James Gunn’s new DC Universe officially kickstarts later this year with the animated series Creature Commandos. The ragtag group of incarcerated supernaturals shares a lot of similarities with Gunn’s most popular team of cinematic superheroes, the Guardians of the Galaxy, but the director says there is one key difference between the two squads. An off-shoot of Task Force X (better known as the Suicide Squad), the Creature Commandos are Amanda Waller’s undead division of anti-heros.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly to promote the upcoming series, Gunn was asked about the obvious ties between the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Creature Commandos. The filmmaker didn’t deny that the two shared thematic similarities, labeling them both as “oddballs and irregular types.” However, Gunn explained that the biggest difference between the two teams is their morality. He said:

“I’m used to dealing with oddballs and irregular types and weirdos. That’s what Guardians is, and Creature Commandos is kind of like Guardians without the sentimentality. The Guardians are all really good characters at their heart, and that just isn’t necessarily the case with the creatures.”

James Gunn Explains How His New DC Studios Will Be Different From Marvel

James Gunn and Peter Safran are leading the charge as the new co-CEOs of DC Studios. The pair have completely rebooted the DC Universe timeline, and have a whole new slate of movies and shows, which have been collected under the “Gods & Monsters” phase. It turns out Gunn isn’t just making new comic book movies, as his entire content strategy is inspired by DC Comics.

During the interview, Gunn explained what makes DC Comics different from its biggest competitor, Marvel. Gunn said that DC Comics embrace standalone stories that run alongside their ongoing, interconnected storylines. While Gunn and Safran are revamping the DC Universe, non-connected stories like Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe, and Todd Phillips’ Joker-verse are continuing on their own (Marvel could never).

“The thing I’ve always loved about DC Comics was that you had your mainstream comics that always ran, but they also had these tonally different comics like
Watchmen
and
The Dark Knight Returns
and
All-Star Superman
. It was different from Marvel in that way. That’s something that I really want to retain within the studio, that every project is going to bring a different vision by the artists who are creating it.”

Looking at the “Gods & Monsters” slate, James Gunn’s intentions of imbuing each project with a different vision appear to be true. Future DCU projects include a full-on horror Swamp Thing movie, a True Detective-inspired Lanterns series, an incredibly optimistic Superman film, and a Game of Thrones-esque Paradise Lost show. Truly embracing the DC Comics spirit, Gunn changed DC Studios’ logo last month, swapping out the dark and gloomy version with a bright and bold design inspired by the original DC Comics logo.

Following the Creature Commandos debut this December, the DC Universe will gear up to release its first feature film, James Gunn’s own Superman. Gunn recently told fans that he wrapped production a year in advance of its release date to give the VFX artists plenty of time to work.

Creature Commandos
streams exclusively on Max, starting on December 5.