The new DC Universe, helmed by co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, is being built upon a unique foundation. Instead of a complete and total hard reboot that discards everything that came before, DC Studios is salvaging specific characters, storylines, and actors from the defunct DC Extended Universe while simultaneously forging a new, cohesive continuity. This method creates a sense of a lived-in world from day one, but it also leaves audiences with pressing questions about what counts as official history. The second season of Peacemaker has become the primary vehicle for this transition, acting as a narrative bridge that selectively integrates elements from Gunn’s previous DC projects into the new canon, and its latest reveal has the most significant implications yet.
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Warning: Spoilers below for Peacemaker Season 2, Episode 3
This delicate balancing act is central to the DCU’s initial rollout. The animated series Creature Commandos and the live-action Peacemaker Season 2 have explicitly referenced events from 2021’s The Suicide Squad, confirming that the Corto Maltese mission and the death of Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman) are historical facts in this new timeline. At the same time, Gunn has made it clear that these older projects are not canon in their entirety. This pick-and-choose approach to continuity has now extended beyond Gunn’s own work, reaching back into one of the DCEU’s most divisive films to confirm that a major supernatural figure is officially part of the new universe’s backstory.
The Enchantress Exists in the DCU
The third episode of Peacemaker Season 2 opens with a flashback scene that drastically recontextualizes the personal life of Rick Flag Jr. The scene depicts an intimate morning between Flag and his ARGUS colleague, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), confirming they were engaged in a secret affair. Crucially, their conversation reveals that this affair took place while Flag was still in a long-term relationship with Dr. June Moone. Flag’s hesitation to break up with June is a central point of their discussion, as he fears the emotional blow could lead Moone to unleash her devastating power. With that single piece of dialogue, the DCU confirms the existence of one of the most powerful and dangerous villains from the old continuity: the Enchantress.
For those who may not remember, Dr. June Moone (Cara Delevingne) was a central character in 2016’s Suicide Squad. In that film, she was an archaeologist who became possessed by the spirit of a metahuman witch known as the Enchantress. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) controlled the entity by keeping its heart hostage, forcing the immensely powerful being to serve her interests. Rick Flag was assigned as June’s handler and bodyguard, and the two developed a deep romantic relationship that became the emotional core of the movie.
Suicide Squad‘s main conflict ignites when Enchantress escapes Waller’s control, frees her brother Incubus, and attempts to build a machine to destroy humanity. The Suicide Squad is ultimately dispatched to stop her. By the end of the film, the team succeeds in killing Incubus and destroying Enchantress’ physical form, freeing June Moone from her control. Rick Flag and June were last seen reunited, their relationship seemingly secure. The new Peacemaker scene establishes that their relationship continued for years after those events, right up until Flag’s death.
Is 2016’s Suicide Squad Canon to the DCU?
The confirmation of the Enchantress’s existence does not mean the entirety of 2016’s Suicide Squad is now canon. That film is intrinsically linked to the events of Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, two movies whose events were explicitly overwritten by Gunn’s Superman film and the broader DCU reboot. The DCU already features a new Superman (David Corenswet), will feature a new Batman, and boasts a completely different origin story for its superpowered world, where metahumans have been known for centuries. Therefore, the specific plot of Suicide Squad, including the team’s fight against Enchantress in Midway City, cannot fit into the new continuity.
However, Gunn’s strategy is to cherry-pick events, characters, and relationships that he believes enrich the new universe’s history. This approach establishes that while the movie itself is non-canon, key aspects of 2016’s Suicide Squad have been absorbed into the DCU’s backstory. In this new timeline, Rick Flag still went on missions with Task Force X, he still met and fell in love with June Moone, and she was still possessed by the Enchantress. These are now treated as historical facts that inform his character.
Peacemaker Season 2 including the Enchantress’ relationship with Rick Flag Jr. is a game-changer because it opens the door for DC Studios to recanonize elements from almost any prior DCEU project. While the core Snyder-era Justice League narrative is gone, this precedent suggests that specific characters or events from films like Aquaman or Shazam! could theoretically be grandfathered into the new timeline if they do not directly contradict the new core narrative. This gives Gunn and his creative team immense flexibility to build a rich history without being forced to adhere to the plots of movies that were critically or commercially unsuccessful.
New episodes of Peacemaker premiere on HBO Max on Thursdays.
What other characters or events from the old DCEU do you think should be made canon in the new DCU? Share your picks in the comments!
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
