When Peacemaker first debuted, it felt like an impossible long shot. The series took a D-list villain from the pages of DC Comics, fresh off his antagonistic role in The Suicide Squad, and transformed him into a global sensation. Even more improbable was the show’s survival through the complete overhaul of its cinematic universe. As DC Studios formed and rebooted its timeline, Peacemaker endured, with only a few details from its first season being adjusted to fit into the new shared continuity. The critically acclaimed second season of Peacemaker finds the titular antihero (John Cena) venturing into parallel dimensions and meeting other versions of himself, a premise that has led many fans to assume the series is embracing a full-blown multiversal storyline. However, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has now clarified that the show’s scope is far more personal than a sprawling cosmic event.
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“I will say that Peacemaker Season 2 really is the Christopher Smith season,” Gunn explained to Interview Magazine. “It’s about the character of Christopher Smith. It is much more about him than it is about a superhero named Peacemaker. That’s just the costume he sometimes wears. It’s about him discovering this other world, which is sort of an Xerox of his world with minor differences. And those minor differences seem to be that everything is better for Peacemaker. And his life over there, his doppelganger of Peacemaker, is everything that he kind of wishes his own life was. That’s the kind of high concept we start with.” This focus on character-driven drama also means Peacemaker Season 2 won’t be dealing with the multiverse as we know it.
“There’s been a lot of talk about, ‘Oh, you’re doing the multiverse and that’s already been done.’ But it really isn’t the multiverse,” Gunn stated. “It’s more like Philip Roth’s The Counterlife. It’s about one reflection of your world. So the way it relates to Superman is the whole crux of the season. There’s this thing called the QUC—the Quantum Unfolding Chamber—which we saw in Season 1 of Peacemaker and exists in Auggie Smith’s (Robert Patrick) closet, which is a dimensional doorway. We find out it’s a dimensional doorway to 99 other dimensions—and by dimensions, I don’t mean alternate realities. I mean other dimensions, other realities.”
How Is Peacemaker Season 2 a Direct Sequel to Superman?
The second season of Peacemaker is not only a continuation of Christopher Smith’s (John Cena) story but also a direct narrative follow-up to the events of James Gunn’s blockbuster film, Superman. The movie concluded with Lex Luthor’s (Nicholas Hoult) reckless behavior tearing a dimensional rift across Metropolis, an event that caused catastrophic destruction. This single act establishes the primary political backdrop for Peacemaker’s next chapter, as the disaster in Metropolis has put any form of dimensional technology on high alert.
“That becomes a sort of crisis with ARGUS, who is in charge of looking over Metahuman affairs, because of what happened in Superman with Lex Luthor’s dimensional pathway tearing up and destroying a quarter of Metropolis. So that’s obviously on their radar,” Gunn elaborated. Complicating matters is the agency’s new leadership. “Simultaneously, Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), his son, played by Joel Kinnaman in The Suicide Squad, was murdered by Christopher Smith. So he has these dual drives of wanting revenge and also wanting to keep America safe from what they basically believe Peacemaker is keeping, which is a nuclear weapon in his suburban bedroom.”
The disastrous fallout from Superman gives Flag Sr. the justification he needs to hunt down Smith, creating a direct link between the film and the series. That’s a clever way for Gunn to place both projects in the same cinematic universe, even though each chapter of the DCU tells a standalone story so far. That also means Gunn won’t need to deal with multiversal shenanigans to set Peacemaker in the DCU, as the consequences of Superman‘s ending set the audience’s expectations about continuity.
Peacemaker Season 2 is scheduled to premiere on HBO Max on August 21, 2025.
How do you think Christopher Smith will handle the temptation of a better life in another dimension? Share your theories in the comments!
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