Creature Commandos Season 1 Review | James Gunn’s First Swing Hits Harder Than Anyone Expected

If Creature Commandos is the appetizer before the DCU’s main course, then James Gunn just served us something spicy, weird, emotional, and… most importantly ALIVE.

Season 1 isn’t about setting up some massive cosmic direction for the DCU. It’s about characters. Heart. Pain. Found family. And Gunn, as always, cooks with all of that.

What surprised me most is how deeply this show makes you care about characters who, on paper, should be absolute misfits. And yet? You’re invested. You want to protect them. You want them to win. And by the time the season finale hits, you realize Gunn pulled off the same trick he did with Guardians of the Galaxy but darker, stranger, and far more emotionally raw.

The Heartbreaker of the Season

Nina’s backstory is arguably the emotional backbone of the entire season.

Born with her lungs outside her body, experimented on by her own father, treated like a burden, and ultimately made to feel like she never belonged.

Gunn turns what could’ve been a shock value character into a deeply human tragedy.

And then he kills her.

This might be the saddest thing Gunn has ever written, and he’s said as much himself. Nina’s death isn’t just a plot point. It lands. Hard. Especially for The Bride, who loses the first real friend she’s ever had since the doctor who created her.

Watching her break was one of the season’s strongest emotional punches.

The Show Stealer

Make no mistake, The Bride is the standout of Season 1.

She’s layered, angry, hilarious, damaged, empathetic, and powerful all at once. Every episode builds her into the emotional core of the team, and by the finale, when she’s elevated to team leader of the new Creature Commandos lineup, it feels earned. Organic. Exciting.

This character is going to matter in the DCU. You can feel it.

The Unexpected Tearjerker

If you didn’t almost cry during Weasel’s backstory episode… brother, do you even have a beating heart?

Gunn takes a character that was literally a punchline in The Suicide Squad and builds a tragic, beautiful little story around him.

It’s 100% Gunn at his best… finding soul in the strange.

the Broader Tapestry

Eric Frankenstein’s arc is fascinating and clearly not over.

GI Robot’s emotional beats hit harder than anyone expected. And throughout the season, you feel Gunn doing what nobody else has done in a DC project for a long time… making even the side characters matter.

And yes, this is absolutely Gunn laying track for the future.

Amanda Waller’s multiple teams (Creature Commandos, Peacemaker’s squad, and whatever’s next) are forming the foundations of something bigger.

Very different from the MCU. Very different from the old DCEU. And thank God for that.

A Taste of the DCU

I want to be clear… this isn’t the full DCU yet.

Gunn’s reboot officially begins with Superman in July 2025. But Creature Commandos gives us just enough to understand the tone, the ambition, and the heart of what he’s building.

We get hints of
Clayface.
Cersei.
Rick Flag Sr.

Whole corners of the DC Universe starting to pulse to life.

Season 1 isn’t trying to be world shaking.

It’s trying to get us invested… and it absolutely succeeds.

For the “Everything Must Be Dark and Brooding” Crowd…

Some fans are already complaining online (shocker).

Too humorous. Too adult. Too over the top. Not edgy enough.

Newsflash people!

Fun is allowed.

Comic book stories can be weird and emotional. Violent and heartfelt. Silly and sincere.

If you can get past the surface level adult humor and actually look at the storytelling… Nina, The Bride, Weasel, GI Robot.

Well, you’ll see the kind of passion Gunn poured into this thing.

Creature Commandos isn’t the DCU, but it’s the spark. It’s proof that Gunn understands character work better than almost anyone in the superhero space. The writing has purpose. The arcs have weight. And every misfit on this team feels like they matter.

Season One is funny, emotional, grisly, weird, heartbreaking, bold, and completely unique.

Exactly what the new DCU needed to kick off with.

Bring on Season 2.

Bring on Superman.

The DCU is alive, and we’re just getting started.