James Gunn Quietly Gave Away Peacemaker's Big Twist Early In Season 2

The following contains heavy spoilers for "Peacemaker" season 2, episode 6, "Ignorance Is Chris."

Any doubt that James Gunn would soften his commentary and politics after becoming co-head of DC Studios or that he would make that entire cinematic universe more family-friendly to appeal to mass audiences — especially after "Superman" — evaporated with the latest episode of "Peacemaker" season 2. In episode 6 of season 2, Chris (John Cena) has his entire reality come crashing down as he learns that the alternate dimension he's come to regard as "best dimension ever" is actually Earth-X, aka the Nazi dimension. That's right, all the theories were right, and this is a universe in which the Axis powers won WWII, resulting in bad news for everyone.

It's a bold twist for what's essentially the follow-up to the highly successful all-ages hit "Superman," with a show that had an orgy in its premiere, and now a Nazi world. And yet, it is absolutely in line with Gunn's entire history with DC — which started with "The Suicide Squad," a movie about the history of U.S. military operations in Latin America, and continued with the first season of "Peacemaker," including a KKK villain. Though Gunn also had some poignant commentary in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" films — like the third movie being all about animal abuse — he is truly unchained in his role as head of DC Studios. Say what you will about his writing or his filmmaking abilities, but right now, there truly is no other filmmaker at the same level of spectacle within a massive franchise like Gunn that uses their position to deliver timely and mature themes like this.

As surprising as the twist is, some fans saw it coming a mile away. Specifically, there seem to have been subtle clues as to the Earth-X reveal since the very start of the season. In episode 3, Harcourt (Jennier Holland) looks bewildered when Peacemaker asks her "what's happening" between her and Rick Flagg Jr. (Joel Kinnaman), which is a hint that the English language was never influenced by Black culture as our world has.

Indeed, the Random House "Historical Dictionary of American Slang" states that "What's happening?" originated as a greeting among Black Americans in the 1950s. A world where the Nazis won WWII and spread their ideology across the planet would stop such idioms from becoming common.

This is only one of several hints that Gunn dropped before the reveal. In that same scene, we see Chris and Harcourt get hot dogs that are clearly not made with hot dogs, but look more like Weisswurst. When Chris first enters the alternate dimension, it becomes clear that there are no people of color in that universe. The rock band posters on Chris' walls are bands formed exclusively by white artists; there was a newspaper clip of the Top Trio defeating a "Rainbow Creature," and the ashtray at the Smith house is literally a swastika. There was also the way characters pronounced the city of "Blüdhaven" in a German accent rather than anglicizing the name. Now, arguably the very, very first hint was right in the intro sequence. The first dance move Peacemaker does every episode in the intro looks suspiciously like a swastika. Is it a reach? Maybe, or maybe not.

It's only been six episodes, but "Peacemaker" has already made the argument for it being one of the best superhero TV spin-offs ever. It is not only a great stand-alone story, but it is expanding the world of DC in fascinating ways (without making the reveals big enough that they need to be shoehorned in later on in the movies, but also not small enough that they can simply be ignored and forgotten). Most importantly, it genuinely is a continuation of "Superman," with important cameos that continue the story of that movie and tease future stories.

Like with "Gen V" and "The Boys," you don't HAVE to see "Peacemaker" to watch the rest of the DC Universe (probably), which is good since the show's very R-rating alienates a big chunk of the "Superman" audience, but watching the show does enrich the overall franchise quite a bit.