Note: This story contains spoilers from “Peacemaker” Season 2, Episode 8.
James Gunn assembled a group of reporters Thursday to talk about the “Peacemaker” Season 2 finale in a digital press conference. There, he spoke about the finale’s big reveals, the future of Peacemaker in the DCU and the emotional journey John Cena’s Christopher Smith underwent throughout the season.
Gunn also mentioned that he pitched Ryan Reynolds a “Deadpool” crossover for the season finale.
“I wanted them to open a door and see Deadpool in a room, and I talked to Ryan Reynolds about it, but I think we would’ve had to go through some pretty, pretty big hoops to do that. He wanted to do it!” Gunn laughed.
“Aw, that’s all anybody’s going to want to talk about now, is f–king Deadpool in the other room,” Gunn realized. “I should’ve never said it.”
Deadpool didn’t show up when a team of A.R.G.U.S. agents looked into the multiple universes found within Peacemaker’s Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC). What they did find, however, was a hospitable world Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) called Salvation — a place where Flag and Lex Luthor’s (Nicholas Hoult) cronies can send metahumans as a multiversal prison.
Meanwhile, members of Team Peacemaker and A.R.G.U.S. (led by Adebayo [Danielle Brooks]) splinter off to form their own agency: the covert spy organization Checkmate. Gunn said that he’s had both Salvation and Checkmate on his mind for a long time and that they will have a big future in the DCU — including in next year’s “Lanterns.”
“That was always pretty instrumental in the overarching story that I’m telling in the DCU,” he said. ” ‘Lanterns’ is very connected to all that. You know, it may not seem like it at first, but it was all very connected.”
Gunn noted that, as with most comics, he’s adapting the premises of Checkmate and Salvation rather than direct stories (so don’t expect a Batman appearance or Lex Luthor/Joker turf war any time soon). He simply liked the ideas of Checkmate as “the real culmination of the 11th street kids and their desire to be good” and Salvation as an inescapable metahuman society.
It’s a society Peacemaker now finds himself as its founder. At the end of the finale, the vigilante’s past comes back to bite him one more time, with Flag making Peacemaker Salvation’s first prisoner as revenge for the killing of Rick Flag Jr.
Peacemaker’s fate creates a massive cliffhanger for Season 2. Gunn, while not closing any (multiversal) doors, said there are no current plans for a third season. But that doesn’t mean Peacemaker won’t show up again.
“He’s really important to me. Peacemaker is an important character,” Gunn said. “I said from the beginning when we took on this, you know, this job, it’s about really propping up, maintaining and repositioning the big diamond properties that DC has — the Batmanss and Wonder Womans and Supermans — and then creating diamond properties out of the smaller characters like Peacemaker.”
Gunn got emotional when talking about how important Peacemaker is to him as a character, tearing up as he drew a connection between the season’s opening song “Oh Lord” by Foxy Shazam and the vigilante at the show’s center. The DCU architect went on to relate Chris Smith to his own late father.
“He had a lot of things about him that were goofy or buffoonish, and a lot of silly things that he said and believed in, but at the end of the day, I knew he loved me,” Gunn said. “I think, until my very later adult life, he was the only person I knew loved me that was a human being and not a dog.”
Gunn gave no hints as to when fans would see Peacemaker next. He did, however, imply that Salvation will play a role in 2027’s “Superman” sequel “Man of Tomorrow.” But film-only viewers will not need to see “Peacemaker” to keep up with Flag (and Lex Luthor’s) grand plan.
“I’m not expecting people to go into ‘Man of Tomorrow’ and know what Salvation is, you know? We will say it in the movie,” Gunn said. “Anything you need to know about metahumans disappearing and everything, you’ll find out through that movie. So, it’s a very, very, very delicate balance when writing these things … You’ve got to be able to tell the story in a way where people that already know the information are not going to be bored, and where people who don’t know the information will get the information in an easy and simple way, but also not to be burdened down by too much s–t.”
Though he mentioned “Man of Tomorrow,” Gunn remained tight-lipped on sharing specifics. When asked what threat would make Lex Luthor — currently allied with Flag and executing his metahuman agenda — partner with Superman, Gunn merely answered, “A pretty pronounced one.”
“Lex Luthor is mostly concerned about Lex Luthor,” he said. “So we’ll see what threatens Lex Luthor.”
Gunn was also hesitant to share where exactly the 11th Street Kids (now joined by Judomaster, Fleury and Sasha Bordeaux) will pop up next. There are several possible places where Checkmate could slot in, such as the second season of “Creature Commandos,” a smaller-scale project like “Clayface” or the eventual Amanda Waller series. Gunn, however, noted that that project’s future is in limbo.
“It’s just been a rough road. That’s all I have to say,” Gunn said. “Sometimes things just happen and it’s like butter, and you’re getting great scripts straight off the bat, and other times it’s just a rockier road. As I’ve said from the beginning, we’ll never green light something where the scripts aren’t working, and we just haven’t had that yet with the Waller show.”
“Peacemaker” Seasons 1-2 are now streaming on HBO Max.
