The sixth episode of the second season of HBO Max’s “Peacemaker” aired last night, and with it came a major cameo and implications for the DCU moving forward.
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 6
James Gunn wrote and directed the episode, which was the first of three episodes for the season that Gunn did not let out for review early. The big reveal came at the end when it’s shown the ‘alternate Earth’ they’re on is actually ‘Earth X’ (Gunn officially calls it that) – a world in which Nazi Germany won World War II.
The sixth episode ends with that reveal as Adebayo is chased by a mob of Nazi Americans and Peacemaker finds a U.S. flag with a swastika on it. Speaking with Variety, Gunn says he did test screenings of Season 2 to see if anyone noticed that Earth X in the first five episodes was populated only with white people.
He says: “No one noticed at all. And that was people of color, too, by the way. It wasn’t just, you know, the whites.” As the series has been airing, some had already figured it out with speculation about such a twist swirling in recent days.
The episode also saw Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) visiting Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) in Belle Reve prison and strikes a deal with him in exchange for help finding Peacemaker. If Hoult shows up now, could we see David Corenswet’s Superman on the show? Gunn says:
“No. In fact, David was very upset that Nick got to be on the show, and he didn’t. It just didn’t work. I needed Lex in the show to serve a specific purpose. And actually, what Lex and Rick Flag are up to affects very much what happens in an aspect of ‘Man of Tomorrow.’ So all of that is connected. But this relationship between Rick Flag and Lex Luthor is a potentially negative thing for Superman and all meta-humans.”
Gunn says Earth X is pretty much a “Peacemaker” thing and so won’t play much of a role in the DCU moving forward. One person you won’t see on Peacemaker, but will be coming to live-action is the Nazi-hunting beloved “Creature Commandos” character GI Robot.
He tells EW that yes, we’ll see a live-action GI Robot in the DC but “not necessarily when you think you’re going to see him. So not necessarily in Peacemaker season 2.”
