To nobody’s surprise, it feels like we are all suffering from superhero fatigue. “The Boys,” “Invincible,” “Loki,” “Deadpool and Wolverine,” it feels like all our entertainment is desperately trying to emulate the success of superheroes in the 2010s. Superheroes, a touch of realism and a multiverse seem to be the sugar, spice and everything nice. Studios keep tossing these into the pot and expecting the Powerpuff Girls to pop out, instead of the resulting rancid stew that has already been simmering. The recipe isn’t working anymore; viewership has declined and box-office revenue has hit all-time lows for movie experiences that studios thought would have generational returns for the bigger and bigger budgets they spend. 

And it is no surprise as to why everyone is sick of this. We’ve all been force-fed Marvel for over a decade now, only to watch that media empire crumble into ruins and bring back the faces and names that made it big in the first place, completely depending on nostalgia and desperate fanservice. For every good Marvel project that has come out in the past five years, there have been at least three mediocre or outright terrible projects that have also made their way into the Disney+ shelves. One of the only good Marvel projects to come out in the past few years was “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” which rounded out a trio of well-crafted and directed character-driven superhero films. Unfortunately for Marvel, they can no longer rely on the efforts of the director who managed to provide the trifecta of perfect Guardian films for them. 

That’s because James Gunn is now the Co-CEO of DC Studios, and is now in charge of the franchise that is attempting to rival Marvel. And it seems to be actually working. 

The first movie he directed for them, a reboot of “Suicide Squad,” should be your first clue that they were actually trying. If you are remaking a movie that came out five years ago, you are trying to show a clear change. Even Disney (usually) waits at least a few decades before digging up one of their old animated corpses and trying to make it in live action. And a change they did show. 2021’s “Suicide Squad” was the first mark of change in a superhero franchise that suddenly wasn’t focusing on its biggest superheroes. 

And it didn’t stop there. Gunn quickly wrote and directed a show, “Peacemaker,” starring none other than John Cena, who we all expected to play into the same stupid-smoldering-strongman typecast that all former wrestlers seem to do (looking at you, Rock). But, and I must emphasize this, John Cena can act. Like act act. Like, have more than one emotion and show it with his face and words and all those other things that humans use to figure out the intentions and characteristics of another person. A small side character few people had ever heard of in a reboot of a movie in a dying franchise had suddenly become one of the best superhero shows in decades. 

And if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Gunn immediately came back with a December release of the “Creature Commandos” on Max, a seven–episode animated series that yet again shines the spotlight on characters few people have ever heard of and gives them a space to shine. Tight pacing, great voice acting, phenomenal editing and a ridiculous but still perfectly crafted soundtrack give every single character a full and proper exploration, taking the stereotypical deep-as-a-puddle side villain and showing how the entire Great Barrier Reef is somehow contained within the few drops we had seen previously. From Nazi-killing robots to stereotypical mad scientists, these are all characters you quickly find reason to care about, and I would be lying if I didn’t admit this gory animated show didn’t bring me to genuine tears a few times. 

And this is the first show that is a part of the expected full DC reboot, with new actors, plots and perhaps a new cinematic universe with a darker twist than we usually expect. And I, for one, am a bit hopeful. Who knows, I might tune into this decade’s “Superman” reboot when it comes out next. But for now, I encourage everyone to give “Creature Commandos” and DC a chance one more time.