That’s a wrap folks! HBO’s “Peacemaker” has just finished its first season and it is glorious. Building on James Gunn’s solid direction in 2021’s “The Suicide Squad”, the spin-off series continues to show DC Extended Universe (DCEU) fans that the franchise still has some kick left in it.
In many ways, “Peacemaker” feels like the kind of story director James Gunn wanted to tell with “Guardians of the Galaxy” but was never allowed to go all out with. Beyond the colourful language, badass fight sequences and raunchy humour, “Peacemaker” has a surprisingly strong emotional core. One that deals with themes of familial trauma, redemption and being a hero.
So with the season finale in the rear view, we’re doing a breakdown of what the ending means and the exciting directions the series can go from there. Oh and it goes without saying: Spoilers ahead.
The Justice League Arrives…Eventually
Throughout the season, Chris Smith the Peacemaker and his ragtag team, which includes two disgraced government agents, a secret alien defector, Amanda Waller’s daughter and a very excitable vigilante hero named…Vigilante, have been trying to uncover a deadly alien conspiracy.
A race of tiny aliens called the Butterflies have been hiding out on Earth for the longest time. Burrowing into humans and taking over their hosts. Peacemaker’s final mission sees him and his team take down the “cow”, or giant alien larvae, that provides the only source of food for the Butterflies. After an action-packed, human-torpedo-launching battle with the Butterflies, the team comes out on top. Safe for a few minor bruises. Right as Peacemaker carries of one of his teammates, Emilia Harcourt from the compound, we see none other than the members of the Justice League.
There was a scene earlier in the finale in which Waller’s daughter, Leota Adebayo calls her mother asking if she could get the Justice League to come save the day. It’s left unclear if she managed to get their help but she totally does! Unfortunately, the battle is already won and Peacemaker is not happy. We get to see Jason Mamoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s Flash’s faces while Wonder Woman and Superman are covered in shadows. Hell, we’ll take it! The scene ends with a hilarious exchange between Aquaman and Flash about how the King of Atlantis is getting sick of people insinuating that he has sexual intercourse with fishes.
All season long, the characters of “Peacemaker” have been dropping names left, right and center. From Batman to the Kite Man. So to see the series deliver this cameo of at least four members of the League had definitely put on a smile in our faces. Perhaps there’s a chance we could see Peacemaker make another cinematic appearance in one of their films? Anything’s possible in the wide, wide world of the DCEU.
The End of Task Force X?
The ending also has Adebayo making up with Peacemaker after she had previously set him up to be arrested. She decides that she’s no longer going to follow in her mother’s footsteps of treating people as expendable. She decides to come out publicly to speak against the inhuman treatment of criminals who are forced to join the government black-ops team Task Force X, otherwise known as the Suicide Squad. Peacemaker and Vigilante are certainly happy that Leota took the brave step to reveal this to the world.
Waller, not so much.
We see Waller sitting on the coach watching her daughter informing the public of Task Force X and she is not happy. Not one bit. With Leota exposing this dirty, little secret to the world, does this mean Task Force X will be abolished? It’s possible seeing that Waller and A.R.G.U.S. (DC’s version of S.H.I.E.L.D.) will now have to be investigated by the U.S. government. There’s also the chance that she’ll be able to keep her Suicide Squad if another world-ending threat arrives again. Either way, she’s very pissed.
The White Dragon haunts Peacemaker
The final scene of the series ends on a pretty spooky note. While the team seems to be in a much better mental state after the whole ordeal, Peacemaker might have trouble ahead. In spite of the fact that he’s killed his racist father in the previous episode, we see Auggie Smith, or the White Dragon, haunting him. As the series progresses, we’ve gotten a chance to see Chris’ difficult childhood. His father was fairly abusive to him and his brother, forcing them to fight each other for money. He also blames Chris for accidentally killing his brother, which has left a good deal of emotional trauma on Peacemaker.
This leaves us wondering: Is this all just taking place in Peacemaker’s head? Is this perhaps Waller playing one last trick on her rogue agent with some sort of psychic projection? Hopefully, we’ll get some answers in the next season.
Season 2 is Officially Greenlit
Was there ever any doubt? It has been confirmed that Gunn’s “Peacemaker” will be returning for a second season. This marks the debut of HBO Max’s first live-action original DCEU series. Another series set to appear exclusively on the streaming service is the “Green Lantern” series. While the first season of “Peacemaker” doesn’t exactly end on a major cliffhanger, there are a number of loose threads that are yet to be tied up.
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For one, Amanda Waller’s definitely going to be out for revenge seeing that her operatives have betrayed her twice in a row. The first time being when Harcourt and Economos knocked her out in “The Suicide Squad”. We could see her play the role of the main antagonist in the next season by sending her little hit squads against them. That would certainly give “Peacemaker” the opportunity to have more awesome cameos with characters like Bloodsport and Harley Quinn. While the “cow” feeding them is certainly dead, the Butterflies are still out there somewhere in the world. The second season could open with the team hunting the remaining alien parasites before moving on to the next major baddie of the series.
The finale for HBO Max’s “Peacemaker” is out to watch on HBO Max today and you’re looking to learn what goes into the making of the show, be sure to check out our interview with director James Gunn and Peacemaker actor, John Cena!
