Peacemaker's Season 2 Finale May Have Revealed the Villain of James Gunn's Man of Tomorrow Movie, and We're Not Happy

Warning: This nonfiction contains full spoilers for Peacemaker Season 2’s last episode!

Peacemaker Season 2 conscionable ended its eight-episode tally connected HBO Max with a large turning constituent successful the beingness of John Cena’s aspiring do-gooder Christopher Smith. Creator James Gunn teased that the finale would laic the groundwork for 2027’s Man of Tomorrow movie. And Gunn seems to person made bully connected that promise, with the finale powerfully hinting astatine which quality volition service arsenic the communal force uniting Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor and David Corenswet’s Superman. So wherefore are we truthful unhappy with the large reveal?

Let’s interruption down wherefore Peacemaker Season 2’s finale doesn’t rather gel with the remainder of the DCU. We’ll besides research the different large revelations successful this episode, similar the debut of Checkmate and the satellite Salvation. Here’s everything you request to cognize astir the ending of Peacemaker Season 2.

Peacemaker Season 2: What’s the Deal With Rick Flag?

Everything seems to beryllium going Chris’ mode successful the closing moments of “Full Nelson.” He and Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt yet person their large affectional breakthrough. Chris and the pack liberate a elephantine heap of currency and usage it to unfastened their ain peacekeeping bureau called Checkmate (more connected that successful a bit). Chris and Emilia adjacent be a Foxy Shazam concert, giving Gunn 1 past excuse to play Season 2’s earworm-y taxable song.

But destiny has a antithetic program successful store for Christopher Smith. No sooner does helium triumph it each than it’s cruelly taken distant from him by Flag and his ARGUS agents. “Full Nelson” ends with Chris being abducted and taken to an ARGUS achromatic tract facility. There, he’s promptly dumped into a satellite Flag has selected for his metahuman situation planet. The satellite isn’t named successful the episode, but Gunn confirmed astatine a property league that it’s called Salvation (again, we’ll get to that successful a small while). Flag banishes Chris successful revenge for the decease of his son, Joel Kinnaman’s Rick “Ricky” Flag, Jr, leaving Peacemaker marooned and weaponless successful a onshore afloat of bare monsters. And it definite sounds similar he’s conscionable the archetypal of galore planned prisoners.

Before getting into the comic publication origins of Checkmate and Salvation, we truly request to code the elephant successful the room. What’s the woody with Rick Flag? Why has this quality taken specified a hard and abrupt bottommost crook successful Peacemaker Season 2?

The happening astir Grillo’s quality is that helium was ne'er portrayed successful a peculiarly villainous airy earlier now. From the start, he’s been the much level-headed, rule-abiding alternate to Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller. If outright calling him a leader is excessively much, Flag was surely connected the close broadside of the struggle successful 2024’s Creature Commandos. The aforesaid goes for his tiny relation successful Superman, wherever helium was intelligibly distrustful of Luthor.

Even starting retired successful Peacemaker Season 2, Flag wasn’t truly a villain truthful overmuch arsenic a antheral grieving the decease of his son. However overmuch Flag whitethorn beryllium utilizing his presumption to transportation retired a idiosyncratic vendetta, you tin recognize and empathize with him. But that empathy is mostly gone now. Flag has gone from distrusting Luthor to becoming Luthor. Is determination immoderate quality betwixt Luthor gathering a situation betwixt dimensions and Flag utilizing the QUC to dump prisoners connected an alien world?

Even the mode Flag treats his agents successful Episode 8 seems similar a measurement excessively acold for the character. We spot him sending question aft question of ARGUS troops into the QUC arsenic glorified cannon fodder, joking and flirting portion his men dice horrible deaths. Again, calling Flag an outright leader whitethorn beryllium excessively overmuch of a stretch, but the quality had a basal humanity successful the DCU that’s abruptly absent astatine the extremity of Peacemaker Season 2.

Is Rick Flag the Villain of Man of Tomorrow?

This abrupt pivot successful Flag’s characterization is each the much troubling due to the fact that each signs constituent to the quality taking connected a bigger relation successful Gunn’s Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow. For each the speculation that Brainiac is the large menace looming implicit the heads of Luthor and Superman, it’s looking similar Rick Flag Sr. is the existent villain of Gunn’s adjacent movie.

Flag intelligibly has a distaste for metahumans (despite antecedently starring a squad of them). He sees them arsenic causing much problems than they solve, thing much than trash to beryllium disposed of connected a remote, out-of-the-way planet. In Man of Tomorrow, Flag whitethorn determine that Luthor should beryllium among that group. That whitethorn beryllium what forces Luthor to align with his astir hated enemy. Superman is ne'er 1 to crook down idiosyncratic successful need. Plus, helium knows firsthand however dehumanizing it is to beryllium abducted and imprisoned with nary owed process.

Flag whitethorn beryllium the menace that forces Superman and Luthor to enactment speech their differences and combat for a communal goal. We whitethorn adjacent spot some characters banished to Salvation successful Man of Tomorrow, cueing up the inevitable instrumentality quality of Cena’s Peacemaker. It seems that implicit powerfulness is corrupting Flag successful the aforesaid mode it did Waller earlier him.

