When James Gunn and Peter Safran took over the DCU, it was believed that they had been principally hard-resetting the cinematic world – changing Henry Cavill with David Corenswet as Superman, with extra modifications deliberate down the road. However there one present was a possible spanner within the works: Peacemaker.
Gunn spearheaded this present earlier than he landed his massive function at DC. As such, Christopher Smith’s (performed by John Cena) origin story was tied to the now-defunct DCEU. He debuted in The Suicide Squad, which additionally featured Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn.
Plus, the top of season 1 additionally featured cameos from Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s The Flash, together with two different silhouettes that had been clearly meant to be Cavill’s Superman and Gal Gadot’s Surprise Girl. You possibly can see the unique clip under:
The suspicion was that, as season 2 was confirmed to be coping with dimensional portals and parallel worlds (or as followers name it, the multiverse), it might present the anti-hero crossing over between the DCEU and DCU. Nevertheless, I’ve now seen the primary 5 episodes of Peacemaker, and whereas season 2 does discover the topic of parallel universes, it’s not what you’re anticipating.
Spoilers for the opening of Peacemaker season 2
Peacemaker’s season 1 story has been retconned (kind of)
Season 2 of Peacemaker opens with a quick montage of the occasions of season 1, recapping the formation of the 11th Road Youngsters, their mission on Challenge Butterfly and Chris’s tragic backstory and the fallout along with his abusive, racist father, August Ransom “Auggie” Smith/The White Dragon. That is all proven with the title: ‘Beforehand within the DCU’.
Whereas a lot of the footage has been immediately lifted from season 1, there are some modifications. Firstly, Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) references the ‘Justice Gang’ fairly than the ‘Justice League’. We then minimize to Chris telling Harcourt a couple of time that he threw up throughout Inexperienced Lantern after flying on his inexperienced magic carpet.
If this dialogue passes you by, then the subsequent visible shot gained’t. Because the 11th Road Youngsters limp away from their final battle to take down The Cow, with Chris carrying Harcourt, we see a special set of silhouettes than the previous Justice League, with 5 members fairly than 4.
Aquaman, The Flash and Surprise Girl have clearly been changed by Mister Terrific, Inexperienced Lantern, Hawkgirl and Supergirl – 4 characters that made their debut within the DCU’s first function movie, Superman.
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Superman is the one character that stays the identical within the line-up, however his define is totally different – modelled after Corenswet’s construct fairly than Cavill’s. His cape can also be (disappointingly) much less flowy.
Peacemaker nonetheless calls them out for being late, whereas Hawkgirl and The Inexperienced Lantern insult him as he walks previous. Nathan Fillion and Isabela Merced are the one two actors who gave the impression to be on set, as they communicate and present their faces on this scene (simply as Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa did).
So, what does this imply?
Peacemaker’s season 1 occasions nonetheless stand, simply in a special universe
Put merely, the opening of Peacemaker season 2 establishes that whereas the story of season 1 all went down the identical, these characters now exist in the identical universe as David Corenswet’s Superman and The Justice Gang, and Peacemaker has a longtime historical past with them.
So, for those who’re hoping for some main Marvel-style rationalization in regards to the logistics, you most likely aren’t going to get it.
With out giving a lot else away, the present does take care of the idea of parallel universes that was teased within the trailer. Nevertheless, it has nothing to do with the DCEU – or at the least, it doesn’t within the 5 episodes I’ve seen (there are eight in complete).
Gunn is actually leaving the viewers to fill within the gaps. Both you possibly can imagine that the DCEU does exist as one other parallel universe someplace, or that it’s gone ceaselessly. Both manner, on the time of writing, it has no affect on the story of Christopher Smith. Peacemaker’s group has been lifted straight into the brand new DCU, with just a few minor modifications to the world surrounding them.
Katie Yu/ HBO Max
That makes giving artistic freedom over totally different DC characters so much simpler. Gunn and Safran can now reset the character of Batman with few repercussions, whereas exhibiting different variations of the story (reminiscent of Matt Reeves’ universe) that occur in one other dimension.
It’s unsurprising, provided that the MCU has been going exhausting on unifying its varied universes and is suspected to make them an important plot level in Avengers: Doomsday. The DCU isn’t taking place the identical path, however it’s making issues very clear-cut.
It additionally seemingly confirms that each Superman and Supergirl are actually a part of the Justice Gang, one thing that wasn’t clear after the primary DCU function movie.
Peacemaker season 2 drops on HBO and HBO Max on Thursday, 21 August 2025 within the US, and on Sky and Now on Friday, 22 August 2025. New episodes will drop weekly.
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