James Gunn Hints at How ‘Creature Commandos’ and the DCU Will Surpass ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and the MCU

James Gunn was dismissed by Marvel Studios several years ago after old tweets containing offensive “jokes” about pedophilia and rape resurfaced. The news stunned fans, given Gunn’s success in elevating C-list characters within the MCU and building a hit franchise around them.

The most recent ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ film, released last year, was another success and served as the definitive conclusion to Gunn’s career with the MCU. Shortly afterward, he took on a new role as Co-CEO of DC Studios, alongside Peter Safran.

Gunn now faces a monumental challenge: building a new cinematic universe from the ground up. He’s starting once again with lesser-known characters, this time with ‘Creature Commandos,’ an animated series set to premiere this December. While ‘Creature Commandos’ is technically the beginning of the DCU, both Gunn and Safran see the upcoming live-action ‘Superman’ film as the true launch point for the new universe.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gunn shared why he believes the DCU and ‘Creature Commandos’ will surpass his work with the MCU.

I’m used to dealing with oddballs and irregular types and weirdos. 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.

Gunn also discussed the characters that fans will encounter in the upcoming installment, hinting at a diverse range of personalities and traits.

Part of the fun for me was taking some of the basics of Mary Shelley’s story and bringing them into this story about the spurned relationship between the Bride and Frankenstein. Frankenstein is this incredibly well-spoken intellectual but is still driven by his rage and his anger and his inability to really be a human being, and the inability for the one that he loves not loving him back. That’s what drives him. […]There’s an innocence to G.I. Robot that I didn’t quite see until Sean stepped into the booth and started creating this character. His choices for G.I. Robot give the character this sweet, mechanic innocence. He’s got this very sad history from World War II. The only time I think he felt at home was with the soldiers that he served with in DC’s alternate history of World War II, where metahumans were involved.

The director also reaffirmed that ‘Superman’ will offer an authentic preview of what the DCU will be like.

Superman is the true start of everything, it’s a humongous epic. This is a way for people to just take a little nibble and see what it tastes like, there are a ton of fun references to other DC stuff, a bunch of hints for things that are coming. So I think it’s just an extraordinarily fun way to start.

‘Creature Commandos’ will premiere on Max on December 5. Do you have any thoughts to share? Drop them in the comments below!