Aside from that overfamilar first episode and the last instalment that put bumbling, psychotic, self-unaware Eric Frankenstien in the flashback booth, Creature Commandos has been doing a fine job of kicking all the ass. As it continues on its bloody, sardonic streak to prove James Gunn’s point that even deranged, murdering supervillains are people too, we’ve seen the show make compelling arguments for the likes of a living cadaver, a robot designed only to kill the enemy and a blank-eyed rodent person – however, after doubling down and proving that monsters can also just be monsters with the Frankenstein-centric fifth episode, the wheel has now spun to fix on the glowing, green irradiated skeleton known as Doctor Phosphorus. While all the other members of Task Force M are all victims of circumstance, or created for a particular purpose, Doctor Phosphorus is the only one of the group who could be classed as a genuine supervillian in the more conventional sense. Can Gunn’s typically perky writing manage to find the upside in a dude who literally melts faces?
After having their cover blown, Task Force M are still scattered around the province of Pokolistan as they lay low while the royal guard search high and low. The Weasel actually seems to have found some peace as he temporarily shacks up with a pride of wild wolves on the outskirts of a forest near the castle, while the Bride and Nina manage to find sanctuary in a local brothal where they bond some more, debate lifestyle choices with the prostitutes and kill some abusive punters who start throwing their weight around with the girls. Meanwhile, as Flag is admitted into hospital after having his spine snapped by Clayface, Eric Frankenstien continues his toxically deluded quest in win the heart of the Bride by commandeering a private plane with some head smooshing and booking it over to Pokolistan to be reunited with someone who legitimately hates him.
But what of the wisecracking, lab coat wearing, glowing supervillain known as Doctor Phosphorus? Well, as he avoids troops by breaking into the house of a family, a meeting with the infant daughter sparks memories in that illuminated skull of his of his own family and once again it’s time for another tragic backstory.
Simply put, back when he was simply nuclear scientist Alex Sartorius, Phosphorus wanted to use nuclear fusion to cure cancer; however, when your main funding comes from terrifying mob boss Rupert Thorn, things are bound to go sour. During the inevitable double cross, Thorn has Sartorius’ family brutally murdered, has the scientist framed for the crime and chooses to get him out of the picture by locking him in his own fusion reactor to obliterate him completely. However, comic book physics demands that this is just the perfect recipe to create a bonafide meta human and with nothing to lose, Phosphorus naturally takes bloody revenge and establishes himself as the new crime boss du joir. A certain Gotham based vigilante has other ideas…
So once again, it feels that the balance between the flashbacks and the current action isn’t quite back to being at its best as the Pokolistan thread still mostly involves the members of Task Force X shuffling around, of on their own little adventures before finally reuniting at the end. However, with Doctor Phosphorus now front of the queue for a spot of tragic reassessment, it turns out that we’re in for something of a treat as it’s the closest yet that James Gunn has trodden in the realms of classic supervillainy. It’s literally all here; betrayal from a nasty villain, misuse of sci-fi tech creates a one in a trillion accident, scientist mutated by his own invention, inevitable revenge ploy and an eventual settling into mob boss status despite the fact that the man in question has the powers of a green, crackling God. In fact, aside for some montages that sees Phosphorus build his criminal empire upon the rubble of Rupert Thorn’s intercut with him dancing while dressed in some stunning pimp wear, the tragic fall of Alex Sartorius doesn’t actually have anything new to offer aside from the expected addition of some typical Gunn-levels of extreme gore. However, it’s precisely that the story is so familiar that makes it so fun to watch. Be it the fact that Phosphorus has his henchmen don glowing green face paint or laughs hysterically in front of a huge piles of money while chomping on a cigar, it’s a return to more overtly comic book antagonism that ultimately masks the pain that the vibrantly coloured skeleton man is feeling.
Upon being discovered by a small Pokolistan child as he hides out in her kitchen, we see that the sardonic, sarcastic skeleton actually still has a soft spot for family life, even after the trauma of seeing his wife and child slaughtered and having his hands shoved into their blood to forcibly smear evidence everywhere. It’s hardly the most revelatory twist, but it still manages to elict the desired response. Of course, beyond that there’s the fact that this episode not only gives us our first proper look at the new DCU’s Batman (silhouetted by lightning which proves to be a bitchin’ nod to the opening credits of Batman: The Animated Series), but we get a look at Gotham City too which is looking decidedly Burton-esque. However, this is an animated series released years before the next official, DCU Batman film, so take from it what you will.
Surprisingly, despite all the screaming and wailing he does here, Alan Tudyk seems a little restrained, but on the plus side, the scattered other members of Task Force M actually have a fair amount to work with as we gear up for the big finish. Eric Frankenstein still has psychotic main character syndrome as he arrives in Pokolistan and Weasel actually finds a modicum of peace when he is accepted into a pack of wild wolves, but the stand out is the Bride and Nina (who at this point desperately needs a backstory more than anyone else) who have a mini adventure all of their own when they take refuge in a whorehouse. One of the more rewarding aspects of Creature Commandos has been the gradual thawing of Indira Varma’s Bride after centuries of being stalked. While the mousey Nina (which is ironic, because she’s a fish) has provided almost a little sister role for the statuesque and stitched Bride, it’s taken the living dead girl a while to warm up to her, but when you add to an entire bordello onto that, you start to see the protective side of her finally starting to blossom. Women protecting women is an admirable thing and no mistake, but it’s surely better when said woman punches the heart clean out of the chest of a violent, abusive dickweed and squishes it before his dying eyes.
With one episode to go, it seems that the true nature of Princess Rostovic is still very up in the air as Task Force M meet back up and trudge on to their final mission. But a rather tantalising question remains – are they heading into battle as the good guys who manage to thwart armageddon itself – or are they still the technically the bad guys who could be about to commit an atrocity due to some squirrelly intel? Either way, the ramifications will be monstrous.
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