James Gunn on [SPOILER]PEACEMAKER Season 2’s Villainous Turn and Teases a Surprise LANTERNS Tie-In

THE Peacemaker The season 2 finale established that Rick Flag Sr. is now a villain. He laughs and jokes with Lex Luthor’s lackeys while loyal ARGUS agents are brutally killed in the Quantum Unfolding Chamber, and deprives Chris Smith of any due process by kidnapping him and leaving the former Task Force X member stranded in “Salvation”.

It’s the alternate reality prison he intends to trap the world’s metahumans in… only the bad guys, of course, but it seems likely he plans to send many of the world’s heroes there as well.

Speaking to Screen Brief, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn was asked about Rick’s new status quo within the DCU after he was portrayed in a largely heroic light in Creature Commandos And Superman.

“Rick is stupid.” he started. “I love Rick Flag’s character, but he thinks he’s way smarter than he is. And we see that over and over again. He thinks he can compete with Lex, and he just won’t be able to do it. It won’t be great for him.”

Elaborating on his villainous turn, the filmmaker said: “We saw a guy in Creature Commandos, who seems at first to be a good guy, but he’s absolutely not. He ruins everything, again, because he thinks smarter than Waller, which he doesn’t. And he ruins that, and he falls in love with this woman, and is played by her all along.”

“To me, that’s the funny thing about Rick Flag. He’s totally flawed. I definitely don’t think Rick Flag Sr is evil, I really don’t.” » Gunn added. “Whenever Frank Grillo talks about the character, he always says, ‘I don’t see him as a bad guy, I see him as being a little obsessed with revenge, but I don’t know, someone kills my son, I’m not sure I don’t feel the same way.'”

“I have compassion for Rick Flag, I don’t think he allows himself to see the whole truth. The worst thing about Rick Flag is that he focuses on the man he can do something against more easily, rather than on Amanda Waller who would be more difficult to face”, he continued. “Because Amanda Waller was the one who gave the order to kill Rick Flag Jr.”

Speaking further about Salvation, Gunn confirmed that the concept has always been part of his plan for the DCU, revealing that his intention is to explore how “The evil metahumans will have to find a new way to create society.”

Checkmate is of course another big addition to the DCU, and Gunn confirmed that both it and Salvation will be connected to other DC Studios series. “Lanterns is very connected to all of this. It might not seem like it, but it’s all very connected.”

While Peacemaker Season 2 failed to live up to many fans’ high expectations, Gunn set the stage for exciting developments in the DCU with the way things played out in the finale. The man of tomorrow That’s probably where he touches on a lot of these ideas, and he added that a “quite pronounced” The threat will be what convinces Lex to team up with Superman.

However, he was quick to say: “I think Lex Luthor is most concerned about Lex Luthor, so we’ll see what threatens Lex Luthor.”

All episodes of Peacemaker are now streaming on HBO Max.