This is a DynaMic Network podcast.
Welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate
the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations.
I'm Johnny DC. And I'm his twin brother, Marvelous Joe. And in this episode, we are doing a review
of DC Studios' first ever project, the animated series Creature Commandos, written by James
Gunn, the head of DC Studios. Was it a worthwhile start to the new DC universe? You'll find out
later on in our review. Before that we're going to break down the comic book movie news from
the past week, of which there was just one major news item, and that was the new official trailer
for the Daredevil Born Again series for Disney+. Yeah, as always, we list our segment times
in our episode description, so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip
ahead to a particular topic. Guys, our artificially intelligent Duel simulator AJ9K has a quick
message for our listeners, so listen up. Why, hello there. Do you want even more from this
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your ideas via email at dynamic Duel podcast at Gmail dot com. Check it out at Patreon dot
com slash dynamic Duel. Pip pip cheerio. Thanks, AJ 9K, and thanks to everyone who supports
the podcast. Real quick today, January 21st happens to be the birthday of both Joseph and
myself. So I just want to say happy birthday Joseph. If I could get you any gift from DC,
it would be a big belly burger. Cause it'll make you fat. If I could get you any gift from
Marvel, it would be nothing because you wouldn't deserve it. Oh good. Just what I've always
wanted. Nothing for Marvel. I'll take a big belly burger. Not gonna lie. Yeah you would.
Guys be sure to tune in to the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network this week, including
Max Destruction which pits your favorite action heroes from film and television against each
other. This week, hosts Scotty and Gilly are reviewing the 1997 film Spawn. On the Senjoworld
podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite anime and manga
characters. And on the Konsole Kombat podcast, hosts John and Dean simulate battles between
popular video game characters. In yesterday's episode, they found out who would win between
Krieg from Borderlands and Bane from Arkham Asylum. Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click
the link in our show notes to listen to all of the shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network.
But with that out of the way, quick to the No Prize! A No Prize is an award Marvel used to
give out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic Duel No Prize, is a digital award we post on Instagram
for the person that we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. What Marvel or
DC theatrical film are you most looking forward to in 2025? You basically had four options.
There's Captain America Brave New World, Thunderbolts, Superman, and Fantastic Four First Steps. We
got three answers this week, so let's go ahead and break down the honorable mentions as well
as the no prize winner. Our first honorable mention goes to Mike Williams, who said, I'm
very interested to see the new Captain America movie. to see what role the Red Hulk's gonna
play, and also how General Thunderbolt loss is connected with the Thunderbolt movie that
will be coming out later this year. Anyway, as always, make mine Marvel. Take care. Yeah,
Captain America Brave New World, I believe the tickets actually went on sale already. I'm
really looking forward to that movie, mostly for the appearance of Red Hulk and the leader.
I kind of feel like they maxed out the coolness factor of Sam Wilson in the Falcon and the
Winter Soldier television series and all of his appearances from Captain America the Winter
Soldier and Civil War. We've seen a lot of what he can do already. So I find myself more drawn
toward the villains of Captain America Brave New World than the hero. That being said, I'm
excited Sam's getting his own movie. Yeah, I'm pretty excited to see this as well, especially
after the last trailer that we received. We still don't know too much about the story,
I feel, but visually and action wise, it looks like the movie is going to be incredible. If
it can capture the same spirit as Captain America the Winter Soldier, I think we're in for quite
the treat in a few weeks. Great answer Mike! Our next honorable mention goes to... Miggy
Mathingian who said... Hey what's up guys this is Miggy and like Lizzie said in the Discord
server, there's only one right answer this week. It's Superman. It's going to be so good. It's
going to be everything that you want in a Superman movie. Characterizes the hero really well.
And it's the only movie you should be looking forward to. this year because Marvel sucks.
It's dying. Just let it die. You know, like it's been dead. Why are you still trying to
hang around? Stop it. That's right. Marvel is dead. Bury it. Consider this mercy. I think
Deadpool and Wolverine would probably disagree there. I mean, the movie made over a billion
dollars. Okay. Marvel's not dead. Marvel is thriving. The Captain America movie is gonna
be awesome. And like, Mickey's over here talking about how the Superman movie is gonna be everything
you want from a Superman movie. Like, he's seen the film. What if it doesn't have everything
you want from a Superman movie? What if your expectations are too high, my friend? Not possible.
Superman is gonna nail it out of the park. I cannot wait to see it. It's gonna be the next
best Superman movie since Superman the movie and Man of Steel. Jonathan, do you remember
everything you were saying about Batman vs Superman before that film came out? Hey, hey, the extended
edition was everything I wanted. Do you remember everything you were saying about Joker 2 before
that film came out? Too soon, man. Too soon. Great answer, Miggy. But the winner of this
week's snow prize is Kat Stevenson, who said, Hi, guys, it's Kat Stevenson here. And the
theatrical release that I am most excited for is Pedro Pascal. I mean, Fantastic Four First
Steps. I'm so excited to see Pedro Pa- I mean, the Fantastic Four finally get a good rendition.
Like with Pedro Pa- I mean, Mr. Fantastic, Galactus, Silver Surfer, the really cool rendition of
Pedro Pa- I mean, the thing. Everything looks so good and I am so excited for Pedro Pa- I
mean, the Fantastic Four to come to the MC- Sounds like someone's really excited about
the casting of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic in the Fantastic Four movie coming
out this summer. I will be honest, and I think I've said it when he was cast and that was
announced last year, I'm not thrilled about Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic, but I do like
him as an actor and I do think he could pull off the role. Yeah, the reason we mostly chose
this as our no-prize win is because we've had good We've had good Superman movies, but I
feel like we have yet to get a good Fantastic Four movie. Yeah, I'm really hoping that this
will be the case. I'm really looking forward to seeing Galactus done correctly on the big
screen. I think the scale of that character in theaters is just going to be mind-blowing.
