Note: This story contains spoilers from “Peacemaker” Season 2, Episode 8.
James Gunn gathered a group of reporters Thursday to talk about the “Peacemaker” Season 2 finale during a digital press conference. There, he talked about the finale’s big reveals, Peacemaker’s future in the DCU, and the emotional journey John Cena’s Christopher Smith experienced throughout the season.
Gunn also mentioned that he pitched Ryan Reynolds for a “Deadpool” crossover for the season finale.
“I wanted them to open a door and see Deadpool in a room, and I talked to Ryan Reynolds about it, but I think we would have had to go through some really, really big hoops to do that. He wanted to do it!” Gunn laughs.
“Aw, that’s all anyone’s going to want to talk about now, it’s fucking King Deadpool in the other room,” Gunn realized. “I should never have said it.”
Deadpool did not show up when a team of ARGUS agents examined the multiple universes found in Peacemaker’s Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC). What they found, however, was a hospitable world that Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) called Salvation — a place where Flag and Lex’s buddies Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) can send metahumans as a multiversal prison.
Meanwhile, members of Team Peacemaker and ARGUS (led by Adebayo [Danielle Brooks]) split off to form their own agency: the secret spy organization Checkmate. Gunn said he’s had both Salvation and Checkmate in mind for a long time and that they will have a big future in the DCU – including in next year’s “Lanterns.”
“It’s always been instrumental in the overall story I’m telling in the DCU,” he said. “‘Lanterns’ is very connected to all of that. You know, it might not seem like it at first, but it was all very connected.”
Gunn noted that, as with most comics, it adapts the premises of Checkmate and Salvation rather than straight-up stories (so don’t expect a Batman appearance or a Lex Luthor/Joker turf war anytime soon). He simply liked the ideas of Checkmate as “the true culmination of the kids of 11th Street and their desire to be good” and Salvation as the essential metahuman society.
It is a company of which Peacemaker now finds himself as the founder. At the end of the finale, the vigilante’s past comes back to bite him once again, with Flag taking Peacemaker Salvation’s first prisoner in revenge for Rick Flag Jr’s murder.
Peacemaker’s fate creates a huge cliffhanger for season 2. Gunn, while not closing any (multiversal) doors, stated that there are currently no plans for a third season. But that doesn’t mean Peacemaker won’t reappear.
“He’s really important to me. Peacemaker is an important character,” Gunn said. “I said from the beginning that when we took on this work, you know, it was really about supporting and maintaining and repositioning DC’s big diamond properties – the Batmans, the Wonder Women and the Supermans – and then creating diamond properties from smaller characters like Peacemaker.”
Gunn became emotional when talking about Peacemaker’s importance to him as a character, tearing up when he made a connection between Foxy Shazam’s season-opening song “Oh Lord” and the vigilante at the center of the series. The architect of the DCU then made the connection between Chris Smith and his own late father.
“He had a lot of things about him that were goofy or buffoonish, and a lot of stupid things that he said and believed in, but at the end of the day, I knew he loved me,” Gunn said. “I think until my very late adult life, he was the only person I knew who loved me and was a human being and not a dog.”
Gunn gave no indication as to when fans would see Peacemaker next. He did, however, hint that Salvation would play a role in 2027’s “Superman” sequel, “Man of Tomorrow.” But cinema-only viewers won’t need to see “Peacemaker” to follow Flag’s (and Lex Luthor’s) grand plan.
“I don’t expect people to go into ‘Man of Tomorrow’ and know what salvation is, you know? We’ll say it in the movie,” Gunn said. “Everything you need to know about the demise of metahumans and everything, you’ll find out through this movie. So, it’s a very, very, very delicate balance when writing these things… You have to be able to tell the story in a way where people who already know the information won’t be bored, and where people who don’t know the information will get the information in a simple and easy way, but also without being overloaded with too much bullshit.”
Although he mentioned “The Man of Tomorrow,” Gunn remained tight-lipped on the details. When asked what threat would make Lex Luthor – currently allied with Flag and running his metahuman agenda – a partner to Superman, Gunn simply replied: “A pretty pronounced threat.” »
“Lex Luthor is most concerned about Lex Luthor,” he said. “So we’ll see what threatens Lex Luthor.”
Gunn was also hesitant to say where exactly the 11th Street Kids (now joined by Judomaster, Fleury and Sasha Bordeaux) would appear next. There are several possible places Checkmate could fit into, such as the second season of “Creature Commandos,” a smaller scale project like “Clayface” or the possible Amanda Waller series. Gunn, however, noted that the future of this project is in limbo.
“It’s just been a tough road. That’s all I have to say,” Gunn said. “Sometimes things happen and it’s like butter, and you get great scripts right off the bat, and other times it’s just a harder road. Like I’ve said from the beginning, we’ll never allow something where the scripts don’t work, and we just haven’t had that yet with the Waller series.”
Seasons 1 and 2 of “Peacemaker” are now streaming on HBO Max.
