Basics of Superheroes: October 2025

Time may change, but Waller's favorite strategy will always be forcing prisoners to do her wetwork. lol

Let’s do Creature Commandos. I didn’t watch it when it first came out, but it’s thematically appropriate for the month, is related to the new DCU by James Gunn, and I’m told GI Robot is freaking amazing. So… let’s get to it. Ya, I’ll probably do the first season of Peacemaker in November, I also haven’t seen that. I’m behind on a lot of shows right now, alright? I know that chronologically Creature Commandos happens after season 1 of Peacemaker… but this is the show I want to watch. So, sue me (shrug).

FYI, as stated above Creature Commandos is canon to the new DCU. So, their Superman is Superman (2025). One of the ideas that Gunn had for his new take on DC was to try to create a multi-genre format for it. We’ll see how that works out as we go. Let’s get to it, shall we?

We open on a military base. A few officials are watching news coverage of a terrorist attack occurring by a group that calls itself the Sons of Themyscira on the fictional country of Pokolistan. The group is being led by Circe, yes, the Goddess from Homer’s Odyssey is canon to the DC universe and she has a long-standing beef with Wonder Woman. Circe is claiming to be the rightful ruler of the island of Themyscira and says that she’ll conquer the island with the Sons once she’s taken Pokolistan. The Sons shown to be a bunch of dude bros that Circe has easily tricked by promising them access to the island of Muscle Mommies. The officials are revealed to be General Rick Flag Sr. and Director Amanda Waller, two of DC’s heaviest hitters in the US military and Government respectively. Flag dubs the Sons as a bunch of clows, but Waller reminds him that they are dangerous clowns at that. We get a quick info dumb about what is going on; Pokolistan is a poor but resource rich nation that is currently in talks about giving the US access to their oil reserves, hence why Waller is interested in giving them back up. The woman is cold as ice, but she’s all about giving the US a leg up on things. She knows that Circe isn’t interested in diplomacy, so they need to help Rostivik, the current Princess of Pokolistan. They take an elevator down to the “Non-Human Internment Division.” Flag seems to be confused by this, saying that Congress put a stop to using Metas for Taskforce X or government kill squads like it after Waller’s daughter outed the program. This is apparently something that happened in Peacemaker, guess I’ll find out more about that next month. Waller says they did, but she’s going to go through the loophole of instead of using human Metas, using creatures dubbed non-human. They go inside the security station.

Inside, we see several characters we’ll get to know this season; Nina Mazursky, a woman that looks like she could be the Creature from the Black Lagoon’s sister; GI Robot, a 40s era robotic soldier; Dr. Phosphorous, a mutated scientist with radiation based powers; the Bride, clearly the Bride of Frankenstein; and Weasel, the anthropomorphic weasel first introduced in The Suicide Squad (2021). I guess they captured him after that fiasco with Starro. Waller suggests using a group of non-human prisoners will allow them to get around the congressional ruling and use them for a new Taskforce. We get a quick rundown of the team and their powers, and confirmation that The Suicide Squad is canon, as Rick Flag sr. is visibly pained when Waller brings up Starro and Corto Maltese. For those late to the party, Rick Flag jr. was the soldier in charge of that team and was killed in action by Peacemaker when he tried to expose the illegal experiments the US government had been performing in conjunction with Corto Maltese. Waller apologizes for bringing up that painful memory and says the Rick jr. died a hero. As they’re talking GI Robot sees a swastika in the Jenga blocks he and Phosphorus are playing with and shoots it to pieces. Flag asks about Nina specifically, as what can a fish lady do on land? And Waller points out she’s the smartest in this group and that she’ll most likely be really helpful for him to keep control of the others.

The second they enter the room, the Bride, Phosphorous, and Weasel rush them. Flag pulls a gun, but the creatures are all hit with about 10000 volts of electricity before they can get close enough to do anything. Nina and GI Robot are caught in it too, as it looks like Waller’s punishment app targets all of them. Waller officially introduced Flag to his new squad, dubbed Taskforce M, aka the Creature Commandos. And after a title drop like that you know they gotta go into the opening credits.

