Marvel Actors Frank Grillo, David Harbour and More Cast in DC’s Creature Commandos Series

As we previously (exclusively) reported, former Marvel actor Frank Grillo has made the jump to DC Studios, where he will play Rick Flag Sr. in the upcoming Creature Commandos animated series. Furthermore, Collider has revealed that ‘the series will feature the voice talents of Sean Gunn as Weasel, who will be joined by Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic, Indira Varma as The Bride, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, Marvel’s Thunderbolts star David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein, Sean Gunn (GotGv3) as G.I. Robot, with Steve Agee (Peacemaker) reprising his role as John Economos.’ The latter casting was already teased by Economos just recently… 

Creature Commandos will be written by DC Studios head James Gunn, and is currently set for release in 2024; however, it’s already been teased by Gunn and his studio co-head Peter Safran that DC Universe animated series will seamlessly transition into the live-action projects, with voice actors also taking on the live-action roles. Gunn has since confirmed Frank Grillo will be doing just that with his Rick Flag Sr. character going beyond Creature Commandos: 

Grillo already hinted that he only joined DC Studios because he would get to play a much larger character arc in the DCU: 

“They [Marvel] never told a story [about Crossbones]. The mythology of the MCU and just what Marvel has in its pool of characters, it’s so deep. Crossbones was there for a minute, but he was supposed to be there longer, then they went the direction they did,” Grillo said to ComicBook. “I think Crossbones serves a purpose, but I think the interesting thing is that if you see how many people around the world have responded to Crossbones, and again, he’s on the screen for a very f–king short amount of time, I think there’s more there. I think there was more meat on the bone. I was disappointed, which is why I went over to DC.”

Who Is Rick Flag Sr.? 

As the name implies, Rick Flag Sr. is the father of Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman), who was the commander of Task Force X in both David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016) and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021). In DC lore, Rick Flag Sr. was one of the original commanders of the Suicide Squadron during WWII – a precursor to Task Force X made up of convicts being deployed as soldiers. Flag was an expert at getting the criminals in line as an elite fighting force; however, his personal life was struck by tragedy when his wife Sharon died saving their son from being hit by a car. A broken flag would ultimately sacrifice himself to a kamikaze crash into a deadly War Wheel machine threatening the allies. 

What Is Rick Flag Sr.’s Role In The DCU? 

Based on the background story of Creature Commandos, it’s presumable that Rick Flag Sr. hasn’t actually been dead – or that he may not be entirely human anymore. The backstory of where he’s been and how he’s still alive will be key to learn when Creature Commandos arrives. 

The Suicide Squad movie threw DC fans the shock of having Rick Flag Jr. get brutally murdered by John Cena’s Peacemaker, in order to carry out the mission objectives of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). In that sense, both Peacemaker Season 2 (2025) and Gunn’s Waller TV series are potential big places where Grillo’s Rick Flag can get payback for his son. 

Creature Commandos will be released on HBO Max in 2024.