Summary
DCU’sCreature Commandosis barely four episodes into its first season and fans already have a lot about the animated series to dissect. But in one particular scene, there’s an Easter egg inserted by James Gunn that even eagled-eyed viewers might have missed:aScooby-Doocameo.
The brainchild of James Gunn,Creature Commandosofficially became the franchise opener of the newly christenedDC Universewhen it premiered on Max on December 5. It is also the first installment in the universe’s first chapter, Gods and Monsters, which would include aSupermanmovie starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, aSupergirlmovie starring Milly Alcock as the Woman of Steel, and an HBOGreen Lanternseries with Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart. Audiences and critics alike are already in love with theSuicide Squad-esque lore, this time only featuring incarcerated monsters, evident in itsimpressive launch score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Season 1 ofCreature Commandosis seven episodes long and debuts a new episode weekly.
Shaggy Rogers From Scooby-Doo Makes a Cameo in Creature Commandos
By the second episode ofCreature Commandos,Amanda Waller’s monster-filled black ops team, “Task Force M,” is already deployed to Pokolistan to protect its princess from Circe and the Sons of Themyscira. The episode closes with a flashback montage of one of its members, The Bride, fending off her persistent suitor, Frankenstein, over their centuries-long encounter. In one of the “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” fight sequences taking placeprecisely at 20:58 time stamp,the iconicScooby-Doocharacter, Shaggy Rogers, can be seen among spectators, dressed in his signature green and brown wear, cigarette-in-hand and clearly under the influence.
Shaggy’s millisecond appearance inCreature Commandosis no doubt unexpected, but not entirely out of character for James Gunn. Anyone familiar with the filmmaker’s filmography can attest to the filmmaker’s knack for including Easter eggs and cameos of elements of his previous, or future, projects. In 2020, six years after the release ofGuardians of the Galaxy, Gunn noted that “only60%” of the movie’s Easter eggshad been uncovered by fans.Besides, and perhaps more importantly, Gunn wrote the screenplay ofScooby-Doo: The MovieandScooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, an IP whose creative rights lie with Warner Bros.
However, Shaggy’s cameo might mean much more than just James Gunn sticking to his habits; it could likely mean thatthe famed Mystery Inc. teamis in the DCU. The 50-issue comic series,Scooby-Doo Team-Up, the 2021 limited comic series,The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, and the 2018 animation,Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, has already given fans a taste of such crossover—particularly with the Batman. It’s for no reason that fans are already cooking up possible “what ifs” that could be had from this cameo. Whatever James Gunn has in store, tidbits of its details will almost certainly end up in split-second shots ofCreature Commandos’subsequent episodes, and most fans would gladly accept the not-too-easy task of spotting them.