After the credits, which included an animated James Gunn which I thought was a nice touch, we return to Waller ordering Flag to the Pokolistan royal palace with his team. They head out in an osprey. On the flight, Phosphorous is clearly doing his best not to stare at the Bride and failing miserably. Flag then gives his team a pep talk, saying that he knows that they’re all… well, unwilling participants in this, but they need to make the best of a bad situation. Phosphorous makes a sarcastic crack about everyone loving being there and serving their country, which Flag doesn’t completely get because Alan Tudyk is a master at sarcasm, and it’s pretty much impossible to read Phosphorous’ face. The Bride asks if he’s smiling sarcastically, which he confirms. Weasel has what’s clearly a mild panic attack as they fly, GI Robot asking if he’s scared at being discovered to be Nazi Scum. Flag tells him to back down and tells the group that Weasel isn’t a Nazi. Phosphorous calls him a child killer, though, so that’s not exactly a better look. Flag mentions that Weasel had a ‘bad experience’ last time he was on an osprey, hence his anxiety. The Bride looks out the window and asks if they’re in Pokolistan. Nina asks if she’s been before, but the Bride just swears.

They land and meet the Princess’ guards; all dressed in like 15^th century armor… I can see why an army of dude bros with guns might be a threat here, and they head to the palace. As they drive, they’re spotted by some of the Sons that report the group to Circe. On the drive Weasel pees himself, which really pisses off Phosphorous. They make a stop and Nina sees a small child, who she waves at before they keep driving.

The group arrives at the royal palace. As they walk in, we see several portraits of past rulers who look… well, like they got hit in the face with the ugly stick. The Bride comments that the gene pool around here is above ground and inflated, if you know what she means. Flag agrees, asking aloud what the princess must look like, just before locking eyes on her and getting smitten in seconds. She’s significantly prettier than her ancestors, which the Bride scoffs at. Rostovic welcomes General Richard Bill Flag Sr. to her country, and the Bride and Nina poke fun at his middle name being Bill and not William before we get on with things. Flag does a bow to Rostovic, and her captain of the guard Alexi says that’s not the right kind of bow, so they’ll have to execute him. The armored suits are revealed to be power armor as all the guards extend wrist mounted cannons to meet out the execution, but then Alexi starts laughing as that was a prank. After Alexi lets out a hearty laugh and reveals all of Pokolistan’s pop culture references are from the mid-90s, they get to business.

The Commandos are taken to a banquet, Rick apologizes for his team’s lack of table manners (Phosphorous eats with his hands, the Bride is double fisting wine, and Weasel is, well, a weasel) and Rostovik says that it’s fine and he should just call her Ilana. Our attention is drawn to the decrepit old woman seated at the end of the table, revealed to be Ilana’s mother. She makes a groaning noise that Ilana says means she’s happy that the Commandos have arrived. The Bride stares at her suspiciously but doesn’t say anything. Nina orders some diesel fuel for GI Robot before we cut to the next scene.

Outside, Ilana plays fetch with Weasel using a bone. Nina says that the scenery is beautiful, which GI Robot says that he “doesn’t enjoy scenery devoid of dead Nazis, Miss Nina.” GI Robot is fixated killing Nazis, as it is what he was built for, and is anxious (or the robot equivalent) to get to killing Nazis again soon. Nina promises that she’ll kill Nazis with him soon. This excites GI Robot, who announces that he’s been waiting 74 years, 23 days, and 52 minutes to kill Nazis with a friend. Nina is clearly weirded out by this comment but smiles at him regardless. Ilena and Rick flirt a bit, Rick asking her not to mind his team. She says she doesn’t and wonders why Weasel was in prison. Flag reveals he was accused of killing 27 children, but he hasn’t shown violent tendencies since then, so she shouldn’t worry. We’re shown Phosphorous dancing with some of the guards and the Bride drinking with a few others, as Ilana says that her country is charming and yet backward, saying they reject progress, believing it to be corrupt. Ilana says she dreams to bringing her people to the 21^st century. Ilana asks if Flag is married, and he gives her his backstory. He and his ex-wife had a son at 18, he joined the military to support them, 18 years later Jr. joined the military because he genuinely wanted to make the world a better place and protect America. Flag says his son was an improvement on him in every way and then tells Ilana that he was KIA about 2 years ago. Flag says that he’d have loved to introduce them, saying they’d get along like a house on fire. Ilana says she prefers older men and asks to show Flag her armoire. This turns into her seducing him. Flag tries to not be seduced, saying that it’s not exactly ethical to sleep with someone you’re guarding, but she’s… insistent. She gets him on the bed, but Flag insists that it’s a bad idea and flees, saying he’ll leave GI Robot to guard the door.

