James Gunn's Peacemaker Season 2 May Have Teased Another Alternate Universe DC Superhero

"Peacemaker" season 2, episode 2 seems like James Gunn's apology for his many sins against birds in 2021's "The Suicide Squad." It features a big Eagly fight that's simultaneously silly and genius, allowing the DC Universe's favorite avian to wreck a group of human antagonists and even do a cool superhero walk afterwards. However, amidst memorable set piece moments like this, the episode — aptly titled "A Man Is Only as Good as His Bird" — hides some of Gunn's customary Easter eggs and character teases.

Season 2, episode 1, titled "The Ties That Grind," saw Gunn introduce the major Superman villain Ultra-Humanite to the DCU (or, at least, to the dimension where the alternate-universe Smiths fight crime as the Top Trio, anyway). "A Man Is Only as Good as His Bird" does one better and gives us a hint that none other than the show's resident super-suit critic, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), might have a future as a costumed vigilante.

During the scene where the 11th Street Kids gather to party on the roof of Harcourt's apartment complex, she briefly jokes about getting a superhero costume of her own. The moment quickly passes, of course, and she makes clear that this isn't about to happen. But ... why mention this at all, then, unless there's a payoff looming on the horizon? Considering Gunn's history of teases, clues, and Easter eggs, it seems to me that he might have just alluded to Harcourt's future as a superhero — and if this is the case, there's a very decent chance that said superhero is the alternate-universe, female version of Peacemaker (John Cena) known as the Peacewrecker.

Created by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval, Peacewrecker debuted in 2023 in "Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths" issue 7 as part of an alternate-universe anti-metahuman team that also includes Amanda Waller (played in the DCU by Viola Davis) and Peacemaker. Little is known of her, save for the fact that she's an angry-looking vigilante agent who dresses like Peacemaker and whose identity is a mystery. She also just so happens to be affiliated with the exact same key people the DCU's Emilia Harcourt is, bases her operations in Belle Reve (where Harcourt used to work), and looks extremely similar to Harcourt.

Surely, there's something going on here. While fairly obscure, a version of Emilia Harcourt absolutely does exist in the comics, where she also works with Waller. While the real identity of Peacewrecker is unclear, Harcourt is pretty much the only person who fits the bill. It would be just like Gunn to come up with a way to have Harcourt don one of Peacemaker's gazillion spare helmets and potentially even a shirt — after all, "Peacemaker" season 1 confirmed that they're incredibly snug, and Peacemaker specifically has to stretch them out when they're new. From that point on, we'd be precisely one half-decent pun away from Peacewrecker's grand introduction into the DCU.

Whether Gunn actually plans to head that way with one version or Harcourt of another is a whole other thing. If "Peacemaker" season 2 does intend to follow up on her comment about superhero uniforms, though, I'm going to go ahead and say that this seems like the most likely way to go.

New episodes of "Peacemaker" season 2 begin streaming on HBO Max every Thursday.