Peacemaker Season 2 Theory: The Justice Gang’s Cameo Isn’t A Retcon, But A Major DCU Twist

Peacemaker Season 2‘s premiere episode has DC fans hyped and debating all over again. That’s because (SPOILERS!) showrunner James Gunn wasted no time dealing with the obvious continuity elephant in the room: Peacemaker Season 2 ended with Peacemaker (John Cena) and his “11th Street Kids” crew defeating the alien “Butterfly” invasion, only to have the DCEU Justice League (Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Aquaman) show up late to the battlefield. However, when Peacemaker Season 2 begins, it’s the Justice Gang from Gunn’s Superman movie (Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, Mister Terriffic – with Superman and Supergirl seemingly part of the team now) who answered the call to battle the Butterfies.

For his part, James Gunn has been clear about this choice. The DC Studios head said that he wishes he could “Lucas the s-t” out of Peacemaker Season 1’s ending and recut it to be the Justice Gang. He went on to point out that directly addressing the DCEU Peacemaker vs. DCU Peacemaker issue would be something that “normies don’t give a s–t” about. So on the one hand, it would definitely seem like the issue is settled: Peacemaker is set in the DCU continuity.

However, there’s a running theory that Gunn himself wouldn’t let the issue of the DCEU end on a strange retcon pivot. Instead, some fans think that Peacemaker Season 2 is actually using the multiverse and alternate realities in a way that will culminate in a touching final send-off for the DCEU.

Peacemaker Seasons 1 & 2 Occur In Two Different Realities

The first part of this theory is that Peacemaker‘s two seasons are set in the DCEU and DCU, respectively. The timeline of previous events in the lives of DCEU Peacemaker and DCU Peacemaker happened largely the same, just with a few key differences.

1. The DCEU’s premiere superhero team is the Justice League; the DCU has the Justice Gang.
2. Rick Flag Sr. never became a prominent figure in the DCEU or sought revenge for the death of his son, Rick Flag Jr., in The Suicide Squad.
3. The DCEU version of Superman was shot by a Kryptonite bullet from Peacemaker’s Task Force X teammate Bloodsport (Idris Elba); the DCU Superman didn’t go through such a near-death ordeal.

Even James Gunn has indicated this theory could be true, telling ComicBook (and other outlets at a press event) that when it came to setting Peacemaker Season 2 after Superman, “I thought the simple way was really the best, which is just saying, ‘This world is a little different.’ We know there’s universes, and this is the universe in which everything was exactly the same as Season 1 — except for the Justice League and Batmite.”

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Fan theory goes on to predict that this slight bait-and-switch move of tailoring Peacemaker’s DCU continuity so closely to the DCEU version isn’t just to get out a franchise continuity bind. The prediction is that Peacemaker‘s Season 2’s final episodes will tap into this zany framework for an equally zany (but deeply touching) DCEU send-off.

DCEU Peacemaker Will Get A Happy Ending

The ending of Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 1 saw DCU Peacemaker accidentally kill his own variant from the ‘happy universe’ where the Smith Family is a crime-fighting trio. Based on trailers and interviews, we expect much of Peacemaker Season 2 to deal with DCU Christopher Smith wondering if he should swap his life for a place in the happy universe; ultimately, we also expect the thematic point of Gunn’s DC multiversal It’s A Wonderful Life yarn culminate in the message that you have to love the life you have and not the one you wish for.

DCU Peacemaker will stay in his world and franchise; however, that wouldn’t fix the issue of the happy universe needing a replacement Peacemaker. And the DCU variant would know just where to find one: in the DCEU. With their lives having been so similar, DCEU Peacemaker would probably be happy in the happy universe timeline; meanwhile, Gunn would give a loving nod to his time working in the DCEU, and its fans, by having at least Peacemaker (and some friends?) get the metaphoric retirement he deserves.

As an epilogue, it wouldn’t disrupt the flow of the show for the “normies” out there, while still striking a deep chord with DCEU die-hards. Finally, it would be a clever middle finger from Gunn to all the trolls who have hounded him on this issue for years, as his DCU Peacemaker would (quite literally) close the portal door on the DCEU, for good.

Peacemaker Season 2 streams on HBO Max.