James Gunn Says Peacemaker Season 2 "Won't Be Confusing" in the New DC Universe

Do ya really wanna taste of Peacemaker season 2? James Gunn, who now heads DC Studios with fellow producer Peter Safran, is midway through writing the second season of the Max series about the peace-loving, chrome-helmeted anti-hero (John Cena) introduced in The Suicide Squad. But with Gunn and Safran rebooting the old DC Extended Universe — one where Cena's character cursed out Jason Momoa's Aquaman and Ezra Miller's Flash, who won't carry over into the new canon — is Peacemaker part of the old DC Universe? Yes. Is Cena's Peacemaker part of the new DC Universe? Also yes. 

"I have a way in," Gunn assured a puzzled fan on the social media platform Threads. "It won't be confusing."

But there is confusion around what is — and what isn't — considered DCU canon. Gunn has clarified that the new continuity begins with DC Studios' animated Max series Creature Commandos this year before officially kicking off with Gunn's live-action Superman: Legacy in 2025.

"Nothing is canon until Creature Commandos [in 2024] — a sort of aperitif to the DCU — and then a deeper dive into the universe with Superman: Legacy after that," Gunn shared on Threads last year. "It's a very human drive to want to understand everything all the time, but I think it's okay to be confused on what's happening in the DCU since no one has seen anything from the DCU yet."

Gunn continued: "And, yes, some actors will be playing characters they've played in other stories & some plot points might be consistent with plot points from the dozens of films, shows & animated projects that have come from DC in the past. But nothing is canon until [Creature Commandos] and Legacy." 

As for the actors who will reprise their DCEU roles in the DCU, Gunn confirmed Cena as Peacemaker and Suicide Squad's Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. Xolo Maridueña's Jaime Reyes is canon, according to Gunn, but 2023's Blue Beetle movie where he debuted is not.

Superman: Legacy "is really the launch of the DCU," Safran told press during the DCU slate reveal in 2023. Safran added that the animated Creature Commandos and the live-action Waller, which will release before the Superman reboot and Peacemaker season 2, are "an amuse-bouche [appetizer] for what's coming up" in the new DCU.

"The DCU's a multiverse, but we're going to be focusing on one universe from that multiverse," Safran explained. "And if something isn't DCU, we're going to make that very clear. So, strictly adult fare like Todd Phillips' Joker, or kids animation like Teen Titans Go!, we're going to make it very clear that those are DC Elseworlds, just the same way that they do it in the comic books."