‘Creature Commandos’ star Frank Grillo prefers DC over Marvel

It’s all well and good to say you’re starting a new interconnected fictional universe, but you have to make sure the different stories actually connect to each other. For the first few projects of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DC universe, the primary connective tissue is Frank Grillo. 

Creature Commandos viewers have already seen Grillo make his debut as Rick Flag Sr. on the adult animated series. Flag is portrayed as an experienced military man who is tasked by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) with overseeing a ragtag team of monsters on a dangerous mission to the fictional Eastern European country of Pokolistan. Grillo will reprise the role in live action for season 2 of Peacemaker and Gunn’s Superman movie, both due in 2025.

“With Creature Commandos and Peacemaker, Flag is a prominent figure in the stories. With Superman, he kind of just drops in,” Grillo clarifies to Entertainment Weekly.

But the adult animated series has helped him lay the groundwork for the character’s future. 

“There was a rawness, and also a naïveté, about him in Creature Commandos, especially when he gets cornered by the Princess Ilana,” Grillo says, referring to the character voiced by Maria Bakalova. “I used that stuff as a template when doing the live action. I find that interesting, that the big strong muscular leader is also a vulnerable guy, and there are times where he doesn’t know what to do. I think that’s important. That’s what James is great at, creating these vulnerabilities in otherwise impenetrable superheroes.” 

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Viewers haven’t seen a lot from Flag’s backstory yet, but we do know that he’s the father of the younger Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) who was killed by Peacemaker (John Cena) in Gunn’s first DC film, The Suicide Squad. Expect the elder Flag’s quest for revenge to be a major plot thread in Peacemaker season 2 — but right now, the pain of that loss is making it easier for him to relate to the monsters in Creature Commandos. 

“I think all of us are monsters inside,” Grillo says. “We have sides of us that are ugly to look at sometimes. Just because Flag doesn’t have that on the exterior, it doesn’t mean it’s not going on inside. Flag’s a dark guy, and I think that’s why he can relate to these creatures.” 

One of the monsters who Flag most connects with is Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour), who is portrayed as an immortal stalker chasing the Bride (Indira Varma) through the centuries. Flag and Frankenstein come together randomly, but these two loners end up bonding — and that connection was made literal by having Grillo and Harbour record their lines in person, a rarity in modern animation. 

“There are various scenes where we get together and have intense conversations, so James wanted to put us together,” Harbour says. “Other than that, it was just me alone.” 

Although we don’t yet know if or when Harbour might play Frankenstein in live action (he thinks it would be “fun”), viewers should know that when Grillo shows up in Peacemaker and Superman, he won’t be sporting the same silver hair that Flag has in Creature Commandos. Feel free to blame Taylor Sheridan! 

“Unfortunately, we shot some of the Peacemaker and Superman while I was in the middle of shooting Tulsa King, so we were limited to what we could do with my hair,” Grillo says. “I had to just use what I had and try to make it as interesting as I could. I had every intention of dying it white and slicing it up, but I just couldn’t do it.”

Even so, Grillo, who previously played Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is happy to be on the ground floor of this new DC universe.

“They’re very different,” he says. “Marvel’s a different machine, and it’s great in its own right, but the thing I love about James’ and Peter’s DC is that it’s much more contained. It’s so much more personal and I really enjoy it better. I just love being part of something in the embryonic stage and being able to grow with it and watch it and flourish.”

New episodes of Creature Commandos stream Thursdays on Max, until the finale on Jan. 9.