The Peacemaker Scene That DC's James Gunn Wishes He Could Erase From HBO Max

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A lot changed for James Gunn between seasons 1 and 2 of "Peacemaker." He went from writing in a small corner of the DC Extended Universe to overseeing a relaunched DC Universe. Peacemaker, both the show and eponymous antihero Christopher Smith (John Cena), is something Gunn decided to carry over from one world to the next. 

Since "Peacemaker" season 1 was written as set in the DCEU, there were references to that wider world and its heroes. Chris mentioned how Batman is a "p*ssy" because he doesn't kill criminals, or how Aquaman supposedly has relations with fish. The big DCEU link is season finale "It's Cow or Never," when members of the Justice League, as assembled by Zack Snyder, cameoed: Aquaman (Jason Momoa), the Flash (Ezra Miller), Superman, and Wonder Woman (the latter two both kept in silhouette and played by stand-ins). 

In the "Peacemaker" season one recap, the Justice League cameo is scrubbed. Instead, the Justice Gang from Gunn's new "Superman" shows up alongside Superman and Supergirl (albeit played by stand-ins rather than David Corenswet and Milly Alcock). Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) swap places with the Flash and Aquaman, respectively, as the two heroes who speak and get face-revealing close-ups. 

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Gunn said he wished he could go further and slip the Justice Gang cameo back into "It's Cow or Never" itself, comparing it to George Lucas' infamous tinkering with "Star Wars." "I wish I could Lucas the s*** out of this, but I can't, because it's too expensive," Gunn explained. "Peacemaker" season 1 was also released on Blu-ray and DVD, so Gunn can't destroy all the evidence of the Justice League cameo, no matter how hard he wanted to.

The build-up to the DCU could be confusing. It was a reboot, DC Studios said, but not a total reboot, because Gunn (for obvious reasons) didn't want to throw out his previous DC projects. For Gunn, though, making sense of the DCU timeline has always been simple.

So far, Gunn has explained, only "Creature Commandos," "Superman," and now "Peacemaker" season 2 are 100% canon to the DCU. After all, they were the first projects made with the intention of being in the DCU. Some details of Gunn's "The Suicide Squad" and "Peacemaker" season 1 are canon to these stories, but some details aren't. See: the Justice League cameo in "Peacemaker" season 1.

Gunn knows that some comic fans might bristle at this, thinking that people who don't obsessively track the ins and outs of superhero continuity will be too confused. For Gunn, it's the other way around. As he told ComicBook.com, it's only the superfans that really get hung up about the details lining up perfectly. As he said:

"People are like, 'How are normies gonna understand it?' The answer is normies don't give a s***. Normies don't care about all this canon stuff so intimately. They're like, 'Oh, cool, Peacemaker and Superman team up?' 'Oh, cool, it's "Aliens" and "Predator" together?' It doesn't matter if it's not completely consistent with the past."

Don't expect a "Peacemaker" season 1 special edition rerelease, but the differences in season 2 are so small you don't need such an edition to accept it as the same show.

"Peacemaker" is streaming on HBO Max.