Holy retcon, Batman! The first season of James Gunn’s Peacemaker referenced everyone from Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman of the Justice League and name-dropped Batman’s “coterie of supervillains” like the Joker, the Riddler, and Mad Hatter. Over eight episodes, characters mentioned usual suspects like The Suicide Squad‘s Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Weasel (Sean Gunn), and Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman), but the series also name-checked characters who had yet to appear in the DC Extended Universe (or the newly rebooted DC Universe).
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Obscure characters like the shrinking Doll Man, Matter-Eater Lad of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Kite-Man, and Bat-Mite. But as it turns out, the “two-foot-tall interdimensional Imp who stans Batman” that John Economos (Steve Agee) revealed to exist in the first season episode “Best Friends For Never” isn’t canon with the rejiggered DCU.
“I will say that everything in the [episode] is canon except for maybe Bat-Mite,” Gunn, the episode’s writer-director, revealed on Peacemaker: The Official Podcast with James Gunn. “He’s one of my favorite characters, but I can’t say for sure that Bat-Mite is real.”
“He’s a wonderful character from the comics,” the DC Studios co-chief went on to explain to podcast co-host Steve Agee. “He’s an Imp from the Fifth Dimension who looks creepy and dresses in a little Batman costume. Except the ears are bent, because it’s a really ill-fitting Batman costume. He’s got skinny little legs [and] a fat little body, and he worships Batman. And so he tries to create these extraordinary circumstances for Batman to prove he’s a hero, and it’s these nightmarish scenarios.”
While Bat-Mite might not exist (yet) in the new DCU, both the Gunn-penned Creature Commandos and Superman featured mentions of the reality-warping Imps. The former mentioned “Mites,” and the latter included a scene in which Maxwell Lord’s (Sean Gunn) Justice Gang — Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) — saved Metropolis from an “interdimensional Imp.”
Besides the hero-worshipping Bat-Mite, the most infamous Imp is the “magic” trickster Mister Mxyzptlk, who frequently challenges Superman.
Peacemaker season 2 — starring returning series regulars John Cena, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Holland, Freddie Stroma, Steve Agee, and Robert Patrick alongside new cast members Frank Grillo, David Denman, Sol Rodriguez, and Tim Meadows — premieres August 21 on HBO Max.
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