Creature Commandos Voice Cast & Character Guide: Who Stars In The DC Universe Series? – SlashFilm

James Gunn and Peter Safran’s brand-new DC Universe (DCU) is set to kick off soon with “Creature Commandos,” which will premiere December 5, 2024, on Max. And how does this project aim to set the tone for DC’s freshly rebooted super-powered adventures to come? Well, by returning to what’s proven to be a winning formula for Gunn in the past: a story about a band of misfits who, despite their differences, learn to peel back the layers of their identities while evolving as a united front. Yes, this seven-episode animated series revolves around the titular group of oddball super-powered individuals from the world of DC Comics and takes place right after the events of the first season of “Peacemaker.” I know what you’re thinking: “Creature Commandos” sounds an awful lot like a sequel to Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad,” and in some ways it is, especially when we scrutinize the narrative and thematic links between the two.

If you remember what happened at the end of “The Suicide Squad” (massive spoilers ahead!), A.R.G.U.S director Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) was forced to disband the surviving squad members after the Starro fiasco. The film’s post-credits scene revealed that Weasel, who was believed to be dead, is actually alive, and is shown running off into the woods. Apart from the known events that occurred in “Peacemaker” season 1, it is unclear what Waller had been up to since then. However, “Creature Commandos” provides a new direction for Waller’s schemes now that jeopardizing human lives is off the table for her. In the upcoming animated series, Waller instead turns her attention to a black-ops team of unruly “monsters” and appoints a new official in command of a covert mission.

“Creature Commandos” boasts a stacked voice-acting cast, with certain characters (such as Waller and John Economos) being voiced by the same actors who’ve played their live-action counterparts in the past. Without further ado, let us take a look at who’s who in the upcoming DCU TV show.

As mentioned above, Viola Davis returns as Amanda Waller, who, apart from heading A.R.G.U.S in “The Suicide Squad,” is also the founder of Task Force M. Prior to this, she spearheaded Task Force X in both 2016’s “Suicide Squad” and its sequel, brandishing an astonishing brand of apathy towards the people assigned to these groups. It’s not hard to predict what kind of role Waller is set to play in “Creature Commandos,” as it makes perfect sense for her character to assemble yet another crew of broken individuals and force them to carry out a mission that will help further her agendas. We’ll just have to wait and see how Waller realizes her relentless ambitions in the series, and how far she is willing to go without feeling any remorse.

Davis herself requires no introduction, as her career (both on the screen and on stage) speaks for itself. An EGOT and Academy Award winner, Davis is best known for her roles in “Doubt,” “The Help,” “Fences,” and “How To Get Away With Murder,” among others. Her performance in 2022’s “The Woman King” was also lauded for its nuanced complexity, which made itself felt even within the ambit of a fast-paced, action-focused narrative.

You might remember Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag Jr. from the “Suicide Squad” films, along with the fact that he — spoilers! — was brutally killed by Peacemaker (John Cena). “Creature Commandos” focuses on his father, Rick Flag Sr., who is voiced by Frank Grillo. While this character has distinct origins and motivations in the comics, the animated series puts him in command of the titular group, whose members do not make it easy for him to spearhead their missions. As Rick Sr. is expected to follow Waller’s orders to a tee, it will be interesting to learn more about the character’s personal morality, and whether it will clash with what he is expected to do.

Grillo has been a part of many popular franchises, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), where he plays Brock Rumlow, a.k.a. Crossbones. Horror/slasher aficionados might also know him from the “Purge” movies, in which he appears as Sergeant Leo Barnes. Grillo has also played prominent roles in “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Prison Break.”

An original character created by Gunn for the animated series (with the intention of having Maria Bakalova play her), Princess Ilana Rostovic acts as the catalyst for the Creature Commandos to embark on their first mission together. In the show, the Bulgarian princess appears to be at risk of being targeted by one of the antagonists, prompting Rick Flag Sr. and his band of military monsters to intervene. Of course, the Waller-approved mission to protect Ilana is bound to have some greater socio-political motivations behind it. It’s also unclear whether Ilana is a much more capable fighter than she appears to be.

Bakalova’s first prominent role was in the 2020 mockumentary sequel “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” after which she appeared in notable films like “The Apprentice” and “Bodies Bodies Bodies.” This is not her first time working with Gunn either, as she previously voiced Cosmo the Spacedog in both “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.”

Circe is something of a menace in the DC Comics universe, what with her being a powerful, immortal witch whose abilities include (but are not limited to) being able to turn people into animal hybrids. Her power-scaling is pretty wild too, as even gods fear her magical prowess and limitless occult knowledge. For “Creature Commandos,” Circe is voiced by Anya Chalotra, and it appears this rendition of the character is involved in an incident targeted at Princess Ilana and her nation. Judging by the trailers, Circe may even be the big bad of the series. At the very least, her access to powerful magic should prove to be quite a challenge for the scattered, divided Commandos to deal with.

Chalotra is best known for bringing Yennefer of Vengerberg to life in Netflix’s adaptation of “The Witcher,” a show in which she similarly plays a powerful sorceress with the ability to transform entire worlds. The actor has also starred in numerous stage productions and made her screen debut with BBC’s “Wanderlust” and “The ABC Murders.” More recently, she voiced the Norse goddess Sif in the Netflix animated series “Twilight of the Gods.”

