How the ‘Creature Commandos’ Season 1 Finale Sets Up the DCU Future

Spoiler warning for Creature Commandos Season 1

Creature Commandos wrapped up its first season and laid out a lot of interesting developments for the future of the DCU. Throughout seven episodes, Creature Commandos delved into the past of its main cast of characters and offered plenty of hints for DC characters like the Metal Men, Batman, and Clayface before his planned 2026 feature film. This animated series marks the first entry in The DCU’s Chapter 1 – Gods and Monsters, which will continue with upcoming titles like Superman, Peacemaker Season 2, Lanterns, and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

The finale episode of Creature Commandos, titled “A Very Funny Monster,” not only made for a tragic but satisfying conclusion for the show’s first season but also laid the groundwork for where the DCU is heading. While James Gunn said no project in the DCU is designed to set up another and is focused on its own stories, that doesn’t mean there aren’t potential teases and seeds being planted that can grow into bigger stories. In fact, with Creature Commandos being the kick-off of this new cinematic universe, not counting the now canonized The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Season 1, the animated might hint at not only a plot point in Superman but many future projects.

New Commandos

At the end of Creature Commandos, the big reveal is that The Bride is being asked to lead a new team of Commandos. The roster includes previous members Doctor Phosphorus and The Weasel, along with a newer and much larger version of G.I. Robot that has been rebuilt. The team also includes King Shark, who was a member of Task Force X in The Suicide Squad and one of the few surviving members. Moreover, we meet the vampire Nosferata and a mummy, Khalis, who were seen in non-speaking cameo roles in episode four, “Chasing Squirrels.”

Creature Commandos is already confirmed to be returning for Season 2, which will continue the adventures of this team. If it follows the same structure as Season 1, that means established characters will have more of their origins delved into with events fans did not see, as well as fleshing out the team’s new members. Audiences might get to learn more about King Shark and if he has any connection to Aquaman, which will now need to be recast since the DCEU’s Aquaman, Jason Momoa, will now star as Lobo in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

As for the two new members, Khalis might have a substantial connection to Hawkgirl, who Isabela Merced will play in Superman. Khalis is a mummy high priest, and in many versions of Hawkgirl’s origin, she was once an Egyptian princess. The version in Superman is Kendra Saunders, who in one version of the comics is established as being the latest in the reincarnation line of the Egyptian princess Chay-Ara, who also reincarnated into the Golden Age Hawkgirl Shiera Sanders-Hall. Hawkgirl could appear in Khali’s flashback and factor into the present-day storyline of Creature Commandos if he finds out an old foe has been reincarnated once again.

Rick Flag Demoted

With The Bride now tasked with leading The Creature Commandos, their original leader, Rick Flag, is out of a job. Rick Flag broke rank and went behind Amanda Waller’s back, investigating Circe and putting the teams’ mission in jeopardy, and his interference cost Nina Mazursky her life. Even though Amanda Waller believed Flag was right to investigate and uncover the truth about Clayface, the episode’s ending implies The Bride informed her about Princess Ilana Rostovic’s deception. This means that Flag is likely on thin ice with Amanda Waller.

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Fans already know that Frank Grillo will reprise his role as Rick Flag in Superman, though he is sporting black hair because he was not able to dye it white because he was filming another movie then. Flag is still working for/with Waller, but now it is clear why the Creature Commandos are not part of Superman, as Flag is no longer their field leader. The bigger implication is Flag’s role as a Peacemaker. The end credit scene of The Suicide Squad hinted that John Economos and Emilia Harcourt were assigned to work with Peacemaker as punishment for having betrayed Waller, so the same might be true of Rick Flag. The real question is if Rick Flag knows that Peacemaker is the man who killed his son Rick Flag Jr., or if this is something Amanda Waller has kept from him that will be revealed in Season 2.

Global Conflicts on the Rise in the DCU

The DCU has quickly established its alternate reality from the viewers with plenty of fictional countries. The Suicide Squad took place in Corto Maltase, a country in South America. Creature Commondo‘s action largely took place in the fictional European nation of Pokolistan, which is also the birthplace of both Eric Frankenstein and The Bride. The series also established that Gotham criminal Rupert Throne was attempting to sell potentially harmful data to the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Bialya. The Superman trailer has already revealed it will include the fictional nation of Boravia invading a boarding country, Jarhanpur. Jarhanpur was name-dropped in Creature Commandos as one of the locations where Rick Flag served.

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The Bride killing Princess Ilana Rostovic will likely have major political and global consequences for the rest of the DCU. Illana Rostovic’s plan for global domination and the plan to kick off World War III might not have been intently averted with her death. Boravia’s invasion of Jarhanpur in Superman might be motivated by the assassination attempt of a fellow foreign leader, similar to how the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand kicked off World War I. Circe’s vision might still pass, because while Rostovic might not lead the charge of this new global conflict, her death might have inevitably kicked it off. Is the world on the brink of war, and all hope seems lost? This certainly looks like a job for Superman.

Other Future Set-Ups

Aside from the finale, Creature Commandos also set up some interesting teases for not just future characters but potential projects. Fans already know that a Clayface movie is in the works, and following the character’s appearance in Creature Commandos raises the question of whether the Clayface seen in the show will be the same one in the movie. There have been eight versions of Clayface in DC Comics, and the one in Creature Commandos has not been identified. While no details are known about the upcoming Clayface film, it is assumed to be a horror origin story, so it is possible it will tie into this version. It is also unclear if Clayface is dead, so the movie could even be a continuation of the events of the film, but that remains to be seen.

Then there is Will Magnus, the creator of The Metal Men. DC has been working on a Metal Men movie since even before the last shared DC Universe, The DCEU, back in 2012, with Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld set to helm the movie. In 2021, legendary Disney animated directors John Musker and Ron Clements signed on to direct an animated Metal Men movie. No word has been given on that, but considering that The Metal Men’s creator, Will Magnus, was featured in the animated series Creature Commandos and the blueprint for the Metal Men member Gold was shown, there is a good chance the animated movie is still on the table and in the DCU. Will Magnus’ voice actor Alan Tudyk previously worked with Musker and Clements as the voice of Heihei in Moana.

Finally, there is, of course, Batman. Batman was teased in the Doctor Phosphorus-centric origin episode and was also shown in the apocalyptic vision that Circe showed Amanda Waller. Batman is already set for his own film, The Brave and the Bold, but no release date has been set. Creature Commandos firmly believes that this must be an older Batman, as Doctor Phosphorus mentions that he was transformed 15 years before the series’ events. With Peacemaker name-dropping Joker, Riddler, and Mad Hatter and now Creature Commandos featuring Doctor Phosphorus and Clayface, the DCU Dark Knight has already tangled with many of his greatest foes, allowing the Brave and the Bold and future Batman stories to move past the origin and explore concepts and storylines the past Batman movies could not. In just one series, Creature Commandos has done a great job teasing the future and making a franchise that fans will want to explore more.

All episodes of Creature Commandos are streaming on Max.