Season 2 of Peacemaker came to an end on Thursday night. While James Gunn has left the future of the HBO Max series up in the air, he has gone on record to say the events of this episode will directly inform the future of the DCU. Does this mean John Cena will have a bigger role in the next Superman movie? Maybe.
The eighth and final episode of the season, titled Full Nelson (which, surprise, featured a performance from the hair metal group Nelson), opened up the door (or doors) to a whole new storyline. What we got in this episode was a peek into a handful of alternate Earths. Face-eating mini monsters, zombies and towering skull spiders are just a few of the monstrosities that were waiting behind these doors.
The focus of this episode wasn’t really these otherworldly threats. Instead, as the 11th Street Kids teamed up to bring Peacemaker back into the fold, Rick Flag Sr. and A.R.G.U.S. worked tirelessly to bring a specific goal of Lex Luthor’s (Nicholas Hoult) to life. A key part of this plan was a place called Salvation.
I may have gotten ahead of myself here. Before I continue, I must warn you that there are major spoilers ahead. If you’re not caught up on Peacemaker’s season 2 finale, tread lightly.
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Jennifer Holland and John Cena star in Peacemaker.
A little Peacemaker refresher
Peacemaker, referred to as Chris from here on, has been pining over Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) since the first episode of season 2. Something happened on a boat between them, and it was this episode that finally showed the sparks that flew between them as they watched the band Nelson perform on a party boat.
Since then, Chris has been pursuing Harcourt, doing everything he can to see if she’d reciprocate his love for her, only for her to resist him at every turn.
Well, as we’ve learned, Chris is a real softie under that strong, dumb exterior. All he wants is family and to be loved, which is really what drove him to head into that alternate Earth at the beginning of the season. He was able to reconnect with his brother, Keith (David Denman), whom he accidentally killed as a child. His father, Auggie (Robert Patrick), whom he killed as an adult back in season 1, was there, too.
It really felt like he was going to be able to start his life over and get a second chance here. What we all saw was that this reality was filled with Nazis.
Needless to say, it all came crashing down in the penultimate episode. Chris got to watch his father get murdered before him, thanks to Vigilante’s loyalty. Keith survived, albeit barely, which will probably inspire a revenge plot down the line.
And Chris, whom I will refer to as Peacemaker once again, was taken into custody as soon as he returned to his reality. Broken and feeling cursed, he turned his back on his friends and eventually tried to run away.
Sol Rodriguez, Jennifer Holland and Anissa Matlock in the Peacemaker season 2 finale.
How did Peacemaker season 2 end?
Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) has had it out for Peacemaker for quite some time. Remember, Peacemaker killed his son in The Suicide Squad, and the man has been blinded by vengeance since. Along with his A.R.G.U.S. squad, he was able to arrest Peacemaker and keep him locked up for a time. Our helmeted hero did eventually get bailed out of jail. But freedom was not long for Peacemaker.
Flag’s crew began looking for Peacemaker’s pocket dimension in the penultimate episode. Once he was in custody and Flag had his Quantum Unfolding Chamber, his team was able to spelunk the dimensional rift and look for… something. Harcourt and John Economos (Steve Agee) had to go along with Flag’s plan, but they were kept in the dark about what they were looking for until their team members began showing up dead.
Door after door was opened in this dimensional rift, and an assortment of monsters popped out of these alternate Earths and killed people. That is, until they discovered one door that opened to a calm meadow. This was the alternate Earth that Flag was looking for.
He called it Salvation and pitched it to those government officials we saw around that circular desk in Superman as the perfect prison for metahumans. Yes, this was exactly the idea Lex Luthor pitched at that same desk, but now Flag was fully on board. And the first person they were going to put there? Peacemaker himself.
What is Salvation?
Before he had a bag thrown over his head and was tossed into this alternate Earth alone, Peacemaker found the happiness he had been looking for. Things with Harcourt had gone pretty good, and it looked like the 11th Street Kids, along with A.R.G.U.S. team members Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodríguez) and Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows), formed an anti-A.R.G.U.S. organization called Checkmate — an organization pulled directly from the comics.
Peacemaker found a sense of love and family, but the peace he found was short-lived. Flag’s team ended up capturing the man, and, thanks to a falsified signature on a document that led to the hero volunteering to go it alone, he was thrust into Salvation as the prison planet’s first and only prisoner. A bevy of beastly animal sounds bellowed from the distance.
Where does the DCU go from here?
Salvation and Checkmate both have comic book origins, but it’s unclear how James Gunn plans to use the prison planet or the 11th Street Kids’ newly formed organization. I have a strong suspicion that Checkmate will play an important role in future DCU projects.
Gunn’s statements on the matter back up this feeling. He told members of the press, via Deadline, that seeds have been planted in this episode that are “about the wider DCU.” Does this mean we’ll be seeing Cena and his Peacemaker co-stars in 2026’s Supergirl movie, the planned Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow or other planned DC projects? “That’s a secret,” Gunn said. Well, of course it is.
Peacemaker seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on HBO Max.