I hope it is. And I really like the rest of the cast as well. So here's hoping that the
spirit of the Fantastic Four comics is truly represented on film. You know, they've had
multiple goes at it from the 90s movie that didn't get released. The early 2000s franchise
with Jessica Alba and of course, Fanta 4 Stick, which came out in the 20 teens. They gotta
get it right this time. I think they will. Yeah, to go from one of the worst superhero movies
to an actually good Fantastic Four movie would be the greatest comeback in the history of
comic book franchises. Maybe, maybe. What I'm hoping is that... It turns a lot of people
on to the Fantastic Four. Like, I don't think they have many fans, especially because their
films have done so poorly. So I'm hoping that the characters become A-list names in households
just like the Avengers have. That would be best case scenario. I guess we'll see. Great answer,
Cat. You win this week's No Prize. If you're the listener, want a shot at winning your own
No Prize, stay tuned to later on in this episode when we'll be asking another question of the
week. And now that that's done, onto the news.
This past week we got the official trailer for the upcoming Daredevil Born Again television
series that's coming out on Disney Plus in just a few months on March 4th. And damn, this show
looks good. Like I don't know what they had planned before the whole series retooling,
but whatever they did really worked because this show looks not just like a great continuation
of the Netflix series, it looks even more set. in the superhero world. That was my big takeaway
from it because we got a lot of shots that really seem to immerse the character more in the comic
book world of Marvel than he's ever been because we see things like you know multiple costumes
that he's worn including homages to his gray battle suit and his yellow costume and things
like that but we also got glimpses of other characters like Muse, White Tiger, The Punisher.
It looks like a really exciting time. It's hard for me to fathom how they could follow up the
masterpiece that was Daredevil season three. And I have to say, after seeing this trailer,
this is the first hope I've had that they could actually do that. Yeah, I don't need Daredevil
born again to surpass the quality of Netflix's Daredevil season three because in my mind that
was almost perfection and it was the perfect cap on that run. That being said, I do think
it'll come close. It may not be a perfect season, but I think it's highly unlikely drop the ball
on this, you know, I think we're looking to get like penguin levels of good here, but with
actual superheroics and vigilante fighting. The action looks almost more brutal than what
we got in Netflix. Yeah, I do have to say though, I feel bad for the villain of Muse, not because
he's a good guy or anything, he's a piece of shit. But he just gets his ass kicked left
and right nonstop in this trailer. There's at least like four different shots of Daredevil
just beating the ever loving shit out of him. And I hope it doesn't quite go down like that
in the actual show. I hope there's an actual good fight there to be had. Is Muse the guy
who Murdoch slams the bottle on his eye and then like kicks in his knee cap? No, that's
a different guy. Daredevil's kicking some ass in this trailer for sure. I wonder if Daredevil
and Hector Alaya aka White Tiger are gonna fight in this show. That'll be pretty interesting.
And I'm wondering how they're gonna bring back Frank Castle into the fold. as another vigilante
warrior. I'm wondering how they're going to bring Bullseye into the fold, because I can't
wait to see his return. Oh, man, Bullseye was so good in Daredevil season three. Yeah. It's
just even if the show ends up not being good, all the elements are there for it to be incredible,
especially this diner discussion between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, who becomes the mayor
of New York during the course of the season. It just seems so epic in the way that like
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino spoke in Heat. or something like that, you know? These two
iconic characters coming together and just their discussion. Yeah, they're speaking like they're
old exes or something like that. But of course we know the nature of their past relationship
and it's as brutal as it gets. Yeah, they're sworn mortal enemies, but they do seem to have
some respect for each other as it appears here, which is always interesting. Well, it appears
like each character has kind of moved on. Like, Wilson Fisk is moving out to be mayor and it
sounds like Matt Murdock hasn't been Daredevil in a while. So it's going to be interesting
to see how they make their return to superhero and super villain lives. Yeah, when Kingpin
asks Matt Murdock why he stopped being Daredevil, Matt Murdock mentions that a line was crossed.
And towards the end of the trailer, he mentions how he was raised to believe in grace, but
he was also raised to believe in retribution. And I wonder if that's one of the key themes
of this season, is him really struggling with crossing the line due to his rage and how that
correlates with his Catholic faith, which has always been. big aspect of the character and
one of the things that makes him truly unique. If you guys haven't caught up on Netflix startable
seasons 1 through 3, I highly recommend you do so before this next season drops because
there's a lot of history with these characters and it's such a damn good show it's well worth
catching up on. Yeah, absolutely. But speaking of quality television shows, that brings us
to our question of the week.
What Marvel or DC television series are you most looking forward to in 2025? This is sort
of a play on last week's question, but instead of theatrical releases, we want to know what
series you're most looking forward to seeing at home. Yeah, for Marvel, they're really seeing
Your Friendly Neighborhood, Spider-Man and then Daredevil Born Again and then Ironheart is
coming out this year, as well as Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies and Wonder Man. There's not.
Too much more going on for DC. Of course, we have Harley Quinn season five coming up. We
might be getting new seasons for My Adventures with Superman, Batman Caped Crusader, and possibly
Creature Commandos, but also a new series on Amazon titled Bat Family. Oh, is that the sequel
to Merry Little Batman? Yes, yep, that's right. Oh, interesting, okay. Record your answer at
dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom right-hand corner of the
screen, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your message can be up to 30 seconds
long, and don't forget to leave your name in case we include you on the podcast. We'll pick
our favorite answer and award that person a dynamic Duel no prize that we'll post to Instagram.
Be sure to answer before January 25th.
That does it for the news portion of this episode, so now let's go ahead and move on to our main
event, where we review season one of the DC Studios animated series, Creature Commandos.
