James Gunn’s Creature Commandos Casts Four Marvel Actors

James Gunn is recruiting four more actors into the monster-sized Creature Commandos cast. The DC Studios co-head debuted a new trailer for the Max adult animated series at New York Comic Con on Saturday, revealing an extended look at the first series set in the new DC Universe. In the “hyperbolically violent” footage, Task Force X founder Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) enlists Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) to lead monsters incarcerated in the Non-Human Internment Division: Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), The Bride (Indira Varma) and Frankenstein (David Harbour), Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), and Weasel and GI Robot (both voiced by Sean Gunn).

In addition to Steve Agee reprising his role from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker as Economos, with Maria Bakalova (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) voicing Princess Ilana and Anya Chalotra (The Witcher) as the Wonder Woman villain Circe, Gunn announced four new additions to the cast: Michael Rooker, Linda Cardellini, Peter Serafinowicz in undisclosed roles, and Benjamin Byron Davis as Gotham City-based criminal Rupert Thorne. (Here’s everything Gunn revealed about the new DCU at NYCC.)

Rooker is a longtime collaborator of Gunn’s, appearing in his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy as Yondu and as short-lived vigilante Savant in 2021’s The Suicide Squad. The actor also featured in the Gunn-directed Slither and Super, as well as Brightburn, which Gunn produced, and The Belko Experiment, written by Gunn.

Cardellini played Velma in 2002’s live-action Scooby-Doo and 2004’s Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, both written by Gunn, and she voiced Lylla the otter in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It was her second role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after playing Laura Barton, wife of Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, in Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye TV series and Avengers: Endgame.

Serafinowicz, who played the Denarian Garthan Saal of the Nova Corps in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, is also known for his roles in Shaun of the Dead, John Wick: Chapter 2, and the title role as the superhero The Tick in the live-action comic book adaptation.

Davis, best known for his role as the gang leader Dutch van der Linde in the Red Dead Redemption video games, is another Gunn regular who appeared in the Gunn-produced short The Miracle of Phil and The Belko Experiment before portraying OrgoCorp guard Bletelsnort in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. His other live-action roles include Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp, the Borderlands movie, and episodes of Gilmore Girls, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles, How I Met Your Mother, and Parks and Recreation.

Like his comic book counterpart, the Tudyk-voiced Dr. Sartorius is transformed into a radioactive, atomic-powered supervillain by the corrupt Rupert Thorne. He’s the second Batman villain to be revealed for the series after the new trailer showed Flag Sr. battling the shape-shifting Clayface.

“You’re going see where everybody came from, their origins, and it’s terrifying,” Tudyk teased during the DC Studios panel. “There’s moments where you are shocked and horrified and moved, and then, by the same characters, can make you laugh, and then also make you cringe because they’re so violent and screwed up.”

Gunn wrote and executive produces the seven-episode Creature Commandos, about a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. The DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation series is also executive produced by Peter Safran (The Suicide Squad), Dean Lorey (Max’s Harley Quinn), and Sam Register (Batman: Caped Crusader), with Rick Morales (Young Justice) serving as a supervising producer. Creature Commandos is streaming December 5 on Max.