Summary
Creature Commandosis well underway with its first season rollout, and series writer/DCU kingpin James Gunn has taken to social media to highlight the importance of the show’s aired format as opposed to a more common streaming show tactic.
WhileCreature Commandoshasn’t gotten as much coverage as Gunn’s 2025 live-action reboot filmSuperman,the animated show had a lot of pressure on it as the very first new entry in the Gunn/Safran-era DCU. This was doubly important, thanks to the executive duo promising fans that DC shows, movies, and other media would be more closely connected and consistently portrayed across the new franchise. Creature Commandossecuring a galvanizing 94% on Rotten Tomatoes early onwasn’t a swerve, as the show has been well received through the currently available five episodes of its eight-episode first season.
Gunn has certainlymanaged to recreate his success with theGuardians of the Galaxyover at Marvel Studios with Creature Commandos, and he credits some of the show’s success to one decision that goes against the grain of many shows made for streaming. Specifically, Gunn made an intentional decision to air Creature Commandos episodes weekly instead of dropping episodes in batches or the entire season in one go.
It affords a quality show an opportunity to be discussed and grow from week to week,
Gunn explained on Xin response to a fan asking about the choice of weekly releases over bulk drops on the steamer. “[Creature Commandos] has gotten more popular from episode to episode because of the positive discussion around it and has cultivated an enthusiastic audience.” While the bulk release tactic has become far more commonplace in recent times and gotten fans acclimated to binge-viewing, this is a fairly recent development that some aren’t on board with.
Going forward, Gunn doubled down on the decision for future projects, saying, “If we had dropped all the episodes at once, who knows what would have happened? I will likely always be in the one-a-week camp for our shows. For people who want to binge all at once they can wait until the end of the season.” While there aren’t too many projects broadcast for the new DCU due toGunn refusing to repeat the signature Disney blunder of premature announcements, it is highly likely that there will be several more TV/streaming shows from DC Studios in subsequent years, and now fans know to expect weekly releases throughout.
Even before the MCU and DCEU kicked off the one-sided contest between the two comic book franchises on the screen, DC has always seen immense success with animated adaptations centered on many different characters. As a result, there’s a wealth oficonic DC animated series that could impact James Gunn’s DCUshows and films, and one of the main features of these shows was the weekly release and discussion about the well-written and engaging plot points. While modern streaming doesn’t really lend itself to the sort of long seasons that older shows had, the weekly release and subsequent buzz among fans can certainly still be done. Gunn’s hardline stance on the issue is a boon for the franchise, which certainly needs that edge over Marvel following his reboot. Creature Commandos was a strong start and is bearing out the utility of weekly releases, so there’s no reason to think that future projects won’t benefit just as much, if not more, from the same tactic.
The reception and widespread enjoyment fans have experienced since the show hit Max prove thatCreature Commandosbodes well for the future of the DCU, including Gunn’s ambitious plans to have animated, live-action, and video game projects all come together in one interconnected web. If 2025’sSupermancan also hit the ground running for the mainline theatrical part of the franchise, then that lofty ideal might just be within reach for the team at DC Studios and give the brand the first real sign of a win over the MCU since inception.
Creature Commandosis available to stream on Max, with new episodes joining the lineup every Thursday.