The
The story of Creature Commandos stems from the events of Gunn's The Suicide Squad and subsequent
Peacemaker spin-off series, both of which we praised on this podcast in our reviews. This
show, I'm mostly happy to say, is in keeping with James Gunn's signature crass comedy ensembles
with heartfelt characterizations, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who's a fan of Gunn's
prior work, whether for DC or the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Creature Commandos
is only seven half-hour episodes, a pretty quick watch, so make sure you do just that before
listening any further to this spoiler review. Now, I said I was mostly happy to say that
this show matched the crass comedy and emotional weight of James Gunn's past works because I
liked those past works. I'm a fan of James Gunn. But there was also a part of me that hoped
Gunn had matured to the point where he was able to deliver on the emotional aspects of a story.
without resorting to mature humor. And in this first DC Studios project out of the gate, he
delivers arguably his most mature story to date, one full of extreme violence and sexuality,
which was somewhat discouraging. Now, I'm fairly confident James Gunn's Superman movie coming
out this summer is not going to match the tone of Creature Commandos, but this show does present
a barrier to those looking to faithfully experience DC's new cinematic universe. in the same way
audiences were extremely faithful in seeing everything Marvel Studios released during the
Infinity Saga storyline. Yeah, well, I mean, Creature Commandos was written, at least the
specs were written by James Gunn prior to the existence of the DCU. He wrote them when HBO
was looking for an animated series from him coming off the success of Peacemaker Season
One. So the tone of Creature Commandos, I think, is more in line with James Gunn's whole vision
for the Suicide Squad quadrant. of the DCU and not necessarily representative of what the
tone is going to be for the DCU going forward. True, that very may well be the case. Now I
often criticize Marvel films for their over-reliance on humor, and while I shouldn't be surprised
that the guy who made the Guardians of the Galaxy films was going to bring that humor to DC Studios,
in part probably because it obviously sells well given the MCU's financial success. I do
tend to see DC characters and stories as being above that, like DC's Oscar worthy, whereas
Marvel's made more for the MTV Movie Awards audience. So I never really wanted the DCU
to be more like the MCU, and I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that while Marvel is
like the really popular sugary soda Coca-Cola, and while I want DC to be like a fine bourbon,
not necessarily for everyone, DC actually ending up like Pepsi is not the worst thing in the
world, because there are a lot of people out there of all ages that like Pepsi. I'm not
one of them, but I can learn to like it, especially if these mature projects like Creature Commandos
are relegated to niche animated fare. I like how you compare DC to Pepsi. I think the analogy
works. You know, Marvel's red, DC's blue. DC has a circular logo. It just made sense branding
wise in my head. Pepsi is also dog shit, so. Hey, fuck you, man. Don't make me defend Pepsi.
Now because as a niche exploitation-esque project, Creature Commandos really hits the nail on
the head. It feels very much like a successor, as I mentioned, to the Suicide Squad in regards
to its mission-based narrative and real stakes in which any of your favorite characters could
die. It feels like a passion project from James Gunn, who does a tremendous job conveying that
behind every monster is a tragedy. In fact, each episode of the series is dedicated to
showing us the past tragedy of an indiviDuel character on the Creature Commandos team that
helps us recognize the humanity in the characters and view them as much more than just monsters.
That was my big takeaway from the show was just the tragedy of the characters. You're talking
about some of the most tragic characters to ever exist in comics. And really, you kind
of need that humor because of some of the horrific, sad things that you see. happen on the screen.
You need that balance. Otherwise, it would just be one heck of a depressing show. And in some
ways it was, just due to how everything was presented. Like, I don't think I've seen as
many instances of dead children in a superhero project. And it was actually surprising to
me. And I don't know if that's just because I'm a dad now, but I was really affected by
it. And that's not to say that the show was shocking for shocking sake, because, you know,
if you look at the story of the Creature Commandos from the comic books, They went through some
dark shit. Like there was that whole arc where they were commanded during World War II to
kill that group of super soldier Nazi children. Right. And they ended up doing it. And you
know, there was a lot of dysfunction in the team because of that. So all these tragic stories
that you were referring to when you say that there's a tragedy behind every monster. And
I agree, that's the biggest idea that this series sold. I agree. Their misfortunes result in
a very cynical view of humanity and tone for the series. which is in contrast to what I'm
hoping is a very hopeful tone for the upcoming flagship film for DC that is Superman. But
for a project starring literal monsters, a cynical tone is appropriate, I feel, and shows some
value in cynicism over, say, optimism, because cynicism tends to help people survive, giving
these monsters the most human trait of all, and that is the instinct to survive. That's
valid. I mean, like cynicism is one of my least favorite traits that anybody could have. But
I guess it is a valuable trait when it comes to like soldiers out on the battlefield or
on a mission or something like that. It's good to be cynical and skeptical of everything and
everyone around you when your life is on the line. Otherwise, yeah, I hope more people are
like Superman. Yeah, that's my hope for sure. But, you know, when the zombie apocalypse breaks
out, I will be the most cynical person on the planet. Now the show revolves heavily around
its cast of characters, but before we get into our character breakdown, I want to touch on
the show's animation style, which I would actually describe as this combination of the tomorrow
versus cleanliness and unique character designs with the quirkiness and charm of mature animated
favorites like Eon Flux and just a hint of anime action. I wasn't actually looking forward to
this style of animation in the trailers, but actually grew to love it. the action scenes,
which were often coupled with some deep cut song choices that would make Quentin Tarantino
proud. It also doesn't hurt that, with the exception of one character, the characters look like
the actors who voice them, making it easier to believe the performances and just making
me really excited to see them all in live action hopefully one day, maybe in Peacemaker Season
2. Yeah, the animation was great. The violence level. was shocking. It was almost or maybe
even surpassed the level of gore that we saw in the Hit Monkey series. Oh yeah, when you
have like Dr. Phosphorus just like shoving his hand like slowly through people's faces melting
it off. I'm like, good, good gosh. Yeah, I think it was more like invincible in that regard
because, you know, the animation was a lot cleaner than it was in Hit Monkey. Hit Monkey was a
little bit more stylized. Like there was like a lot of blood spray. Here there was less spray
and it was more just like splatter. I guess, if you could discern the difference in my description.