Later, Flag stays up watching something on his phone, Weasel is dead to the world asleep, and GI Robot is listing off the battles he fought in and the number of Nazis he killed in each of them. This robot would be Cotton Hill from King of the Hill’s favorite comic character. Phosphorous, Nina, and the Bride are all revealed to still be up. Nina attempts to sleep in a bathtub full of water, when the Bride leaps out a window. The Bride does some parkour tricks to get to ground level, with Nina rushing to meet her. Turns out, even while getting her suit back on so she can breathe, taking the stairs was faster than all those jumps and flips. Nina tries to get the Bride to stay, but she refuses, forcing her way through the guard station and making the guard hand over all his cash for her. Nina says that the Bride meant to say thank you to the guard, but the Bride yells back ‘I meant nothing of the sort!’ The Bride hails a cab, and orders him to drive her to ‘something’ Frankenstein. Despite her complaints and the Bride’s insistence she doesn’t “have” to come, Nina goes with her.

In his room, Flag wakes up to find Phosphorous rifling through his things. He’s wearing gloves and a full hoodie to hide his glow as best he can. Phosphorous gets his hands on the shock collars control device, but Flag gets up and kicks him across the room. Theye fight for control of the controller. Phosphorous’ powers obviously give him an advantage, but Flag is an excellent combatant, and he dodges all his attacks. The heat from Phosphorous body sets the room on fire and ultimately causes the floor to collapse into the kitchens below. They keep fighting, Flag using an oven mitt to let him touch Phosphorous without getting burned, but get burned rather badly by him, and the ovens they’re fighting around. Flag ultimately gets the controller back, yelling at Phosphorous for being an idiot. He reminds the glowing man that Waller has other controllers, and he’d be hopping around like a Mexican Jumping Bean if he did steal it, or if Flag reported this in. He yells at Phosphorous that they’re supposed to be on the same damn team.

Meanwhile, the Bride and Nina’s cab arrive at what turns out to be the ruins of Castle Frankenstein. Nina asks what this place is, and the Bride says it is where she was born. She snaps the chains off the entry gate, and they go inside. An old woman that was watching the castle sees them, and pulls out a phone and calls someone. We see the person she called partying on a boat somewhere tropical, surrounded by pretty women as he answers. She tells what is clearly Frankenstein’s Creature that a woman has broken into the house. The creature starts to tear up, saying that after all these years he’s found his Bride.

Overall, this was a decent start to a series. We were introduced to our principal cast, got a mission, and got to see a bit of how they interact. The cast was great, with Indira Varma as the Bride and Alan Tudyk’s Phosphorous being my favorites. Some might say that there’s nepotism involved in James’ Gunn’s brother Sean Gunn being cast in all of his series… but the man is a multitalented individual, so I get James Gunn constantly casting him. His GI Robot is spectacular with his single-minded focus on the elimination of Nazis, and he’s just good at making panicked animal noises for Weasel. Don’t knock it, it’s hard to make good animal noises as a human actor. It’s why you’ve got guys who built a corner of their careers around it, like Frank Welker and Dee Bradley Baker. Zoe Chao’s Nina is good too. She is clearly the most innocent of the commandos, and just judging from her aversion to even stepping a toe out of line makes me think there’s a weird reason she was in prison. Frank Grillo as Rick Flag sr. is decent. I’d say that he’s the weakest of the cast, but considering it’s only his third or fourth voice role ever that’s to be expected. He’s not bad, but his lines just come across less naturally than the others. The plan is straightforward, at least at this moment. The commandos are sent in to protect a foreign dignitary to protect US interests in the area. I’ve no idea how things will turn out, I’ll just say that the princess being in charge with an invalid mother that looks more like a grandmother, and her hitting no a dude literally old enough to be her father makes me raise an eyebrow. A gal can be into silver foxes, but it’s weird to try to bang a dude literally right after he was talking about his dead son. All I’m saying. The Bride’s history is going to play a big deal with this series, I’m sure, given the fact her getting into the old castle was such a big deal and that the Creature is after her. But we’ll have to wait and see where it’s going. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/viewer-log-ep-1-142064461

Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Basics of Superheroes

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Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Viewer Log: Creature Commandos ep 4

Monday, October 27, 2025

Viewer Log: Creature Commandos ep 3

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Viewer Log: Creature Commandos ep 2

Saturday, October 25, 2025

Viewer Log: Creature Commandos ep 1