The following contains spoilers from the Peacemaker Season 2 premiere, now streaming on HBO Max.
The knotty matter of Peacemaker‘s place in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new, Justice League-less DCU was addressed even before Thursday’s Season 2 premiere actually got underway, through the use some editing sleight-of-hand.
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THAT WAS THEN….
To recap the HBO Max series’ Season 1 finale cameos: After going to war with the extraterrestrial Butterflies, Peacemaker (John Cena) & Co. marched away from the battle scene, with Chris carrying an unconscious Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) in his arms. Suddenly, with a crackle of electricity, who would appear in their path but the Justice League — in the form of Ezra Miller’s The Flash, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, and a silhouetted Superman and Wonder Woman.
(A silhouetted Batman and Cyborg, played by stand-ins, were also to be involved in said cameo, but wound up scrubbed out. “There are reasons for [their absences],” Peacemaker creator James Gunn explained at the time, “but I’m actually uncertain whether I can say what those reasons are. It might have to do with future stuff.”)
After Peacemaker chided Zack Snyder’s superfriends for being tardy to the party (“You’re late, you f–king d–kheads”), there were callbacks to his spreading of a rumor that Aquaman enjoys having (ahem) relations with fish. When Barry quipped that he thought that rumor was true, Aquaman shot back, “F–k you, Barry” — after which the two shared a chuckle.
…THIS IS NOW
The new DCU shepherded by DC Studios bosses Gunn and Safran launched with the December 2024 premiere of HBO Max‘s animated Creature Commandos. Events from both Peacemaker and Gunn’s 2021 film The Suicide Squad were mentioned in Commandos because “they’re light canon,” Gunn said in an interview with THR.com.
Peacemaker‘s own connection to the new canon “is pretty straightforward, with the exception of the appearance by a certain group at the end [of the Season 1 finale], Gunn said, alluding to the Justice League. “They don’t exist yet,” he explained. “But the rule is: If we mention [something from the past] in one of the new DCU shows [and movies], then it happened. That’s the way we’re dealing with it.”
LEAGUE OUT! GANG IN!
So, if the Justice League does not exist yet in the new DCU, which group of metahumans did Peacemaker run into at the end of Season 1…?
The series’ Season 2 premiere opens with a “Previously in the DCU” recap that sums up much of Season 1 — up to and including Chris crossing paths with a group of justice-delivering superheroes.
But in multiple instances, the Season 1 footage has been tweaked to effectively replace the Justice League with the Justice Gang that was showcased in Gunn’s Superman film, as detailed below.
‘Previously On’ Retcon No. 1: Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo is seen on the phone with her mother, ARGUS boss Amanda Waller, saying, “The whole team is injured, so I was thinking you could, like, call in the Justice Gang.”
‘Previously On’ Retcon No. 2: Originally, Chris simply dry heaved after hearing a nervous Economos hurl over their comms. Here, he uses the moment to launch into an anecdote establishing that Green Lantern Guy Gardner has a puke fetish. Because….
‘Previously On’ Retcon No. 3: A post-showdown Peacemaker still greets his tardy backup by saying, “You’re late, you f–king d–kheads” — only this time, we see silhouettes of Justice Gang members Superman, Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders, Guy Gardner, Mister Terrific and Supergirl (played in Gunn’s Superman by David Corenswet, Isabela Merced, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi and Milly Alcock).
“What a meathead,” Merced’s Hawkgirl scoffs as Peacemaker walks by. “Screw that guy,” concurs Fillion’s Guy. “You know he tells people I’m a puke freak…?”
Merced and Fillion also appeared a bit later in the Season 2 premiere, when Kendra, Guy and Justice Gang underwriter Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn) half-heartedly interviewed Peacemaker for a Justice Gang position.
What did you think of the Justice League/Gang switcheroo, and the rest of the Season 2 opener?
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