All I can say is I'm just glad I binged this show while I was not eating. Yeah. Moving on
to the character breakdown, starting off with Rick Flagg Sr. He was voiced by Frank Gurlow
of Crossbones fame in the MCU. I didn't recognize his voice to me, he just sounded like a really
good voice actor. I had forgotten that Frank Gurlow voiced the character. He was good in
the role and well cast as the father of Joel Kinnaman. I do have to say though that this
character, more than any other character, looks the least like the actor who voiced them. Rick
Flack Sr. actually looks more like James Gunn, with the white hair and beard, who we actually
see in animated form in every opening credits of the show. I'm not sure why James Gunn decided
to make Rick Flack Sr. look like him, considering he didn't in the show's promo art, like he
had black hair, and Frank Urlow won't have white hair. in the Superman movie because we've seen
behind the scenes photos of him on set as Rick Flack Sr. That is a strange call and it's a
weird way to insert yourself, allegedly, in the story. I don't understand the justification
for it at all. I just kind of miss Joel Kinnaman's character. I wish he wouldn't have died in
the Suicide Squad. Dude, we're all still heartbroken about that. Even the guy who killed him, Peacemaker,
was heartbroken about that. Yeah, I guess that was a big part of Peacemaker's arc in his show.
Speaking of arc. Rick Flagg Sr. begins the series dealing with the loss of his son, Rick Flagg
Jr., who died in the 2021 film, The Suicide Squad. Princess Ilana Rostovic took advantage
of his sorrow in an attempt to manipulate him into killing Cersei, the clairvoyant, the muscarine
sorceress who foresaw Princess Rostovic destroying the world. When the Amazonian expert Dr. MacPherson
vouched for the captured Cersei's credibility, Flagg teamed up with Eric Frankenstein to spy
on Dr. MacPherson. only to learn that she had been killed and replaced by the shapeshifter
Clayface. After being put into a coma by Clayface, Flag awoke briefly to warn Amanda Waller that
she was wrong to send Task Force M back to Pakolistan to kill Princess Rostovic, unaware that the
princess had been working with Clayface to discredit Dr. MacPherson. Flag was wrong, however, too
optimistic and gullible as compared to the cynical monsters he was trying to lead. whose disdain
for the world and humankind actually helped them see through the princess's manipulations.
Yeah, it's hard to speak about Rick Flag as a character because while I wouldn't call him
one dimensional or anything like that, he was also probably the least interesting in a group
of literal freaks and monsters, you know? Oh, totally. I actually thought Rick Flag Sr. was
going to be the main character of the series, but I was totally wrong. He was knocked out
of the series like halfway through. basically, and was involved in the climax or anything
like that. Right. And he ended up getting manipulated as well. Right. His whole arc is just him being
wrong, essentially, like I mentioned. So moving on to the bride, she was voiced by Indira Varma,
who is a fantastic voice actress. It was just a fantastic character as well. I cannot wait
for more of her character in the announced upcoming season for Creature Commandos. She was the
most interesting character. Yeah, she kind of had a chip on her shoulder, but you get into
her backstory and it's really easy to see why, considering, you know, the people that she
loved were killed by the people that she hates. And so she just really had this bitter attitude
toward everything. But I like the way they portrayed her as this badass. It's not often that you
get female characters who are this cynical. I can't even really think of any off the top
of my head because, like, you think of characters like Black Widow and stuff like that. At least
in the comics, they're closer to this version of the character. But this version was so much
more violent. than most other femme fatales that you get. Yeah, she's like a super soldier
black widow. Yeah. Now the bride was created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein as a mate for his
monstrous creation, Eric Frankenstein. Eric didn't ask to be created and didn't wanna live
unloved. So Victor created the bride for him, though Eric was too impatient and uncouth for
her to bond with him. Victor cared more for her, which turned into a romance between him
and the bride, causing Eric to kill his creator in jealousy. The bride, enraged by what Eric
had done, fought him and fled, beginning a pattern that would last centuries as Eric continued
to stalk her across the planet. Life is a burden for the bride and it's hardened her, but her
experience makes her the perfect leader for a team of monsters, as recognized by Amanda
Waller when she replaced Rick Flagg
Yeah, that was one of the best quotes, I think, in the show where Amanda Waller was like, we
need someone who's less of a whiny bitch and someone who's more just a bitch. It was so
good. Now, in the end, it's the bride alone who recognizes that Princess Rostovic was exactly
the entitled narcissistic person that Cersei claimed she was, though she killed the princess
not because of what she would do, but because she killed Nina Mazursky, the one person the
bride had grown to care for. I thought that was a fantastic story choice. The fact that
the bride was like, you know what, you're planning on doing all of this horrible shit to humanity.
I don't care at all about humanity. I'm just going to kill you because you killed my friend.
