“Peacemaker” Season 2 has come to a close. And while the finale was mostly filled with smaller, character-driven moments, it also had plenty of reveals that will shape the future of the DCU.
Be warned, there are spoilers ahead for the “Peacemaker” Season 2 finale. If you don’t want to hear about how the episode will affect Team Peacemaker — and the DCU — going forward, check out the episode and then come back later.
How does “Peacemaker” Season 2 end?
In the penultimate episode of “Peacemaker” Season 2, John Cena’s Christopher Smith sees his life on the alternate Nazi-ruling Earth destroyed. After Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) kills Peacemaker’s alternate father (Robert Patrick), the 11th Street Kids brutally beat Chris’ brother, Keith (David Denman).
Peacemaker begs his friends to leave his brother alone, believing himself to be the cause of all the death that constantly surrounds him. After his friends drag him from the alternate universe, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) prepares to kill Keith. Arriving police officers, however, prevent her from carrying out the job, leaving a vengeful, Nazi version of Peacemaker’s brother alive in the multiverse.
Upon returning to the main universe of the DCU, Peacemaker gives up the Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC) to Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) and the agents of A.R.G.U.S. Chris then allows himself to be taken into police custody in an effort to keep his friends from further harm.
In the “Peacemaker” finale, the 11th Street Kids bail Chris out of prison, convincing him that the blame for his life’s tragedies doesn’t solely fall on him. Uniting with A.R.G.U.S. associates Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodríguez) and Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows), Team Peacemaker (led by Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo) form their own organization: Checkmate.
Meanwhile, Flag and A.R.G.U.S. (teaming with Lex Luthor cronies previously seen in “Superman”) begin using the QUC to explore other dimensions, looking for a world that’s uninhabited and hospitable for humans. While it’s suspected that Flag wants this space for its resources, his demeanor quickly gives Harcourt and John Economos (Steve Agee) pause. When Flag finally finds a world to his liking, he shares that it will become a metahuman prison — one he names “Salvation.”
While things are looking up for Peacemaker at the end of the episode, the finale saves one big surprise for its ending. As Chris leaves his residence, A.R.G.U.S. agents abduct him and bring him before Flag, who says Peacemaker “volunteered” to be Salvation’s first prisoner and test the environment’s effects on the human body. Showing Chris a falsified signature agreeing to the experiment, Flag shares that Peacemaker’s imprisonment is revenge for killing Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman) in “The Suicide Squad.” Flag closes the door on Peacemaker, now Salvation’s only resident, as he hears animals screeching in the distance.
Basically, it’s a hungry world. They’re going to eat him alive.
What is Checkmate?
Comic book fans may have pegged Sasha Bordeaux early in the season as a character with ties to Checkmate, a fictional spy organization in the DC Universe. The covert group made its debut in 1988’s “Action Comics #598,” a creation of Paul Kupperberg and Steve Erwin.
A number of key DC figures have had their hands in Checkmate, with the organization at one point being connected to Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad. Leading up to “Infinite Crisis,” the operation found itself infiltrated by Maxwell Lord — a character played by Sean Gunn and leading the Justice Gang in Gunn’s new universe.
It was during this time that Greg Rucka wrote a story called “The OMAC Project,” which saw Lord attempt to use the organization to kill all metahumans on Earth. This story, which saw Wonder Woman kill Max Lord, worked as a prelude to Rucka’s popular run on the main “Checkmate” title. Batman, who has strong ties to Bordeaux, was also heavily involved in the storyline.
Interestingly, Gunn has seemingly positioned the DCU’s Checkmate to work in the opposite manner, with Adebayo, Bordeaux and company saying they want to position their organization as a group with the public’s best interests at heart. It’s unclear how big Checkmate will end up being in the DCU, but it finally gives the 11th Street Kids a place to work and function outside the shadow of Amanda Waller, Flag, A.R.G.U.S. and any other governmental oversight.
Is Salvation from the comics?
Salvation does have a comic book precedent — one from roughly the same time as Checkmate’s heyday. The planet is primarily featured in the limited series “Salvation Run,” a tie-in to the famous “Final Crisis” event.
In “Salvation Run,” Amanda Waller and her Suicide Squad use a Boom Tube to send various villains from throughout the DC Universe to Salvation, a planet in the far reaches of space that is almost entirely inaccessible from Earth — and vice versa. Marooned villains include the Rogues, Catwoman, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze, Metallo, Gorilla Grodd and even members of the Suicide Squad betrayed by Waller. Lex Luthor and Joker, both themselves stranded on the planet, lead opposing factions against each other on Salvation.
Things on Salvation, however, are not as peaceful as initially suspected. The trapped villains eventually discover that their prison is ruled over by the New Gods of Apokolips, with the villainous DeSaad using the world as a training station. This eventually puts the prisoners in conflict with DeSaad and his Parademons.
“Salvation Run” was written by Bill Willingham and Lilah Sturges, with art from Sean Chen, Walden Wong, Joe Bennett and Belardino Brabo. The book was based on a concept from “Game of Thrones” author George R. R. Martin and collaborator John Jos, who initially developed the idea as a generations-spanning Elseworlds tale that didn’t fit into continuity. Martin said he came up with the pitch of an unsupervised metahuman prison planet to mirror the British exporting of prisoners to Australian penal colonies.
Salvation bares a similarity to a Marvel Comics concept developed around the same time. During the “Civil War” event, Reed Richards, Tony Stark and Hank Pym developed Prison 42, the 42nd of 100 ideas the three devised to “save the world.” Prison 42 was a superhuman prison located in the Negative Zone that removed superpowered criminals (or, in the case of “Civil War,” unregistered heroes) from the general public.
What is the future of Salvation?
Only time will tell when and how Salvation will come back up in the DCU, but it’s safe to assume that the concept will have massive ramifications on future DC projects. With Gunn previously stating that the end of “Peacemaker” would lead directly into “Man of Tomorrow,” it seems likely that the rounding up of metahumans (a goal Lex Luthor laid out in “Superman”) will be present in the hero/villain team-up sequel.
The true nature of Salvation also remains to be seen. Shortly after Peacemaker arrives on the planet, the growling and howling of unseen creatures can be heard in the distance. These beings could be related to the New Gods of Apokolips — though, they could easily end up being some unrelated creatures lurking in one of the QUC’s alternate worlds.
Of course, Gunn has also left the dangling thread of Peacemaker, presently Salvation’s lone resident. Giving Gunn’s affinity for the character (who finally found a semblance of, no pun intended, peace after two seasons and a movie filled with suffering), it’s hard to imagine that Christopher Smith will remain forever abandoned on the isolated prison planet. When Salvation does pop back up down the road, it seems likely that Peacemaker will be in tow.
“Peacemaker” Season 1-2 are now streaming on HBO Max.
