Although DC Comics is primarily known for its superhero-centric offerings, the company has also told plenty of war stories over the decades. Among the most popular characters from this corner of DC lore are The Losers, a ragtag group of misfits that operated during World War II. The original incarnation of The Losers (not to be confused with the Vertigo incarnation that inspired the 2010 live-action movie) have now earned the honor of leading their own DC Showcase animated short. You can find it on the DC Showcase — Constantine: The House of Mystery compilation out now, and CinemaBlend has an exclusive clip that sees the team being attacked by a dinosaur during their strangest mission yet.
Written by Tim Sheridan (whose other DC credits include fellow DC Showcase short Sgt. Rock and the two-part Batman: The Long Halloween adaptation) and directed by Milo Neuman, The Losers follows its eponymous protagonists being marooned on an island in the South Pacific where they’ve been tasked with a mission so important, it could end World War II if completed successfully. Hardcore DC Comics fans know this location as Dinosaur Island, but The Losers have no idea what dangers await them, so suddenly being attacked by a raptor is… surprising, to put it mildly.
This isn’t the first time in DC Comics media that The Losers have found themselves on Dinosaur Island, as Gunner and Sarge (both voiced by Dave B. Mitchell in the DC Showcase short) were revealed in the Birds of Prey comic book to have been held prisoner in a POW camp there, and the out-of-continuity DC: The New Frontier depicted the team’s last mission on the island. You’ll have to watch DC Showcase’s The Losers to see what happens to them within this story, but as Fan Long, a Chinese Security agent voiced by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actress Ming-Na Wen, gunning down that raptor is going to bring them a lot more trouble.
Along with the aforementioned characters, The Losers stars Dean Winters as Captain Storm, Martin Sensmeier as Johnny Cloud and Eugene Byrd as Henry “Mile a Minute” Jones (unfortunately, Mademoiselle Marie didn’t make the cut). As if dealing with dinosaurs wasn’t enough to worry about, the title team’s mission involves them joining forces with Fan Long to rescue some scientists that are studying a space/time anomaly on Dinosaur Island, but she may have a separate agenda to carry out. The Losers was originally attached to last year’s Batman: The Long Halloween — Part One, but now it’s in good company with the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment collection containing Constantine: The House of Mystery, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! and Blue Beetle (which spotlights other Charlton-era characters too).
DC Showcase — Constantine: The House of Mystery is now available to buy on Blu-ray and Digital, and keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more coverage on these animated DC stories. If you have an HBO Max subscription, some older DC Showcase shorts are available to view on the streaming service.