It was a fantastic ending and a great moment for the character. I think the one thing missing
from the character of the bride was that she didn't have four arms like she does in the
comics. I wish they would have done that in the series. Sometimes she has six arms in the
comics. Hopefully they'll do that in subsequent seasons. Moving on to Eric Frankenstein, he
was voiced by David Harbour. This was the casting that I was most excited about when it was announced,
and I actually like him a lot more in this role than the Red Guardian role for Marvel. He's
fantastic, although I don't love what they did with the actual character. Yeah, we pit Frankenstein
against Elsa Bloodstone in a Duel episode, and the backstory of the character was actually
pretty interesting, but the way he's characterized in this show... they completely changed him
and he was despicable. He was the worst fucking character. I hated the guy. Yeah, in the comics,
Frankenstein is this wise and noble figure, but in the show, despite his somewhat likable
buffoonery, he's cast very much like a violent stalker, essentially a villain in the series,
making him pretty uncomfortable to watch. But also, it's somewhat in keeping with the literary
character of Frankenstein's monster. who resents life and demands affection. Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein is probably my favorite story ever. So I'm really curious to see where they take
the Eric Frankenstein character and see how he grows. Hopefully he does. Do you think they're
gonna try to redeem him? Or do you think they're gonna double down and make him even more of
an asshole? I don't know. I hope they don't make it so that the bride falls in love with
him. I hope Eric actually finds a new love and the bride finds a new love Because they never
did that in the book. In fact, the character of the bride kills herself rather than be with
Frankenstein's monster. Is he called Eric in the books as well? No, no. I wonder why they
call him Eric in this show. I don't know. I think it was just to give him a name. Movie
gone to Nina Mazursky. She was voiced by Zoe Chow, who I'm not too familiar with. She's
been in a number of minor roles in various projects. I did think she did a fantastic job voicing
the role. You know, like Frankenstein, Nina Masursky was fairly different in this show
than she was in the comics. Here she's pretty naive when in the comics she was a scientific
genius who actually helped create the Creature Commandos. In recent comics, at least. Her
father created the team in its earliest incarnation. So that part, they got somewhat right in that
Dr. Masursky transformed his daughter out of care and necessity for her survival. James
Gunn has a habit of killing off innocents in his works. So I shouldn't have been surprised
that Nina did not survive to the end, but her death had a large impact on the bride, and
I think it's one that will continue into future seasons. In a way, it's kind of bittersweet
that Nina died still innocent, still having never killed someone and becoming the same
kind of monster that the others were. I was angry when she died. I was pissed because I
liked her as a character. And I was wondering like why they even included her on a team of
killers to begin with if they probably knew by her psychological profile that she was not
a killer. Yeah, her role on the team was not incredibly practical, you know, up until the
end when she was tasked with killing the princess in the water. But for majority of the season,
Nina simply just wanted a friend, whether that was GIA Robot or the bride. I think she was
kind of there for moral support and to bring some small degree of optimism to the team.
Moving on to GI Robot, he was voiced by Sean Gunn, who is James Gunn's brother, and who
is a much better actor than I think people give him credit for, particularly when it comes
to physicality. Now, of course, in an animated series, you don't really get to see that, but
even vocally, the fact that he voiced multiple characters on the show and it wasn't terribly
easy to hear that just lets us see his range as an actor. Oh yeah, you compare his Kraglin
voice to his GI Robot voice. It's night and day. I thought he was a fantastic GI robot.
And even his weasel noises, that was like pretty good. Now, GI robot comes across as the most
one note character of the team. He simply wants to kill Nazis. But beneath that was also a
yearning for camaraderie. He wanted to kill Nazis, but as part of a team. Literally nothing
brought him more joy. And it was kind of sad to see him destroyed. as he's finally getting
to live out his life's purpose after all these years. But it was also cool to see him at the
end with his upgrades. Yeah, in the books he's called Jake, if I remember correctly, and he
does get upgrades in the comics. I don't know if he quite looks like the tank that he is
at the end of the show though. No, no, he doesn't. But yeah, there were actually two different
versions of Jake. I'm guessing this is the number two version because he wore a number two on
his helmet. He cracked me up though. I really love the scene where He's standing guard, you
know, watching over the princess outside of her door. And all he can talk about is just
like, I killed 33 Nazis. And he just keeps going on and on about that stuff. But like the look
on his face, it almost looks like he's always smiling. Right. Yeah. So there's just something
really endearing and quirky about the character that I just loved. Yeah, he was great. Now,
of course, Sean Gunn's other performance was as Weasel, a role he played in the Suicide
Squad film. I was really glad to learn that Weasel was not responsible for killing a whole
bunch of children. as we learned in that movie. It turns out he didn't kill the kids, he simply
tried to save them from a fire, but was mistaken as a monster attacking them. All the Weasel
wants is to play, and he's instinctually very loyal to anyone who's kind enough to bond with
him over a game of fetch, including the Princess. It's fairly tragic that because he's not intelligent
enough to follow orders, if he hadn't intervened the Princess's assassination, Nina Mazursky
would have lived. Yeah, that is tragic. But by the end of the series, weasel became my
favorite character. Like I didn't really care for weasel in the suicide squad movie. But
here, you know, he just kind of reminds me of my dog. You know, he just totally constantly
always wanting to play. Even when like you thought he was going to throw down with a pack of wolves
and he picks up the stick and plays fetch and just spends the whole night playing with them.
And then like his sole motivation to go to the castle was to play with the princess again,
because she played fetch with him. It was just so endearing, so endearing. Yeah, absolutely.
