Spoilers ahead
Peacemaker season two is officially over. The eighth and final episode of the second season dropped Oct. 9 on HBO Max, serving as what seems to be the series’ finale. With a run time of approximately 57 minutes, John Cena and a mountain of hype built around the last three episodes; fans were expecting a jam-packed stellar final episode.
With a season dedicated to building up the threat of the multiverse, specifically “Earth-X”, an alternate world where Germany won WWII, I was prepared to see many payoffs and get closure on each characters’ journey. Thankfully, there was much closure that was well needed and shown for the main cast. However, with no visit to, or from “Earth-X”, there was much to be desired in the finale.
Co-Chairman and CEO of DC studios, James Gunn, had kept the last three episodes of Peacemaker completely under wraps, claiming they were his favorite pieces of work in his career. DC Film News posted a quote directly from Gunn on the matter.
“I am the one who’s keeping the three episodes away from everybody because there’s too many surprises in those last three episodes. Especially six and eight, they are just crazy, my favorite things I’ve ever done of anything” Gunn said.
I went into the finale with high expectations and an open mind. After the credits rolled, I was left wanting more. The finale did not visit “Earth-X” in any way, nor did it receive a mention for that matter. There was little exploration within the world itself, and instead the episode focused more on the emotional side of the characters.
In the first episode of the second season, we are told by Peacemaker himself that there are 99 other dimensions that could be accessed through the Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC), a door that can be opened anywhere, leading to a space filled with other doorways that lead to other dimensions.
The main antagonist for the season, Rick Flag Sr., had sent task force agents to track Peacemaker, and find the device he used for the QUC. Out of the 99 doorways we were told about, we only got to see five, that’s including “Earth-X” which was a main setting for half of the season.
Most of the finale had focused on substance rather than flashy fight scenes, but with so much hype built around it, and with anticipation from what was shown in episodes six and seven, there were not a lot of satisfying payoffs. Half of the episode revolves around Peacemaker, or rather Chris, and his love for Emilia Harcourt, as he eventually reconciles with her asking if their one-time fling meant anything.
What was a little disappointing though was that the whole season, the two had been mentioning their fling, and it was fairly easy to piece their history together. I feel as though we did not need 20 minutes to focus on what was already given in context.
On the other hand, the episode was a massive set up for the DCU moving forward, which is what James Gunn had stated. In episode six, it is revealed that Rick Flag Sr. Is working with Lex Luthor, the main villain of “Superman”, played by Nicholas Holt.
On “Peacemaker: The Official Podcast”, hosted by Gunn, he reveals that the alternate version of Chris’s brother, Keith, played by David Denman, is still alive after the extremely violent altercation between him and our main ensemble.
“I will say, In the original draft, [Emelia Harcourt] kills him … I think that in one way the whole season is Captain Triumph’s origin as a supervillain. We see at the end that look in his eye and we’re like, oh!” Gunn said. This may set up a future storyline for Captain Triumph, David Denman, to return or even another visit to “Earth-X”.
Towards the end of the episode, there is a montage playing over the eleventh street kids, the name of the main character’s group, and their succession of starting their own business to help make the world better, while gaining new allies once perceived as enemies. The montage ends with a panning shot up to the name of their building, being Checkmate. This is a direct reference to a task force like squad in DC comics under the same name.
Apart from resolving key character arcs, the finale dives into Rick Flag Sr.’s descent into villainy, as he gets closer to Lex Luthor and his goons. In the movie, The Suicide Squad, directed by James Gunn, Peacemaker ends up killing Rick Flag Jr. during the climax of the movie. This is the driving force behind Rick Flag Sr.’s motives for this season.
We see Flag’s desire for revenge consume him, as scenes of him laughing are shown in conjunction with scenes of his agents running through various doors in the QUC, and coming out of their door either injured or dead. He ultimately declares to the government that his plan is to use one of these entries as a prison of sorts, a one-way door where they can shove all the metahumans and superpowered individuals.
After the mid-credits, the final scene of the show ends with Chris getting kidnapped by Rick Flag Sr. and his agents. As revenge for what Chris did in the events of “The Suicide Squad”, Flag Sr. has his men toss Peacemaker into a doorway to an alternate universe, closing it behind him, stranding Chris in a different dimension.
Co-Chairman and CEO, Peter Safran, and James Gunn have already confirmed that this ending is a direct set up for the planet salvation run in DC comics. This story revolves around many DC villains being rounded up and put onto this other world, in which they faction up, until it is revealed that the planet they are on belongs to Darkseid, the “big bad” of DC comics. This could hint at Darkseid being introduced soon, especially with reports of a “Mr. Miracle” show in the works. There is a connection between the two in the comics.
It seems that Gunn is aware of the discourse that this episode may have between fans, with him providing a statement on the finale posted by the official HBO Max account on social media.
“Yes, that was the ending. No, I’m not sorry … No, you can’t [Direct Message] me about it. Okay fine, one [Direct Message].”
Speculation
With the inclusion of “Checkmate” in the DCU now, I think a direction that they could go in is having a more grounded show about the eleventh street kids and their travels to find more metahumans to join their cause. It could be in the same vein as “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, a Marvel television show.
As of now, Chris is stranded in a different universe, and the eleventh street kids are down their Peacemaker. It is fairly safe to speculate that he won’t be the first person thrown in there. James Gunn could be setting this plot device up to appear in a multitude of movies and shows. I theorize for the first phase of the DCU, titled “Gods and Monsters”, that the doorway to planet salvation will be used to entrap all antagonists that appear in each project, for them to all team up and fight back.
Some rumors are circulating about where Peacemaker as a character could go from here. Particularly rumors of Chris becoming Orion, Darkseid’s son in the comics. The reasons for these rumors being that the characters suit, specifically the color scheme and helmut, are extremely similar. However, both characters’ origins are completely different, thematically it would not make sense within the context of the show.
Within the QUC, we do not see much, nor was the lore on it expanded. It’s hard to say if any of the doors will be revisited, although there was a glimpse of a zombie universe. This could possibly set up the “DCeased” run, a string of comics about an alternate universe where a zombie virus takes over, and we see how The Flash, Superman and even Darkseid get infected.
We also see a few seconds of a doorway containing a black hole, similar to the one in the movie, “Superman” also written and directed by James Gunn. During the climax of the movie, we see Superman’s clone, Ultraman, get sucked into the black hole. There is speculation online of Ultraman becoming the character “Bizarro” from the comics, a backwards version of Superman.
It seems like with what little we got of the different universes, and with what horrors come from the ones we saw, the target of the DCU is to steer away from the multiverse. Other studios, Marvel for example, have dipped into multiverse storytelling, and sometimes it can get a little confusing. I think what James Gunn is trying to say with these last episodes is that the multiverse is not something to explore so casually, at least for the heroes we are following. Perhaps these alternate dimensions can be revisited in later projects.
