In only two episodes, Creature Commandos has answered many of our questions about the DCU – including what is canon for James Gunn’s revamped cinematic universe. In addition, the first episode already gives us all the information we need to place Creature Commandos at a specific point in the DCU timeline.
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As Waller (voiced by Viola Davis) introduces the team of monsters to Rick Flag Sr. (voiced by Frank Grillo), she mentions Project Starfish and how Task Force X was sent to Corto Maltese to retrieve sensitive military information. The name is familiar because it’s the setting of Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. Waller also tells Flag that ARGUS is watching her every step to prevent her from putting human inmates at risk ever since her daughter leaked her black ops to the media. That happened in the finale of Peacemaker Season 1 when Leota (Danielle Brooks) chooses her team over her mother’s machinations.
With just a few throwaway lines, Creature Commandos confirms the main events of The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker remain canon in the DCU, which already gives us some clues on how to piece together the new timeline. Gunn revealed before The Suicide Squad‘s release that the movie takes place in 2021, the same year it hit theaters. Peacemaker kicks off five months later, after John Cena’s titular vigilante is released from the hospital. That places the first season of Peacemaker likely in 2022. The last piece of the puzzle comes from Creature Commandos.
Rick Flag tells Princess Illana (voiced by Maria Bakalova) that his son, Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman), died about two years before the animated series takes place. Since Waller also mentions that Flag Jr. died during the Corto Maltese mission, we know the DCU is reusing most — if not all — of Gunn’s previous DC adaptations. That means Creature Commandos is taking place – at the earliest – in mid-2023, or early-2024 at the latest. This is critical information, as it hints at how Superman and Peacemaker Season 2 will fit into the timeline.
Creature Commandos Reveals How Superman & Peacemaker S2 Fit Into the DCU Timeline
Gunn has already confirmed that the release dates of Creature Commandos, Superman, and Peacemaker Season 2 define their place in the DCU timeline. So Superman takes place at least two years after the events of The Suicide Squad, if not more. That’s interesting because the leader of the Task Force X operation in Corto Maltese was Idris Elba’s Bloodsport, who was serving time in Belle Reve for shooting the Man of Steel with a Kryptonite bullet. We know Superman will star David Corenswet as a well-established Son of Krypton; however, until now, we had no idea how long Superman would have been active in the DCU before his solo movie. Thanks to Creature Commandos, we know that Superman has to have three or four years of crime fighting under his belt before his solo movie takes place.
Superman had to be active in Metropolis before he became a target for Bloodsport. Bloodsport, in turn, had to spend at least a few months in Belle Reve before The Suicide Squad, as the movie tells us he had already refused a position in Task Force X before being sent to Corto Maltese. Add two more years until Creature Commandos, plus the gap between the animated series and Superman, and we can safely assume that Clark Kent donned his cape for the first time around four years before the upcoming movie. That’s a long time to fill with stories, so we can also presume that a lot has happened behind the scenes in Gunn’s DCU, not only for Superman but for the Justice League as a whole.
The timeline implications for Peacemaker Season 2 are even more interesting. The first footage of Season 2 implies the entire Operation Butterfly team is still in touch after they saved Earth from an alien invasion. It would be safe to assume that Season 2 occurs just a few months after Season 1. However, considering the new Creature Commandos information, there’s a considerable time jump of at least two years.
Operation Butterfly saved the world about six months after The Suicide Squad. Creature Commandos takes place about two years after the Corto Maltese Operation. So, since Season 2 of Peacemaker happens after Superman, which is set after Creature Commandos, we are looking for a two-year break between the plotlines of Seasons 1 and 2 of Peacemaker. That’s quite a long time!
It will be interesting to see how Season 2 of Peacemaker explains this two-year hiatus and shows what its characters did during that time. Hopefully, there will be a clear explanation, lest the DCU already starts with a flawed and inconsistent timeline.
New episodes of Creature Commandos hit MAX every Thursday until January 9, 2025.