And still, even though he was responsible for Nina's death, the character is still extremely
innocent and endearing because of that. Moving on to Dr. Phosphorus, he was voiced by Alan
Tudyk, who is an absolute master of the craft of acting, both on screen and in his voiceover
work. He's done a ton of voice roles for Disney, but he's also done quite a bit for DC, such
as being Mr. Nobody. in the Doom Patrol and he was fantastic in that role and I'm glad
he's sticking around in the new DCU. Well, he's also in Harley Quinn. That's right, yeah, he
voices Clayface and the Joker in that show. Now before he was Dr. Phosphorus, the character
was Dr. Alex Sartorius, whose family was killed by the Gotham City mobster Rupert Thorne after
Dr. Sartorius forged data on a cancer-curing experiment that Thorne had funded. After being
transformed into a radioactive skeleton and avenging his family, Dr. Sartorius, now known
as Dr. Phosphorus, slid deeper and deeper into the pit of villainy and power until he was
captured by Batman. He's the rebel of the group, and with his skeletal appearance, it was hard
to see him as anything other than a violent monster until you learn his backstory and realize
he, like any other man would, misses his family. The scene of him talking with the little girl,
saying he can't have her telling others that she saw him, was kind of frightening. only
for him to then be playing with her outside in the next scene, which was definitely a subversion
of expectations. I think the most shocking scene of the whole show was seeing him as a scientist
being laughed at while being forced to run his fingerprints over the bodies of his dead wife
and child. Oh, man, I've never seen anything like that before. It was unbelievably heartbreaking
for sure. It's disturbing. And I think that like disturbance kind of sticks with you for
that whole episode. which makes Dr. Phosphorus' interaction with the little girl so full of
tension, you know. But it was a nice moment because it showed that he just really wanted
to be a father again. Right, exactly. Moving on to the final character in the character
breakdown, Princess Ilana Rustovic. She was voiced by Maria Bakalova, who played Borat's
daughter in Borat 2, and voiced Cosmo the Space Dog in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. She did a
fantastic job with this role. You know, the Princess begins the series as this manipulative
minx. who we later learn could potentially lead the destruction of the world. The overarching
mystery of the show is whether or not this woman is trustworthy. She's the primary antagonist
of the series, though we don't realize she's an actual villain until the final minutes of
the season's final episode, where we learn, in the Brideswords, that the Princess was a
power-mad, sadistic, narcissistic Disney princess who wants to destroy the world. And that changes
a lot of how you see the character in retrospect. and that we knew she was manipulative since
the beginning, but we didn't realize how malevolent those manipulations were and for what sick
purpose. Yeah, I guess the stakes were that she was in possession of some kind of devastating
armor weapon that would be used to kill all the heroes in the world. Was she supposed to
be some kind of analog to the Amethyst character from DC Comics? I wonder, because her knights
were called Amethyst Knights. I was wondering that. I'm not entirely sure because the princess
is an original character, but given the way everything looked and the way she looked also,
I would not be surprised if that was the case. That said, they probably did not want to go
with Amethyst because Amethyst is a teenage hero in the comics. I do wish they would have
given a little bit more clarity into her true nature, like at least shown us this suit of
armor in storage or something like that. Or at least explain why she wants to take over
the world. Is it because... She just wants to rule everything because I don't love that as
a motivation. Yeah, it's a pretty weak and vague motivation as things go. And I guess that would
be the biggest downfall of the season as a whole. I agree. It kind of had a villain problem in
that she's the antagonist. She's the person they're going up against, but we don't know
really anything about the villain, like their motivation, which tends to signal a weak project.
That said, I think the main focus of this series was the creature commandos and not her. Yeah,
the whole show was more character driven than plot driven. I actually found myself a little
impatient with the show after the first three episodes because plot wise, there's not a whole
lot there. They basically go to Polokistan and defeat Cersei, and it's hard to tell where
this story is going until episode four. But basically, through the first three episodes,
the interesting stuff comes from the character explorations. Absolutely. Yeah, if you strip
all of the flashbacks in this series. The story is very, very simple and actually not that
great. It's the flashbacks that make this series. But speaking of the series, let's move on to
our story highlights.
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Episode 1 was titled The Collie Wobbles. When the nation of Pakolistan goes under attack
by the sorceress Cersei and her army, the Sons of Themyscira, Amanda Waller assembles a team
of non-human prison inmates known as Task Force M, or the Creature Commandos, to protect the
nation's Princess Ilana Rostovic, who has promised petroleum deposits in her country to the US.
Led by Rick Flag, the team arrives in Pakolistan and meets with Princess Ilana Rostovic, who
manages to charm Rick Flag into a sexual relationship. While Dr. Phosphorus attempts to steal Flag's
remote that triggers a painful shock in the team in order to keep them in line, resulting
in a skirmish between the two, the bride and Nina sneak off to Frankenstein's castle, where
the bride was created.
watching the castle that the bride has returned. I actually like how this series follows Peacemaker
season one, at the end of which Amanda Waller's Task Force X is outed to the public and to
the government. And so they strip her of her ability to form government teams using human
inmates. So then she resorts to using non-human inmates or monsters for her missions. Yeah,
it's a pretty good loophole and very in keeping with the character of Amanda Waller. Episode
2 was titled The Tourmaline Necklace. In flashbacks, we learn about the tragic origins of the bride,
reluctantly created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein from the bodies of cadavers as a mate for Erik.
Her education from Victor leads to a romantic attraction culminating in Victor's death at
the hands of the jealous Erik Frankenstein, who continues to pursue the bride across time
and the planet. In the present, the bride and Nina locate a necklace that Victor once gave
to the bride before the two are ambushed by Cersei, whose sons of Themyscira noticed the
bride and Nina entering the castle, resulting in a brutal fight that leaves the bride and
Nina defeated. This episode really makes you feel for the bride, who again came off as pretty
sand-offish in the first episode, but here you learn why that's the case, and it's a really
interesting backstory. Yeah, it was hard to know where the story was going. The fact that
she went after a necklace really served to speak to her sentimental nature, I think, and that
she truly loved Dr. Victor Frankenstein. And I'm wondering if she'll love anybody else the
way she loved him. And it was almost like she lost the love of her life. Got to say, though,
it's pretty gross for Victor Frankenstein to bone this reanimated cadaver chick. Necrophilia?
Yeah, yeah, very gross. It's a little weird. Yeah. Episode three was titled Cheers to the
Tin Man. In flashbacks to G.I. Robot's history is explored from his time as an effective soldier
for the U.S. military during World War Two to when he was reawakened by a military arms collector
after decades of being decommissioned. After killing a group of neo-Nazis, G.I. Robot was
imprisoned and later drafted into Task Force M. When the team arrives at Victor's castle
to rescue Nina and the bride, They realized the two were kept alive to distract them from
Cersei's forces attacking Castle Rostovic and the Princess. Flag and the team return to Rostovic's
castle, now under siege, and during a chaotic battle, G.I. Robot is destroyed after saving
the team. Cersei is eventually defeated, but not before she exclaims that Task Force M has
doomed the world. I really liked G.I. Robot's backstory, everything from World War II to
seeing Dr. William Magnus converse with the character and give him upgrades and stuff like
that. The upgrade of him like being able to detach his torso from his legs and just like
levitate so he could spin around that way was pretty cool, even though it didn't really last
very long. What did you think of the characterization of Dr. William Magnus? Because at some points
it seemed a little bit sinister. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I didn't mind that.
