The Bride of Frankenstein Finally Finds Justice in Creature Commandos

Spoilers follow for Episode 2 of Creature Commandos.

Bride of Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite movies, but there’s no denying that the title of the James Whale classic is a bit of a misnomer. Elsa Lanchester’s Bride doesn’t show up until the last few minutes of the film, and is then almost immediately killed in an explosion. She doesn’t get to do much of anything in her short time on screen, particularly when one considers how iconic the character is today.

Indeed, the Bride of Frankenstein has generally gotten short shrift whenever she’s shown up over the years – which hasn’t been often. But James Gunn’s new DCU series Creature Commandos, which features the Bride as one of its titular monster heroes, finally gives Dr. Frankenstein’s second creation the first-place status that she’s always deserved.

Indira Varma (Game of Thrones, Rome) convincingly voices this new take on the Bride, who, unlike the Lanchester version, was not “blown to atoms” minutes after her creation. However, she and Lanchester’s Brides do share one thing in common (beyond the lightning streaks in their hair, of course): They both recoil in horror at the sight of the Frankenstein Monster, for whom they are intended.

Yes, it’s already gross that Dr. Frankenstein is building a wife to marry his Monster, although in both the original Mary Shelley book and the 1935 film, he does so under threat from the creature. But why should the Bride go along with Dr. Frankenstein and the Monster’s plan to have her be a consolation prize of sorts for the latter? Her legendary hiss in the movie drives home that even that mute, ill-fated take on the Bride was not down with the plan. Unfortunately, we never got to see the character’s full potential onscreen beyond that (while most of the Universal Monsters were resurrected time and again for sequels and mash-ups, Lanchester’s Bride was one and done).

On the other hand, Varma’s Bride in Creature Commandos – who it must be noted is never referred to as the Bride of anyone – not only rejects her would-be mate, but it also becomes clear very quickly that the Frankenstein Monster is, well, an actual monster in intention and deed. (David Harbour voices Eric Frankenstein, as the Monster is called here, providing a chilling profile of what is essentially a superhuman stalker.) But at least Dr. Frankenstein has compassion for the newly born Bride.

The Bride’s story is told in flashback in Creature Commandos Episode 2, as we learn that not only was she allowed to see through her rejection of the Monster, unlike Lanchester’s Bride, but we also get to follow where the situation takes her after that. That she goes on to fall in love with Dr. Frankenstein (voiced by Peter Serafinowicz) is an interesting if potentially troubling development; one might think that Victor Frankenstein would be more of a father figure to his creation, as he teaches her how to talk and adapt to her new life. Gunn’s script doesn’t go this way at all, however, rather portraying the growing relationship between the two as a natural progression, Pygmalion-style. (Of course, in the Kenneth Branagh movie Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Helena Bonham Carter plays a Bride who is essentially the reanimated corpse of the doctor’s wife Elizabeth, so there is precedent here, too.)

That Harbour’s Eric Frankenstein brutally murders his creator out of jealousy is no surprise, but getting to see the Bride kick the crap out of him in retaliation – and then time and again over the span of two centuries in the montage that follows – is pretty satisfying. Varma’s Bride, while innocent and vulnerable in her early scenes with Victor, is now ruthless and cold. But it’s also clear that she still mourns the loss of Victor, and that somehow while Eric Frankenstein was born a true monster, the Bride has always been more human than monster… even if she won’t admit it yet.