Creature Commandos: Starting the DCU With an Animated Series Has High Potential & Low Risk

In November 2022, James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios to create a decade-long storyline spanning movies, TV shows, and even video games. Three months later, they announced an ambitious slate of projects based on key players such as Batman and somewhat unknown characters like The Authority. Everyone expected the new DCU to kick things off with a big theatrical release. Yet, the first official chapter of the latest DC cinematic universe is Creature Commandos, a TV-MA animated series about a bunch of D-listers. While this choice can raise some eyebrows, it makes perfect sense from a business and a creative point of view.

For starters, Gunn is determined to build his DCU in a world where caped heroes and megalomaniac villains are old news, having existed for decades. The goal is to skip origin stories everyone already knows and jump straight to better storylines. For instance, everyone knows how Bruce Wayne became Batman, so giving the Dark Knight another cinematic origin story is a waste of time and money. Instead, the DCU will introduce Damian Wayne in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, focusing on the Bat Family, a corner of the Dark Knight mythos that has been neglected by almost every live-action adaptation.

The only downside with this approach is that Gunn loses the opportunity to lay the foundations of his universe. Creature Commandos solves this issue by using each episode to dive into the history of the DCU, showing what happened decades and even centuries before Clark Kent first donned the Superman mantle. Even though Creature Commandos has its own story, the first episodes nod at the larger DCU while giving fans clues about its timeline. As the season will keep exploring the past of Task Force M’s members, as revealed by trailers, Creature Commandos offers some welcome worldbuilding before Superman hits theaters.

Since Gunn has been marketing Creature Commandos as an “appetizer” to the DCU, he has already shielded DC Studios from the series’ possible failure. Should Creature Commandos fail to connect with audiences, it’s simple to sweep it under the rug and focus on Superman as the “real” DCU debut. However, since Creature Commandos is a hit with both critics and the audience, the series already counts as DC Studios’ first victory, increasing the hype for Superman, which has to win big at the box office for the sake of the DCU. The potential losses are minimal compared to what DC Studios has to gain with Creature Commandos, a statement that is even easier to verify by looking at budget numbers.

[Related: Creature Commandos: The Sons of Themyscira Are Quite Different in DC Comics]

Creature Commandos Will Allow DC Studios to Make More Animation

DC Studios has not unveiled how much it costs to produce seven episodes of Creature Commandos. Nevertheless, it is likely only a fraction of what a live-action film’s theatrical release costs. For comparison, Invincible has an approximate budget of $750 thousand per season, while Marvel Studios’ animated projects cost around $20 million per season. Even if DC Studios is spending big on Creature Commandos, the seven episodes remain lower than $30 million – and that’s being incredibly generous with the budget! These costs cover the start-studded cast and the crispy animation while still being a fraction of what DC Studios would spend if Creature Commandos were a live-action movie. Gunn is known in Hollywood for achieving high-quality results with less money than other blockbuster filmmakers, but The Suicide Squad still cost the studio $185 million.

The math is clear. If Creature Commandos is successful, DC Studios gets a pass to produce more animated projects, spending less to quickly expand the universe with TV shows, specials, and even feature-length movies. That means more content for fans without sacrificing quality, just using the advantages of the animated medium to cut costs.

Animation is also advantageous from a management point of view because most of the work does not depend on the stars. Animation studios can continue working on new episodes even if voice actors are absent, something that’s impossible with live-action. In the case of Creature Commandos, the voice cast had to check in for a few days to record their lines for a whole season. It’s easier to respect the limitations of everyone’s schedule, ensuring you can still hire big Hollywood stars who would be too busy to be on set for months.

Regardless of how you approach it, starting the DCU with Creature Commandos represents a masterful blend of creative ambition and business acumen. The animated series serves as both a strategic testing ground and a foundation-laying tool, allowing DC Studios to establish their universe’s rich history while minimizing financial exposure. In short, by choosing animation over live-action, Gunn and Safran have created a space where they can take bold creative risks, experiment with lesser-known characters, and build audience investment in their larger narrative vision, all while maintaining tight budget control and production flexibility.

New episodes of Creature Commandos hit MAX every Thursday until January 9, 2025.