If there were ever a time for Marvel to bring back one of its most unbelievable teams, it’d be now that Creature Commandos has come and gone. The DCU took a big gamble adapting one of DC Comics’ most high-concept teams and a similar play could pay off big for Marvel.
While the Marvel Universe has a lot of great and iconic teams, like the Avengers or the X-Men, it also has a lot of bizarre ones, too. And though squads like the Great Lakes Avengers or X-Statix are odd, no team is as odd as the cybernetically-enhanced team of animals, Brute Force.
Marvel Comics Seriously Created an All-Animal Superhero Team
Brute Force Was Creative, But Incredibly Short-Lived
Brute Force was a four-issue limited series by Simon Furman, Jose Delbo, Mike Decarlo, Nel Yomtov, and Janice Chiang. The series focused on the titular team, which consisted of five animals whose bodies and minds were advanced thanks to cutting-edge technology. The team consisted of Soar, a bald eagle and team leader, Hip Hop, a kangaroo, Wreckless, a grizzly bear, and Surfstreak, a dolphin. The team was created by Dr. Randall Pierce, who created this unconventional technology to empower a squad that would protect the environment.
However, Pierce’s technology was stolen by an evil organization called Multicorp, who used it to create its own team of enforcers, Heavy Metal. Brute Force would often fight Heavy Metal, which consisted of a gorilla, an octopus, a rhinoceros, a shark, and a vulture. Like many series in the ‘90s, Brute Force had strong environmentalism themes. It was also strongly aping the toy-friendly style of franchises like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While Brute Force existed as a pitch for a toy line, such a deal never materialized and the team quietly disappeared.
…five animals whose bodies and minds were advanced thanks to cutting-edge technology.
That being said, Brute Force didn’t go completely forgotten. The team returned in 2014’s Deadpool Bi-Annual #1, where they attempt to destroy a corrupt aquatic zoo, which hires the Merc with a Mouth to assassinate the team. The 2019 X-Men run also built on Brute Force’s lore and revealed that the technology featured in the original series was actually a part of the Weapons Plus program (Weapon II, to be exact). While they weren’t the biggest stars when they first debuted, Brute Force kept re-appearing in cameos and special appearances since their first, and only, book ended.
Creature Commandos Proved Fans Want Weird, Far-Out Teams
Fans Liked Monsters, So Why Not Animals?
Image via Max
Late 2024, James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU officially began with the seven-episode limited series, Creature Commandos. Inspired by the DC Comics team, the show followed a hodgepodge of characters, some from the actual team, others ones that Gunn liked and wanted to feature on the team. But while the show went in its own direction, it gave viewers something so unique and original, it stood out from the usual superhero fare and showed that, yes, fans wanted stories that were way more different than usual superhero tales.
Of course, Creature Commandos isn’t the first adaptation to do unconventional superhero storytelling. Invincible, The Boys, Doom Patrol’s respective adaptations all had their own unique takes on the superhero genre. Not only were they all willing to take risks when it came to more violent content, they were willing to break the mold and subvert the usual superhero motifs. But Creature Commandos was something different. It gave fans a show that put the most surprising kinds of characters into the spotlight and delved into the humanity within them.
Whether it was the Bride and her bitter past with Frankenstein or Weasel and his inability to communicate his inner pain, Creature Commandos showed it wasn’t just a story about monsters. It was about how circumstances can create monsters and that there’s always more to someone lurking under the surface. Creature Commandos took a very simple and awesome concept (sending monsters into battle) and ended up making one of the most interesting stories to be adapted from either the Marvel or DC Universes.
Brute Force Needs the Creature Commandos Treatment
It Can Be More Than Just a Silly Toy Line Pitch
Good idea or bad idea, ultimately what it all comes down to is execution. Is the idea of Brute Force silly? Of course, it is! But so is a large portion of Marvel’s heroes. Granted, silliness is a sliding scale and even for a world where a man’s rage turns him into a green behemoth, a team of animals augmented by tech to become environment protectors seems to be a bridge too far. But with the right creative team, Brute Force could get a second life that really has these characters reach their full potential.
Marvel Comics has even already experimented with a modern take on this team thanks to its digital line of Infinity Comics. In 2023, Nick Giovannetti and Paul Sheer (writers of the Deadpool Bi-Annual) returned to write the Brute Force in a short series that was both humorous and stayed true to the original intent of the series. Brute Force might not be the most revolutionary idea, but with the right creative team and passion, it could be overhauled to be something just as engaging as Creature Commandos.
Be sure to check out Brute Force (2023) on Marvel.com!
The truth is comics work best when creators take big, wild swings, especially when they apply those ideas to older properties. Creature Commandos worked so well because it took the initial concept and told a deeper story about how fate ultimately shapes the way one is perceived. While it’s not to say a new take on Brute Force would be just as successful as Creature Commandos, given the reception of the show, it seems worth it for Marvel to at least consider returning to this squad of animals.
Marvel Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Revisiting Brute Force
Fans Always Respond When Comics Embrace the Bizarre
To be fair, it’s always hard to know for certain what readers will enjoy. But a timeless truth is that readers always love outrageous concepts. As long as there’s more to a Brute Force revival than a desire to sell toys, Marvel Comics could easily get a lot of mileage out of bringing this team back. Maybe another limited series just to test the waters and possibly more if the response is good. Brute Force will never be an A-list title, but if Creature Commandos can become a sensation, Marvel could at least try with its cybernetic animal team.
