Warning: SPOILERS for the Creature Commandos episode “Cheers to the Tin Man” are ahead!
There are a lot of upcoming DC movies and upcoming DC TV shows to look forward to in the new DC Universe franchise spearheaded by James Gunn, which finally got underway a week ago with the debut of the animated series Creature Commandos. A few weeks ahead of the first two episodes premiering, though, it was reported that Daniel Craig is being lined up for a Sgt. Rock movie that will re-team with Queer director Luca Guadagnino. Now, upon hearing news like that, it’d probably be logical to assume that Craig is playing Sgt. Rock for such a movie… right? Well, it might not be so clear cut anymore now that the latest episode of Creature Commandos, titled “Cheers to the Tin Man”, has raised some questions.
The third installment of this series that can be streamed with a Max subscription split its time between showing the title team clashing with the Sons of Circe and their boss sorceress, and following along with G.I. Robot from World War II to his incarceration in Belle Reve in the 1990s. In the DC Universe, G.I. was part of Easy Company, the US Army Infantry unit led by Sgt. Rock. Prior to meeting Nina Mazursky, Rock and the Easy Company men were the only friends he made. Sadly, because G.I. was decommissioned after the war and ended up in the possession of various individuals, including scientist Will Magnus and a neo-Nazi named Sam Fitzgibbon, he never reunited with his “boys” to kill Nazis.
So Sgt. Rock has made his DC Universe debut, with Maury Sterling from Smokin’ Aces and Homeland voicing him. It was a minor appearance at best, but at least it establishes that he and Easy Company were active in World War II, thus planting the seed for Daniel Craig’s Sgt. Rock movie, assuming it moves forward. So what’s the problem?
Well, James Gunn, who co-created Creature Commandos and is co-president of DC Studios with producer Peter Safran, has said on numerous occasions that actors who voice characters in animated projects will also play them in live-action projects. For example, the Creature Commandos are led in this series by Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. and Grillo will reprise the character in live-action for Gunn’s Superman reboot and Peacemaker Season 2. So now that Maury Sterling has voiced Sgt. Rock in Creature Commandos, does that mean he’ll play him in the movie too rather than Daniel Craig, who would instead play a villain or important supporting character?
Honestly, this could just be a case where when Creature Commandos was being made, the Sgt. Rock movie hadn’t been thought up yet, so Sterling was simply cast because he was the best fit for the role. If that’s what happened, then James Gunn will likely make an exception and allow Craig to take over as that character. Now, one could argue that as seen above, Sterling looks closer to Sgt. Rock in Creature Commandos than Craig doesn’t, but again, Gunn could just ignore this in favor of putting the James Bond alum in the role.
I could just be overthinking this… but I also will occasionally continue pondering the subject until it’s officially confirmed who Craig is playing in Sgt. Rock. Until then, I’ll also continue to watch Creature Commandos, which drops new episodes Thursdays on Max.