Creature Commandos proves that studios are doing superheroes wrong

Pa Drew Dych
| Published 1 second ago

Creatures Commandos debuted on Max as the official start of the new DC Universe (DCU). Critics and viewers seem to have really enjoyed this gritty, silly series. You can count me among them! The first two episodes were a fun unraveling of what James Gunn brought to the DC Universe in his first outing, Suicide squad (my rave review). I look forward to seeing the rest of the series unfold.

unfortunately Creature Commandos also made absolutely clear how I’ve felt about superhero cinema for a while: I don’t think superheroes are best suited for live action.

From ink and paint to flesh and blood

While there are certainly pulp and adventure predecessors to consider, Superman is widely regarded as the original superhero, having debuted in 1938. After Superman’s runaway success, comic book companies everywhere tried to replicate the phenomenon. Because of this, there have been many strange and interesting characters that have benefited from the creation of illustrated ideas.

And it makes a lot of sense that as a result, superpowered beings would be the most experienced in existence in animation. These are such incredible concepts that passing them off as “real” seems a disservice to their inherent creative potential.

Creature Commandos brought this thought up again because I started imagining much less dynamic and vibrant live versions of the various characters on the show. For example, Weasel looks a lot more unique and stylish in this series than his entertaining but offbeat CGI mocap version in Suicide squad.

Advantages of superhero animation

That’s not to say that live action is a lack of superhero movies. Look no further than compare Spiderman 2 and Spider-Man: In the Spider-Verse. Both are great movies that I think are two of the best superhero movies ever made. However, when it comes to realizing the full potential of the character and world of Spider-Man, Into the Spider-Verse has more artistic merit due to the medium of animation.

Admittedly, animation in America is widely seen as an outlet for younger viewers, especially when it comes from a major studio. Creature Commandos does a great job of showcasing the adult appeal of animation. And because of that, it shows just how much better animation can be in certain aspects of superhero stories.

Action, violence and kineticism in Creature Commandos everything is skillfully depicted. And due to the fact that the series is a “cartoon”, the series does not need to devalue the colorful nature of such characters and their abilities. Likewise, see how much people liked the colors and actions X-Men ’97 and compare it to the flat color tones of the last few major X-Men movies.

The future of the DCU

I love a lot of live-action superhero movies and series, but when I think about the best translation of comic book superheroes from page to screen, I think much more about Batman: Cartoon series than me The Dark Knight. Now that the DCU is getting an animated show, I wonder if I’ll be thinking about it more Creature Commandos than James Gunn’s Superman ends with that. And I wonder if more of the DCU is better off being cartoons than real.