Peacemaker Easter Egg Might Tease Major Tie to Black Adam

HBO Max's Peacemaker has been debuting new episodes each week, providing a unique take on the ever-evolving DC Films universe. The series has dived into a bizarre and ever-evolving story involving Christopher Smith / Peacemaker (John Cena) and those in his orbit, but has still found ways to acknowledge or establish parts of the larger DC world. For the most part, that has included offhand references to random characters from the pages of DC Comics — but as fans have noticed, the most recent episode might have included a nod to Black Adam. Spoilers for Episode 4 of Peacemaker, "The Choad Less Traveled", below! Only look if you want to know!

Partway through the episode, Adrian Chase / Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) is tricked into getting himself thrown in prison, so he can hopefully kill Peacemaker's father, Auggie Smith (Robert Patrick). As Chase begins to make a scene in front of a group of cops in hopes of getting arrested, one officer looks up from reading a newspaper. While the biggest headline references the news reports that a gorilla escaped the local zoo, a smaller headline reads "Intergang seizes control in nation of Kahndaq."

This headline was sure to already pique the interests of DC Comics fans, given the ties Intergang and Kahndaq have to the lore of Black Adam. Created by Jack Kirby, Intergang first debuted in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133. A gang formed by a criminal named Bruno Mannheim, Intergang was quickly outfitted with weaponry from the New Gods, as Darkseid hoped to use them as soldiers in his fight to find the Anti-Life Equation. Intergang later intersected with Black Adam and Adrianna Tomaz's story in the pages of 52, when two of its members "offered" Adrianna as a tribute to Black Adam in exchange for safe passage. Adam ended up killing the Intergang members, but continued to have a connection to Adrianna.

Given the fact that a Black Adam movie is set to arrive in theaters later this summer — and comments that Adrianna Tomaz actress Sarah Shahi made last year — the acknowledgement of Intergang gets even more interesting.

"Yes, I play a character named Adrianna, and she's a freedom fighter that's leading this big resistance against an evil, malicious group called Intergang," Shahi told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021.

Rumors have also swirled about a character from Peacemaker possibly making an appearance in Black Adam, something that series creator James Gunn recently hinted at. 

"It is part of the DCU, I mean they can use these characters," Gunn explained. "I mean, one of these characters, which people have kind of figured out, one of these characters is used in a future big DC movie that's from here. So we are connected to all of this... who knows what role these characters are going to play in the future? I mean no one knew who the Guardians of the Galaxy were, and then all of a sudden they're massive players in [Avengers:Infinity War and [Avengers:Endgame. So who knows what's going to happen with Peacemaker in ten years, five years, or whatever."

New episodes of Peacemaker debut Thursdays exclusively on HBO Max. Black Adam is set to be released on July 29th.

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