I know there's been some flirtation with Dr. William Magnus being a villain in the comics.
So I think it was in keeping with that. I'm sure they'll do further exploration with the
character. Because I think he was planted in here to establish further DC Studio projects,
like the Metal Men, eventually at some point. Because I don't really see any other reason
why he was included here. He, of course, was voiced by Alan Tudyk. So maybe we'll actually
get to see Alan Tudyk play that role in live action. I was actually shocked when G.I. Robot
died because he was so endearing as a character that you expected him to last throughout the
entire series. I'm really glad that they brought him back, but I do have to commend the show
for delivering on the stakes that they set up. Yeah, I didn't think he was going to die either.
It was when he did that I realized, oh shit, like, is no one safe? Is this like the Suicide
Squad? I hadn't really made that connection earlier for some reason that, hey, these characters
can actually die in this adventure. Episode 4 was titled Chasing Squirrels. In flashbacks,
Weasel befriends a group of schoolchildren only to be confused for their attacker. When a fire
breaks out, authorities prioritize apprehending Gweasel over rescuing the children. In the
present, the team returns to Belle Reve where Cersei is interrogated and shows Waller a vision
of an apocalyptic future caused by Princess Rostakov's rise to power. Though Flag insists
on the princess's innocence after the assurance from leading Amazonian researcher Dr. Isla
MacPherson on Cersei's credibility, Waller assigns the bride to lead the team in Flagg's place
on a mission to assassinate the princess. While the team heads back to Pakolistan, Erik Frankenstein
ambushes Flagg at his home with the assumption that he and the bride were in a relationship.
Clearing up the misunderstanding, Erik and Flagg agree to join forces to stop the princess's
assassination. It was at this point in the series when you really begin to understand the deranged
nature of Erik's obsession with the bride. Yeah, it was really unsettling, especially in the
next episode when you get into his backstory. But yeah, I didn't like the character Frankenstein
at all here. This is one of the better episodes for me and just that the story was probably
the most tragic with Weasel and the group of children. I just want to know where those kids
parents were and why the school building was left unlocked. Yeah, where was like the teacher
supervisor? I assume that the kids were playing at the school's playground after hours or like
on a weekend or something like that. Which is why the school was empty during the time that
the explosion occurred. That makes sense. Yeah. But I wanted to be like, don't play with fire,
kids. Like, what are you doing? Don't don't do that. That's like lesson number one. They're
like a parent teaches their kids don't play with fire, don't play with dangerous things.
But I really got pissed at the police officers when weasel was trying to rescue the little
girl. And they prioritized shooting him over rescuing the little girl, you know. Dude, how
did one of those bullets not hit the little girl? That's all I was thinking about as that
scene was happening. Yeah, in the end, though, it didn't matter, which was truly sad. Heartbreaking,
heartbreaking. Moving on to episode five titled The Iron Pot. In flashbacks, Eric Frankenstein
is found by a blind medicine woman named Bogdana after the bride's initial attack and rejection.
After being nourished back to health, rather than leave Bogdana alone, Eric kills her. In
the present, Flagg and Eric spy on Dr. MacPherson, learning that she has been killed and replaced
by Clayface. Flagg manages to warn the princess over the phone that Task Force M is coming
to kill her before he and Eric are attacked by Clayface. Clayface critically injures Flagg
before Eric manages to electrocute him. Meanwhile, Task Force M is ambushed and separated by the
Picolestani army shortly after they arrive in the country.
Clayface that we've gotten over the past year, including Creature Commandos, Harley Quinn,
Suicide Squad, Isekai, and Batman Caped Crusader, how would you rank those four? Well, I think
the Caped Crusader version was the most interesting, but in terms of just faithfulness to the comics,
I would actually say it's this Creature Commandos version. Yeah, now that the other two aren't
without their merit, but they were definitely looser adaptations of the character of Clayface,
I also really liked this Creature Commandos version because he seemed more dangerous than
the others. Absolutely. Honestly, I'm kind of hoping that he appears in season two as a member
of the team. I thought he worked really well in Suicide Squad Isakai as a part of the Suicide
Squad. Except you can't really put a bomb in his neck or like a taser, you know, as that
show proved. Magic. Just use magic. I still can't get around why Frankenstein killed the
old woman healer. I guess I don't quite get what happened there. I guess in some sick,
twisted rationale, he figured he was doing her a favor. by having her not feel loneliness
and rejection, but I thought it was unbelievably cruel. Yeah, at that point there was no real
redeeming the character of Frankenstein, because before that you knew that he was an asshole.
Right, but it wasn't until that moment that you saw he truly was a monster. Right. Moving
on to episode six, which was titled, Pre-Atel Skelette. In flashbacks, we learned that Dr.
Phosphorus was a mad scientist named Alex Sartorius, who borrowed money from the mob to fund experiments.
on a machine that could cure cancer. When the mob kills his family and attempts to kill him
in the machine, Alex is reborn as the radioactive Dr. Phosphorus, who kills the mobsters and
fills the vacuum as a mob leader in the Gotham City underworld before being imprisoned by
Batman. In the present, while on the run from the Pakolestani army, Phosphorus encounters
a child who reminds him of his lost son, while the bride and Nina protect a local brothel
and Weasel bonds with a wolf pack. Each of the team members reunite on their way to Castle
Rustovic to assassinate the Princess. This is a fantastic episode, really tragic opening,
but I like the way it set up the climax of the show toward the end. The dance number with
Dr. Phosphorus was a little bit weird. Actually, you know, there were quite a few musical numbers
throughout the course of this series that kind of stood out to me in a distracting way, in
a way that I don't think was entirely necessary. Like, James Gunn likes to use a lot of pop
music in his projects. But in this show, some of them almost seemed to just pad the runtime.
