Season 2 of “Peacemaker” is over. And while the finale was mostly filled with smaller, character-driven moments, it also featured plenty of revelations that will shape the future of the DCU.
Be careful, there is spoilers Onward to the Season 2 finale of “Peacemaker.” If you don’t want to know how the episode will affect Team Peacemaker – and the DCU – in the future, watch the episode and come back later.
How does “Peacemaker” season 2 end?
In the penultimate episode of Season 2 of “Peacemaker,” John Cena’s Christopher Smith sees his life on the Nazi-ruled alternate Earth destroyed. After Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) killed Peacemaker’s alternate father (Robert Patrick), the 11th Street Kids brutally beat Chris’ brother Keith (David Denman).
Peacemaker begs his friends to leave his brother alone, believing him to be the cause of all the death that constantly surrounds him. After his friends drag him out of the alternate universe, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) prepares to kill Keith. However, arriving police officers prevent him from carrying out his job, leaving a vengeful, Nazi version of Peacemaker’s brother alive in the multiverse.
Back in the main DCU universe, Peacemaker hands over the Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC) to Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) and ARGUS agents Chris then allows himself to be taken into custody in an attempt to prevent his friends from further harm.
In the finale of “Peacemaker”, the 11th Street Kids free Chris from prison, convincing him that the responsibility for the tragedies in his life does not lie solely on him. Joining forces with ARGUS associates Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodríguez) and Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows), Team Peacemaker (led by Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo) forms its own organization: Checkmate.
Meanwhile, Flag and ARGUS (teaming up with Lex Luthor’s friends from “Superman”) begin using the QUC to explore other dimensions, looking for an uninhabited world hospitable to humans. Although one suspects that Flag wants this space for his resources, his behavior quickly gives Harcourt and John Economos (Steve Agee) pause. When Flag finally finds a world to his liking, he shares that it will become a metahuman prison – which he names “Salvation”.
While things are looking up for Peacemaker at the end of the episode, the finale has a big surprise in store for its ending. As Chris leaves his residence, ARGUS agents abduct him and bring him before Flag, who says that Peacemaker “volunteered” to be Salvation’s first prisoner and test the effects of the environment on the human body. Showing Chris a forged signature agreeing to the experiment, Flag shares that Peacemaker’s imprisonment is revenge for the murder of Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman) in “The Suicide Squad.” Flag closes the door on Peacemaker, now Salvation’s only resident, as he hears animals screaming in the distance.
Basically, it’s a hungry world. They will eat him alive.
What is Checkmate?
Comic book fans may have identified Sasha Bordeaux early in the season as a character linked to Checkmate, a fictional spy organization in the DC Universe. The secret group debuted in 1988’s “Action Comics #598,” a creation by Paul Kupperberg and Steve Erwin.
A number of key DC figures have gotten their hands on Checkmate, with the organization at one point linked to Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad. Before “Infinite Crisis,” the operation found itself infiltrated by Maxwell Lord – a character played by Sean Gunn and leading the Justice Gang in Gunn’s new universe.
It was around this time that Greg Rucka wrote a story called “The OMAC Project”, in which Lord attempted to use the organization to kill all the metahumans on Earth. This story, which saw Wonder Woman kill Max Lord, served as a prelude to Rucka’s popular run on the title track “Checkmate.” Batman, who has close ties to Bordeaux, was also heavily involved in the storyline.
Interestingly, Gunn has apparently positioned DCU’s Checkmate to work in opposition, with Adebayo, Bordeaux and company saying they want to position their organization as a group with the public’s best interests at heart. It’s unclear how big Checkmate will end up being in the DCU, but it ultimately gives the 11th Street Kids a place to work and operate outside of the shadow of Amanda Waller, Flag, ARGUS, and other government oversight.
Does salvation come from comics?
Salvation has a precedent in comics – one around the same time as Checkmate’s heyday. The planet is primarily featured in the limited series “Salvation Run”, a tie-in to the famous “Final Crisis” event.
In “Salvation Run”, Amanda Waller and her Suicide Squad use a Boom Tube to send various villains from across the DC Universe to Salvation, a planet located in the far reaches of space that is almost entirely inaccessible from Earth – and vice versa. Abandoned villains include the Rogues, Catwoman, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze, Metallo, Gorilla Grodd, and even the Suicide Squad members betrayed by Waller. Lex Luthor and Joker, both stranded on the planet, lead opposing factions against each other on Salvation.
Things on Salvation, however, are not as peaceful as initially thought. The trapped villains eventually discover that their prison is ruled by the New Gods of Apokolips, with the villainous DeSaad using the world as a training station. This ends up bringing the prisoners into conflict with DeSaad and his Parademons.
“Salvation Run” was written by Bill Willingham and Lilah Sturges, with art by Sean Chen, Walden Wong, Joe Bennett and Belardino Brabo. The book was based on a concept by “Game of Thrones” author George RR Martin and his collaborator John Jos, who initially developed the idea as a generation-spanning Elseworlds tale that was non-continuous. Martin said he imagined an unsupervised metahuman prison planet to mirror the British export of prisoners to Australian penal colonies.
The salute bears similarity to a Marvel Comics concept developed around the same time. During the “Civil War” event, Reed Richards, Tony Stark and Hank Pym developed Prison 42, the 42nd of 100 ideas the three came up with to “save the world”. Prison 42 was a superhuman prison located in the Negative Zone that purged superpowered criminals (or, in the case of “Civil War,” unregistered heroes) from the general public.
What is the future of salvation?
Only time will tell when and how Salvation returns to the DCU, but it’s safe to assume the concept will have massive ramifications for future DC projects. With Gunn previously stating that the ending of “Peacemaker” would lead directly into “Man of Tomorrow,” it seems likely that the gathering of metahumans (a goal outlined by Lex Luthor in “Superman”) will be present in the hero/villain team-up’s sequel.
The true nature of Salvation also remains to be discovered. Shortly after Peacemaker arrives on the planet, the growls and howls of unseen creatures can be heard in the distance. These beings could be related to the new gods of Apokolips – although they could easily end up being independent creatures hidden in one of QUC’s alternate worlds.
Of course, Gunn also left the thread of Peacemaker, currently Salvation’s only resident, dangling. Given Gunn’s affinity for the character (who finally found some semblance of peace, no pun intended, after two seasons and a film filled with suffering), it’s hard to imagine that Christopher Smith will remain forever marooned on the isolated prison planet. When Salvation reappears on the road, it seems likely that Peacemaker will be in tow.
Seasons 1 and 2 of “Peacemaker” are now streaming on HBO Max.
