Peacemaker Season 1 Finale Features Some Surprisingly Huge Cameos, And Marvel Helped Pull Them Off
Today brought the finale for the first season of "Peacemaker" to HBO Max, wrapping up the warped DC Comics series about the misguided superhero played by John Cena. If you haven't been keeping up with "The Suicide Squad" spin-off series, then you're missing out on one of the best stories to come out of the DC Extended Universe, turning the character into more than a one-note joke, giving him a tragic origin story, and slowly bringing about some much-needed redemption and evolution for the chrome clad meathead.
However, if you're just wondering about the major DC Extended Universe developments in the series, then you might be curious to hear about some surprisingly huge cameos in the "Peacemaker" season finale. No one was expecting this roster of heavy-hitters to show up, and their appearance actually answers a big question that fans might have had throughout the entire first season. Spoilers ahead for those who haven't watched the "Peacemaker" finale yet!
The Justice League is back, Jack!
After Peacemaker and the rest of his team have dispatched with the butterflies and their nectar-producing alien cow, they're walking away from the rubble of the destroyed barn base, which has been blown to smithereens. With all the hard work done and the "bad guys" dealt with, guess who shows up? It's the Justice League.
Well, it's not the entire Justice League. It's Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Aquaman. However, you don't ever actually see the faces of Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot, who are obscured in silhouette for their appearances. After all, Henry Cavill was probably busy being a bad dad in "The Witcher" and Gal Gadot may have been passed out from drinking enough champagne to fill the Nile. I don't know if the production timelines for all that actually match up, but all that matters is that Superman and Wonder Woman arrive in the form of shadowy stand-ins, so there you go.
Does Aquaman really swing that way?
Anyway, the Justice League shows up in "heroic" fashion, but Peacemaker isn't having any of that, and he doesn't hesitate to yell at them, "You're late, ya f***in' dickheads!" But he's not done dishing out scorn on the DC Comics superhero team just yet.
Early on this season, Peacemaker made no secret about his theory that Aquaman doesn't just talk to fish, but he gets hot and bothered with them too. So when Peacemaker walks past Aquaman, with Jason Momoa in full view for a proper cameo, he adds, "Go f*** another fish, a**hole!" Aquaman turns to The Flash, with Ezra Miller also making a clear appearance, and says, "I'm so f***in' sick of that rumor."
In what might be the most earth-shattering revelation that "Peacemaker " has made yet, The Flash says, "It's not a rumor," prompting Aquaman to respond, "F*** you, Barry."
Uh, I'm pretty sure that means Aquaman has been getting intimate with his undersea friends. We're not judging him, but it sounds like The Flash may have walked in on Aquaman making things hotter under the water.
James Gunn wasn't sure that Jason Momoa would be down for the scene in question, but the actor was approached about making an appearance before a single frame had even been shot for "Peacemaker." The director told Variety:
"I think before we ever shot the show, we talked to Jason about it. We were like, "Listen, [Peacemaker] says you f*** fish all the time." And we were a little afraid he would be upset, but he just laughed. He was cool. So he was pretty much on board from the beginning."
As for Ezra Miller, that appearance actually came about by happenstance. Gunn explained, "Ezra, I just found out through some common friends, liked my movies a lot. So I asked if he would come in and shoot this scene, and he kindly agreed to do that. Actually, Marvel shot [Ezra] for us, while we're shooting 'Guardians Vol. 3.'" Wait, what?
Marvel Studios helped with the Peacemaker cameos
Having the Justice League show up is not only surprising, but it answers the question that a lot of fans have when there's some kind of dangerous world crisis that somehow doesn't capture the attention of the DC Comics superhero team. Granted, they show up late, but at least we know they tried to get involved in what could have been a disastrous scenario for citizens of Earth.
Funnily enough, Gunn's inclusion of the Justice League actually resulted in some major conversations in the upper echelons of Warner Bros. Pictures. The filmmaker explained to Variety:
"I didn't have a conversation. I just wrote it and gave them the scripts. I don't think they really realized what they had agreed to until they saw what I had shot, which was the Justice League there. And then I think the full weight of it and, you know, what does this mean for the DCU and all of that became huge pieces of conversation up to the very highest levels of Warners. And to their credit, they let me get away with it."
However, getting away with it required the surprising help of Marvel Studios. Why would Marvel help DC Comics shoot something? Gunn has a perfectly reasonable explanation for that:
"Marvel owed DC, because the 'Peacemaker' crew shot my screen test for Chukwudi [Iwuji] for 'Guardians Vol. 3.' And then we got Ezra with the 'Guardians Vol. 3' crew."
So there you have it. Chukwudi Iwuji landed his role in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" after the "Peacemaker" crew helped shoot his screen test, so Marvel Studios returned the favor by shooting the Ezra Miller cameo during production on "Guardians Vol. 3." That's some efficient filmmaking right there.
Meanwhile, if you're wondering why Batman and Cyborg aren't there to help out the Justice League, there might be a good reason for that too. Gunn said, "You know, I don't know what I can — there are reasons for it, but I'm actually uncertain whether I can say what those reasons are. It might have to do with future stuff."
Peacemaker doesn't have much use for Batman, so we wouldn't be surprised if there's a theory about him having sex with bats somewhere. As for Cyborg, we don't know where Peacemaker stands with that half-robot dude. Perhaps the absence of both of them has something to do with the time travel shenanigans of "The Flash" movie that's on the way. Stay tuned.