Yes, Frankenstein’s monster will be part of the DCU. This particular version of the character, known as Eric Frankenstein, is played by David Harbour and has been reimagined by Gunn as a more sophisticated counterpart to the original creature envisioned by Mary Shelley. The core issue with Eric is that he’s not in control of the human emotions granted to him by his creator, which makes him prone to extreme bouts of desperation and rage. Being a member of Task Force M, Eric will no doubt find himself in multiple situations that only encourage his tendency for trigger-happy and otherwise reckless behavior, introducing more complexity to the character than one might expect.

Although Harbour gained widespread recognition for his portrayal of Jim Hopper in Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” he’d been acting long before that, having played notable supporting roles in films like “Brokeback Mountain,” “Revolutionary Road,” and “Black Mass.” Harbour’s more recent endeavors include 2019’s “Hellboy,” “Violent Night,” and “Gran Turismo.” The actor has also appeared in the MCU, having played Red Guardian in “Black Widow.”

In the DC Comics universe, The Bride is affiliated with the Super-Human Advanced Defense Executive (S.H.A.D.E.). This counter-terrorism organization recruits the Creature Commandos to deal with other monster-related threats. As you can probably guess, The Bride was originally intended as a companion for Victor Frankenstein’s creature (who is simply called Frankenstein in the comics), but “Creature Commandos” expands upon this origin story while granting a fresh perspective on the ethics of the situation. Also mirroring the comics, The Bride shares a tumultuous relationship with Frankenstein (the monster), but the finer details of this dynamic might be a tad different in Gunn’s reimagined rendition of the characters.

Indira Varma, who voices The Bride, is known best for playing the Dornish paramour Ellaria Sand in “Game of Thrones.” Her recent roles include rogue Imperial officer Tala Durith in the limited series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and a brief appearance as the head of the U.S. Intelligence agency, DIA, in “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning.” Varma is also set to reprise her role as the high-ranking DIA official in the highly-anticipated “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.”

“The Suicide Squad” introduced Weasel as a “harmless” weasel-like humanoid who apparently killed 27 children (!), but not much is known about this creature beyond his instinctive behavior. Sean Gunn has since reprised his role as Weasel for “Creature Commandos,” and it’s a safet bet the series will flesh out the character and explore how he ended up in Task Force X and M. Apart from voicing Weasel, Gunn also portrays G.I. Robot, a military android dispatched during World War II whose only goal and purpose is to kill Nazis. G.I. seems to yearn for the battlefield at all times despite harboring a wide-eyed innocence about everything (so long as it doesn’t involve killing Nazis, that is).

Gunn, of course, played Kirk Gleason on the TV series “Gilmore Girls” and the A-Chilitarian Kraglin Obfonteri in all of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” projects, along with “Avengers: Endgame” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.” Gunn also served as the on-set stand-in for Rocket Raccoon in the MCU, making it easier for the flesh-and-blood actors around him to interact with the CGI character. Up next, Gunn will portray the villainous Maxwell Lord in 2025’s “Superman” (which his brother, James Gunn, is writing and directing as well).

A scientist for S.H.A.D.E., Nina created the first iteration of the Creature Commandos in DC’s comics before an unfortunate incident led to the team being dismantled. While engineering the second batch of creatures, Nina took it upon herself to go through the transformation firsthand, causing her to morph into an amphibian-like humanoid. In Gunn’s animated series, Nina is a cross-breed between a gill-man and a mermaid, and she can be seen wearing a full-body suit and helmet that helps her breathe on land.

Chao’s most prominent role so far is that of Zoë Zhu in the Apple TV+ murder mystery series “The Afterparty,” although she’s previously made appearances in “Love Life” and “Party Down” as well. She is also known for playing the lead in Mia Lidofsky’s “Strangers,” where she embodies Isobel Song, a young woman struggling to make sense of her evolving sexuality. As for future projects, Chao has been cast in the upcoming comedy film “Let’s Have Kids!” alongside Karen Gillan.

As Doctor Phosphorus is permanently radioactive, his skeletal frame perpetually crackles with green-hued fire. This, combined with the character’s deadpan expression, makes him perhaps the most blunt, matter-of-fact member of the Commandos. Interestingly, the character’s comic book counterpart has a long story of fighting Batman, as Doctor Phosphorous would often terrorize Gotham City with his toxic fumes and had an alarming obsession with all things nuclear. Alan Tudyk, who boasts an incredible oeuvre of voice work, plays this character in “Creature Commandos” while also lending his vocals to Clayface and Will Magnus (both of whom are set to appear at some point in the series).

As for his previous DC-related voice work, Tudyk portrays both the Joker and a much more comical iteration of Clayface in the ongoing “Harley Quinn” animated series. (The DCU’s version of Clayface, on the other hand, is more dramatic and villainous, with a penchant for homicide.) Tudyk’s long list of prominent voice roles also includes “I, Robot,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (in which he voiced the droid K-2SO), “Star vs. The Forces of Evil,” “Transformers: EarthSpark,” and “Halo 3: ODST,” among others. Meanwhile, on the live-action front, Tudyk has appeared in popular TV shows like “Firefly” and “Arrested Development,” and he currently plays Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle in the sci-fi comedy series “Resident Alien.”

To reiterate, “Creature Commandos” premieres December 5, 2024, on Max.