Batman’snearly 50-year-old radioactive adversary, Doctor Phosphorous, is making the leap from comic books to James Gunn and Peter Safran’sDC Universe.And it is the talented actorAlan Tudykwho will be bringing the fiery Dr. Alex Sartorius, aka Doc Phosphorous, to life in the DCU’s animated series,Creature Commandos.Tudyk boasts that theSuicide Squad-esque show is “very good,” and he even describes his character without giving away any juicy spoilers. Tudyk said of the show in an interview withCollider:
“It’s very good.It’s a group of villains, and it’s like, ‘Well, how the hell do all of these people fit together?’ When he [Gunn] asked me to do it. That’s all I saw.We’ve got like, Frankenstein is in there and some lady with a— she’s like a fish face,and she’s got some kind of fish tank on her head. It was like, ‘How do all —'”
Creature Commandos
Creature Commandos is an animated television series that follows a team of supernatural beings, including a werewolf, vampire, and gorgon, assembled by the government for high-risk missions. This unique group navigates various challenges as they leverage their distinct abilities to combat threats. The show offers a blend of action, horror, and dark humor, set in a universe where classic monsters are reimagined as heroes.
Tudyk continued:
“And then, like a robot, and the [art] seems a little bit different on each…each one has their own kind of style.I don’t know how all of this is gonna fit together.When I read it,it was the best thing I had read in so long, and it was moving.And that is what James Gunn does so well.I can’t wait for people to see it. I’ve now seen some of it, and it looks really great.”
Alan Tudyk Says His Character ‘Kind of Looks Like a Ghost Rider’
Alan Tudyk has voiced many cool charactersover the course of his illustrious career, including another Batman baddie. Tudyk is the actor who brings the Joker to life in the Max animated seriesHarley Quinn.But Doctor Phosphorus is an entirely different sort of evil genius, and one who very closely resembles a fiery character from Marvel Comics. For those not familiar with the source material, Tudyk described Phosphorus in the same interview:
“He kind of looks like a Ghost Rider.He’s a skeleton on fire.He’s a DC character.He was a doctor. [Laughs] That’s why they call him doctor.He was an obstetrician. No, he wasn’t.He was…I don’t know what the comics say, so I don’t wanna say what his origin story is because it is covered in the series, the animated series.”
James Gunn Reveals How Creature Commandos Connects with DCEU’s Peacemaker
James Gunn shared how Creature Commandos will seamlessly tie up loose ends from the DC Extended Universe.
Doctor Phosphorusis nearly 50 years old, and he first appeared in the pages ofDetective ComicsNo. 469 (1977), which even predates the original origin of the more Dick Grayson-like Jason Todd, aka the second Robin, by five years. Meanwhile, theCreature Commandosfirst showed up inWeird Wars TalesNo. 93 (1980).
James Gunn himself wrote the scripts for the DCU’sCreature Commandos, as he revealed in the 2023 announcement video forChapter 1 — Gods and Monsters. And as Gunn alluded to then, characters in the new, unified DC Universe will move in and out of live-action and animation, which means that Tudyk will likely portray Doctor Phosphorous in both formats.
James Gunn confirmed back on June 12 thatCreature Commandosis scheduled to drop in December.
