see that coming,’ which makes it very fun to portray him.”
Read our Creature Commandos review, and in the meantime, check out our breakdown of every DCU project in development, what’s happening with The Batman 2, and our list of the best TV shows of 2024.
