James Gunn is once again uniting a team of super-powered misfits in the new animated DC series, “Creature Commandos.” The “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Suicide Squad” filmmaker — and co-head of the new DC Universe — unites a cast full of familiar faces, including some you’ll recognize from “The Suicide Squad,” as a roster of less familiar superheroes, including Rick Flagg Sr., GI Robot and The Bride.
Check out a handy guide to the “Creature Commandos” cast and the DC characters to whom they’re lending their voices.
Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
Amanda Waller is the imposing leader of A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans) and basically the closest thing the DC Universe has to its own Nick Fury. After the events of “The Suicide Squad,” Waller has been hemmed in; she can no longer use humans in her go-for-broke, off-the-books suicide missions. But don’t worry, she has a workaround. Voila! Task Force X becomes Task Force M, “for monster.” She assembles the team that travels to Pokolistan and checks in on their progress.
Viola Davis is an EGOT winner, who you have undoubtedly seen in everything from “Out of Sight” to “Eat Pray Love” to “Prisoners” to “The Help” to, more recently, “Air” and “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” She has appeared as Amanda Waller in live-action projects “Suicide Squad,” “The Suicide Squad,” “Black Adam” and “Peacemaker.” And we hope she shows up as the character in 100 more projects.
Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr.
Rick Flag Sr. has a colorful comic book history, but all you really need to know is that he is the father of Rick Flag Jr., who was played by Joel Kinnaman in “Suicide Squad” and “The Suicide Squad,” and was ultimately killed by Peacemaker in the second film. (Fun fact: Tom Hardy was originally supposed to play the character in the first film but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts!) His father clearly carries the weight of that loss and is more than a little grouchy about being put in charge of a similar team that led to his son’s death. The character will soon join the live-action DC Universe, with an appearance in Gunn’s upcoming “Superman” movie.
You might be know Frank Grillo from his appearances as Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, first in “Catpain America: Winter Soldier” and then later in “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” (He also voices the character on the animated series “What If …?”) Grillo, a solid meat-and-potatoes action guy, has also appeared in two of the “Purge” movies (“Anarchy” and “Election Year”), Joe Carnahan’s “The Grey,” “Boss Level” and “Copshop” and more recently in high concept horror/action film “Werewolves.”
Indira Varma as The Bride
A relatively recent addition to the DC universe (she was introduced in 2006 by writer Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke), the Bride in “Creature Commandos” was created by Victor Frankenstein as a companion for Frankenstein’s monster (more on him in a minute). She is, more or less, what you’d expect from a Bride of Frankenstein-type character – she is made from composite parts, is lethal and cunning. She is also the makeshift leader of Task Force M.
Indira Varma is maybe best known for a pair of HBO series – “Rome” and “Game of Thrones.” She has also appeared on “Luther” (for 7 episodes), “Carnival Row,” miniseries “Patrick Melrose” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” She also recently served as the narrator on “Disclaimer.” She was in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” and will appear in next year’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.”
Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana
Princess Ilana Rostovic is the ruler of the fictional Eastern European country of Pokolistan. Her nation comes under attack from a sorceress, which facilitates the Creature Commandos’ intervention. She also has eyes for Flag.
Maria Bakalova claims that she was the first person cast in Gunn’s new DC Universe. That makes sense, as Bakalova voiced Cosmo in “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” She got her big break in 2020 thanks to an unforgettable role as Borat’s daughter in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” She also appeared in A24 horror film “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” Judd Apatow’s “The Bubble” and more recently she portrayed Ivana Trump in “The Apprentice” and co-starred in Jerry Seinfeld’s Pop Tart movie “Unfrosted.”
Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus
Doctor Phosphorus is a radioactive man who can melt things with his touch. He has an extremely tragic backstory that we are not going to give away here. And he is rumored to appear in Gunn’s “Superman” movie next year. That’s all you get from us!
Alan Tudyk has been in so many things, from Joss Whedon’s cult series “Firefly” (he would also show up in Whedon’s “Dollhouse”) to providing the voice and physicality of the main robot in “I, Robot,” to becoming Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “lucky charm,” showing up in “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Frozen,” “Big Hero 6,” “Zootopia” and “Moana” (among others). This guy never stops working! You’ll hear him next in Netflix’s big robot movie “The Electric State,” out this spring.
Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky
Dr. Nina Mazursky is a gill-man-type creature, like “Creature from the Black Lagoon” or Abe Sapien from “Hellboy,” who uses a large helmet filled with water to keep her from dying and drying out. She is the most morally centered member of the time, which keeps them grounded but also causes some friction when she has to do some dirty work.
Zoë Chao has definitely been in multiple projects that you’ve seen – she was Cate Blanchett’s antagonistic neighbor in “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” a lovely party guest in Apple’s “The Afterparty,” and one of the caterers in the revival of “Party Down.” She can currently be seen alongside Amy Adams in the Oscar hopeful “Nightbitch.”
Sean Gunn as GI Robot & Weasel
G.I. Robot is a mechanical man created for World War II to kill Nazis. That’s pretty much the long and short of the character, while Weasel (previously seen in Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad”) is a misunderstood creature who was responsible for the death of several children. (Or was he?) You go on a journey with both characters, believe us.
Sean Gunn, James Gunn’s brother, is beloved for his work on “Gilmore Girls” (he appeared in 137 episodes) but in the nerd world is probably best known as Kraglin in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” its two sequels, “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Endgame,” plus the “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.” This guy is a huge part of the MCU!
David Harbour as Frankenstein
Eric Frankenstein is more or less the classic Mary Shelley-created character. Except that he’s much more intellectually and emotionally complex. He has basically followed the Bride through the ages, to the point that they meet back up while she’s on this mission. And that’s where things get complicated!
David Harbour is, of course, best known as Hopper on “Stranger Things.” But he’s so stranger to superhero shenanigans, as he is part of the MCU as Red Guardian in “Black Widow” (and the upcoming “Thunderbolts”) and starred as the title character in 2019’s rebooted “Hellboy.” Fun fact: he actually appeared in “Suicide Squad” as a very human character. Harbour also co-starred in Netflix action movie “Extraction,” Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move” and as a trigger-happy Santa in “Violent Night.”
Anya Chalotra as Circe
Circe is an Amazonian sorceress who has been labeled a terrorist after seeking to become ruler of her homeland Themyscira. But could there be more to the character than threats and magic spells?
Anya Chalotra is no stranger to witchcraft and wizardry; her breakout role as on Netflix’s “The Witcher,” where she plays Yennefer of Vengerberg. She’ll be voicing the character in an upcoming animated movie based on the series, “The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep.” She also lent her voice to Zack Snyder’s recent Netflix animated series “Twilight of the Gods.”
Steve Agee as Economos
John Economos is an A.R.G.U.S. agent who reports to Amanda Waller. He checks in on the mission from time to time but doesn’t have a whole lot else to do. You’re probably familiar with the character, as he has appeared in live-action form in “The Suicide Squad,” “Peacemaker” (and its upcoming second season) and, briefly, “Shazam: Fury of the Gods.”
A longtime comedian, Steve Agee has appeared in dozens of projects (and lent his voice to dozens more). He first collaborated with Gunn on “Super,” later working with him on “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.,” “Brightburn” (which Gunn produced) and “The Suicide Squad,” where he was the stand-in for King Shark (later replaced by a CGI character and voiced by Sylvester Stallone). He’s voiced characters on “Bob’s Burgers,” “The Cleveland Show,” “American Dad” and “Adventure Time.”
