James Gunn On ‘Creature Commandos’; When He’ll Direct Again & How DC Studios Won’t Greenlight Movies Without Third Acts – Crew Call Podcast

Creature Commandos, the first DC project under James Gunn and Peter Safran’s revitalized DC Studios, premieres today at Max.

Gunn, who wrote the seven episode season with episodic direction by Matt Peters, tells Crew Call about discovering this comic book about a ragtag bunch of misfits –i.e. G.I. Robots, Bride of Frankenstein, Eric Frankenstein, Clayface, and Rick Flagg Sr.– who make Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy look like tree-hugging members of the Peace Corps. How did they come to be? This troupe is assembled by security operative Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) who is now only permitted to deploy non-humans on high-risk missions post Suicide Squad.

These Creature Commandos are a hysterical, yet lovable bunch.

“I think the creatures are more tragic than the Guardians,” says Gunn juxtaposing the DC guys to the protags of his Marvel Guardians movies.

“(The Guardians) are all good guys at the end of the day, we know that from the beginning.”

 “Creatures — we don’t know who is good, and who is bad,” Gunn tells us, “The Creature Commandos are dirtier than that. People die and there isn’t necessarily a greater reason for it. It’s just something that happens. It mimics reality more than Guardians does.”

While Creature Commandos is the first project under Gunn’s “Gods and Monsters” DC phase, he actually began cracking it before getting the co-CEO job at the comic book multimedia studio. He went the animation route with the IP as a live-action feature adaptation would have been significantly more expensive.

We also ask Gunn about when he’ll direct next, what the next DC feature is going into production after Supergirl (post Q1 2025) and whether those rumors about a third Batman being in development beyond the Matt Reeves and Andy Muschietti movies are actually true.

One axiom Gunn will preside by at DC Studios (unlike some rival comic-book studios, cough, cough): “We want the screenplays to be ready before we greenlight them. What goes into production is based on what is ready to go. I’ve just seen for many, many years, the industry get dragged down by having start dates on projects and going into production with screenplays that don’t’ have a third act. It happens constantly. It’s the primary reason why films aren’t as good as they were in the ’70s and the ’80s.”

And with that Gunn will spend 2025 “writing”.

Below is our conversation with Gunn and Creature Commandos EP Dean Lorey.