The Peacemaker Season 2 Scene That James Gunn Calls 'Important For The Entire DCU'

"Peacemaker" season 2, episode 6 ("Ignorance is Chris") is a classic wham episode that completely shifts the narrative. The biggest reveal from the characters' immediate standpoint, of course, is the alternate reality twist that changes everything: Peacemaker (John Cena) and the 11th Street Kids are on Earth-X, where Germany won World War II and the Nazi regime reigns supreme. The other major moment, however, could be the one with more lasting impact to the DC Universe at large. In fact, "Peacemaker" and DCU main man James Gunn recently confirmed in his official "Peacemaker" podcast that the scene where the imprisoned Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) strikes a deal with Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) is designed to make shockwaves:  

"We have a really important moment for not only 'Peacemaker' but the entire DCU in that Rick Flag, the head of A.R.G.U.S., strikes a deal basically with Lex Luthor in exchange for Lex Luthor finding where Peacemaker's portal might be. He is going to move him from a prison with metahumans to a prison with no metahumans — from Belle Reve, where they are now, to Van Kull. Both prisons from the comics, and then he leaves and tells Sasha Bordeaux that he's teamed up with Lex Luthor, which is scary.

Gunn's "Superman" sequel is titled "Man of Tomorrow" and will feature Lex Luthor in his iconic green warsuit, so we already know that whatever deal Luthor is cutting with Flag will likely lead to at least some semblance of freedom for the devious billionaire. This is likely bad news for Superman (David Corenswet, who was upset with "Peacemaker" season 2 because Luthor makes an appearance and he doesn't) ... but even more so for the significantly less powerful Peacemaker, who now has the world's most dangerous criminal mastermind on his case. 

Gunn has taken steps to integrate "Peacemaker" season 2 in the DCU at large before, with things like rewriting some of the DCEU-era season 1's history and tactically-deployed Justice Gang cameos. However, the Luthor deal is the first time he uses the show to introduce a plot element that's destined to heavily influence the movie side of things.

This is an interesting choice because Gunn has ample evidence about the risks that come with mixing and matching important information between a superhero franchise's movie and TV departments. For quite some time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe made it famously difficult to keep track of its many twists and turns by introducing major characters and plot elements on its Disney+ shows and then bringing them to big screen projects with the assumption that the audience has kept up. 

Here, the approach works because it's built in the show's DNA. "Peacemaker" has always alluded to the grander workings of whatever extended universe it has been a part of — just remember the running Aquaman (Jason Momoa) gag and the Batman villain debate between Peacemaker and Auggie Smith's (Robert Patrick) nosy neighbor (Mel Tuck) in season 1. However, the show still relies on the audience having seen the projects it alludes to — namely, "Superman" for Luthor's imprisoned status and "Creature Commandos" for Rick Flag's backstory. It's still the early days for the DCU, so it's no biggie yet ... but should this interconnectivity become a regular part of the shared universe's modus operandi, there might be trouble (or at least copious confusion) looming on the horizon.

"Peacemaker" Season 2 is streaming on HBO Max.