Watching Dr. Phosphorus dance in his pimp outfit is one of those cases. There was also another
instance, I think in episode two, where we actually saw the band, Gogo Bordello, perform their
song, Start Wearing Purple. It was just weird, it was weird, like a music video. I actually
loved that. I loved all of the musical choices and numbers in this series from Start Wearing
Purple. to seeing Dr. Phosphorus dancing. He was just so drunk on power that he could like
get away with stuff like that. Like I mentioned, I think the soundtrack for this series would
make Quentin Tarantino proud. For sure. But like Dr. Phosphorus had a whole choreographed
number with backup dancers and everything like that. You didn't find that distracting? No,
I was laughing. Okay. All right. It was funny that it got interrupted by Batman. Yeah, Batman
wasn't having any of it. He was like, really a dance number? Not having any of this shit.
The final episode of the series, episode seven, was titled A Very Funny Monster. In flashbacks,
we learned that Nina was born with deformed lungs, resulting in her father, the renowned
geneticist and engineer Edward Mazursky, to create a mobile iron lung for his daughter.
When Nina's mother leaves her family, Edward experiments on his daughter, turning her into
an aquatic hybrid capable of breathing water. After being teased in school, Nina ran away
from home. living in sewers as an urban legend until she was caught by authorities, resulting
in her father being shot while trying to rescue her. In the present, Task Force M makes their
way into the castle's security tower where they find footage of Clayface with the princess
and where Eric finally catches up with them. Unwilling to hear anything from Eric, the bride
dispatches him quickly before the team makes their way to a lake where the princess is swimming.
Nina is tasked with executing the assassination. but fails and is killed by the princess when
Weasel, who was fond of the princess, alerts her to the danger. After receiving a call from
Amanda Waller calling off the assassination, the bride kills the princess nonetheless for
killing Nina, and after piecing together that Cersei was right after all. A new task force
am is formed in the aftermath, featuring a mix of survivors and new recruits, with the bride
placed in charge once again. And that's the series. I really liked this episode. Nina Mazurski's
backstory was just as tragic as the rest of them. But I think I felt a stronger connection
to this one because as a father, I have a daughter, I have two daughters and there's nothing I
wouldn't do for them. Yeah. Seeing Professor Mazurski's love for his daughter really made
you have disdain for the mother and how she just didn't love the child. You know, it was
really heartbreaking when the father died in front of Nina as she was being arrested. Oh
yeah, totally. Right in the feels. I do wonder about the practicality of genetically transforming
your daughter into a gill creature though, especially when she's having a hard enough time breathing
anyway, to confine her to only breathing underwater. It was a little bit of a strange solution.
I think he should have kept working on it. Well, I got the impression that the experiment went
somewhat wrong, or that he wasn't fully aware of what it would do. He was only trying to
find a way for her to breathe with the liquid that was constantly in her lungs. And I'm not
sure the result was what he intended. Because if you think about it, it wasn't that much
better wearing a fishbowl on your head than it was walking around with an iron lung. Right,
exactly. Again, the final moments of the series were among my favorites when the bride just
straight up kills the princess for no other reason than killing her friend Nina. I'm really
glad that they have announced a season two for the series because whether we see them in live
action or not, I can't wait to see more. from these characters, particularly the Bride, I
think you could do a lot with this series and with a lot of DC's characters, like Clayface,
like a number of villains within DC. For sure, yeah, the dialogue was well written. I think
when you look at the quality of shows like Creature Commando Season 1, like Peacemaker Season 1,
and like the Suicide Squad, you can't help but be excited for the future of the DCU in James
Gunn's hands as a DC fan.
I'm really hoping this isn't the same tone that we'll see in a project like Superman or other
DC fare, Supergirl, even the Lantern series. But for this, James Gunn's style and tone is
absolutely perfect. Now it's not a perfect show, as we mentioned there are problems with the
villain, but for the most part, despite its mature and violent nature, DC Studios' initial
foray packs fun action spectacle and dire stakes while conveying that behind every monster,
as I mentioned earlier, is a tragedy. I'm giving this show 4 out of 5 stars, a fresh rating
on Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah, I would agree with 4 out of 5 stars. That was the rating that
I gave the first season of Hitmonkey, which I really enjoyed. I think there's a lot of
commonalities between Hitmonkey and Creature Commandos. Yeah, I love Hitmonkey for Marvel,
and I'm really glad that DC has basically an equivalent to that. in our universe. I liked
season two of Hit Monkey a little bit more than season one, which I think had probably too
many episodes. But for Creature Commandos, they had just the right amount of episodes to tell
the story they wanted to tell, which again was pretty simple, maybe too simple, but I still
really liked it. For sure. Hopefully we hear words soon as to when season two begins production
so we can know around the time that it's going to come out. But that does it for this review.
AJ9K helped close this out. Thanks for listening to Dynamic Duel. Visit the show's website at
dynamicDuel.com and follow us on Instagram at dynamicDuelpodcast. You can support the show
on Patreon at patreon.com slash dynamicDuel and joining a tier that works for you, or by
rating and reviewing Dynamic Duel on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser or on our website. Don't
forget to listen to the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network, including Max Destruction,
Senjou World and Konsole Kombat. Our next episode is going to be a tie-in to Creature Commando
Season 1 as we find out who would win in a fight between Cersei, the Wonder Woman sorceress
villain, versus Morgan Lafay, the Avengers villain. Actually she started out as a Black Knight
villain since his lore is steeped in Arthurian legend. But it's going to be a good episode.
Yeah, not only are these comic book characters, but they're also characters from myth. It's
going to be awesome. But that does it for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our
executive producers, Ken Johnson. John Sturawski, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Belcombe, Miggy Mtn.
Guillen, Brandon Estergard, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yatin, Austin Wiselowski, A.J. Dunkerley,
Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spies, Dean Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, Josh
Leiner, Mike Williams, and Oscar Galvez for helping make this podcast possible. We'll talk
to you guys next week. Up up and away, true believers. I wish I loved anything as much
as GI Robot loves killing Nazis.