HBO Max premiered the first episode of the second season of “Peacemaker” last night, and with it came something of a reveal that has long been speculated about – how it would resolve canon.
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR “PEACEMAKER” 2×01
More specifically, it ignores it. The first season of “Peacemaker” is relatively standalone from the DCEU, apart from one scene in the finale – a scene where Peacemaker briefly encounters the Justice League (albeit mostly in silhouette) with a brief exchange between Aquaman and The Flash.
The second season premiere starts out with a ‘Previously in the DCU’ recap, which is almost entirely just footage from the first season. However, one or two scenes have been reshot. One has Leota Adebayo namedropping the Justice Gang (and not the Justice League).
The big scene to be redone, though, is the ending, where the scene in which the DCEU Justice League once stood has now been replaced by the DCU’s ‘Justice Gang’ trio, along with David Corenswet’s Superman and Milly Alcock’s Supergirl (albeit just silhouettes). The word exchange in that scene now takes place between Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern and Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl.
Speaking about it after the premiere, Gunn confirms on Threads that Superman and Supergirl are not members of the Justice Gang – just occasionally teaming up with them like here. Metamorpho is also not there because the recap scene “happens before Superman”. He adds that swapping out the Justice League for the Justice Gang in a recap was “the plan from very early on”.
The premiere episode also fleshed out the DCU a little more – Arkham Asylum gets a name check, as does the “Luthor incident” in Metropolis, which refers to the events in “Superman”. Amanda Waller is mentioned as facing congressional hearings, and finally obscure Batman villain White Rabbit gets a cameo with singer Brey Noelle playing the part.
Gunn has also confirmed that an 18-year age gap exists between Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) and Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman), fairly believable as there’s a 15-year gap between the ages of the actors.
END SPOILERS
The cable network has also released an ‘In the Weeks Ahead’ trailer for the remaining episodes of the season, which can be seen below. The new season will air episodes weekly through until the finale on October 9th.