Again, it’s conscionable a small hard to swallow this abrupt pivot successful characterization with Grillo’s character. Part of the entreaty of Flag was that helium wasn’t Amanda Waller. Why adjacent sideline Waller successful the archetypal spot if we’re conscionable getting different idiosyncratic with the aforesaid temperament moving ARGUS? Hopefully, Gunn has thing other successful caput for Flag that tin reconstruct him to a much morally ambiguous subordinate successful the DCU alternatively than an outright villain.

That said, Gunn would reason that Flag was ne'er the noble quality helium mightiness person seemed successful Creature Commandos and Superman. At a caller property event, Gunn noted that Flag is simply a profoundly flawed quality whose top misdeed is overestimating his ain intelligence.

“I deliberation we saw a feline successful Creature Commandos, which, erstwhile you're archetypal watching that season, helium seems similar he's the bully guy, but he's perfectly not,” Gunn told reporters. “He screws up everything again due to the fact that helium thinks he's smarter than Waller, which helium isn't. And helium messes that up and helium falls for this pistillate and is benignant of played by her… the full time. And that to maine is the amusive happening astir Rick Flag. He's wholly imperfect.”

Checkmate’s DCU Debut

As we spot precocious successful Episode 8, Chris and the pack person formed their ain peacekeeping bureau called Checkmate. Checkmate is an enactment with heavy roots successful the DC comics, adjacent if this mentation is simply a beauteous important deviation from the root material. In fact, astir the lone communal thread present is the engagement of Sol Rodríguez’s Sasha Bordeaux and Freddie Stroma’s Vigilante.

Checkmate was created by Paul Kupperberg and Steve Erwin and primitively debuted successful 1988’s Action Comics #598, with Waller forming the enactment arsenic a splinter bureau of Task Force X. Vigilante’s nemesis, Harry Stein, is enactment successful complaint of the agency, with Stein opting to exemplary its organizational operation astir chess pieces (characters service arsenic kings, queens, bishops, knights, etc.).

Checkmate played a cardinal relation successful the 1989 crossover “The Janus Directive,” but the monthly Checkmate bid was yet canceled with 1991’s Checkmate #33. After fading to the inheritance of the DCU, Checkmate roared backmost into the spotlight acknowledgment to 2005’s Infinite Crisis. Writer Greg Rucka spearheaded a new, modernized Checkmate bid successful the aftermath of that Crisis, 1 which included his instauration Sasha Bordeaux arsenic a large character.

Gunn made it wide helium was heavy inspired by his emotion of the Rucka tally astatine the property event, saying, “I've ever liked Checkmate. Those Greg Rucka stories of Checkmate are conscionable comics that I really, truly love. So I ever wanted to effort to physique Checkmate into it somehow. And the thought of allowing Ade to truly fulfill what is her benignant of destiny and beryllium the 1 who founds Checkmate successful this beingness was important to me. I besides similar the thought we're truly utilizing it to woody with each these antithetic characters.”

Art by Lee Bermejo. (Image Credit: DC)

Gunn revealed that the thought present is to springiness the 11th Street Kids an accidental to bash bully connected a larger scale.

“I said connected Threads the different day, erstwhile Auggie gives his code astatine the extremity of Episode 7, immoderate radical judged it precise harshly. Some radical deliberation he's a hero,” Gunn said. “I dunno if he's either of those things. I deliberation he's a bully antheral who is trying to combat successful tiny ways, but doesn't deliberation helium tin triumph thing bigger than that. And I deliberation that helium is decidedly inactive doing good successful that universe.”

Gunn continued, “Harcourt and Economos, they're idiosyncratic bees. They've worked for quality organizations their full lives. They've fundamentally done what they said. They've breached retired a mates of times, similar astatine the extremity of The Suicide Squad, but basically, they're idiosyncratic bees. And truthful I deliberation that Aug is speaking straight to our court's psyche astatine that moment, and that leads into this tendency to make an enactment utilizing each of the humor wealth that is genuinely for the good, and to make an enactment that is going to beryllium abstracted from the different institutions successful the DCU, which is the authorities and corporations and the Justice Gang, the emblematic Metahuman gangs. I deliberation it's the existent culmination of the 11th Street Kids and their tendency to beryllium good.”

The DCU Adapts the Salvation Run Comic

As for the satellite Salvation, that besides hearkens backmost to immoderate of DC’s aboriginal ‘00s comic books. That satellite was introduced successful 2007’s Salvation Run, which is based connected a communicative transportation from nary different than Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin (though the comic itself is written by Bill Willingham and Lilah Sturges).

A precursor to different Crisis storyline, 2008’s Final Crisis, Salvation Run deals with the fallout of galore DC villains similar Joker, Lex Luthor, and the Flash Rogues being marooned connected a distant satellite dubbed Salvation. Similar to the Peacemaker series, the thought is to escaped Earth of its increasing metahuman problem. However, Waller and Task Force X don’t number connected the information that Salvation is really a concealed grooming crushed for Darkseid’s Parademons, which gives Luthor et al entree to Boom Tube technology.

“I liked the conception of creating this situation that was perfectly inescapable, but was besides a small rash due to the fact that they deliberation it's not unsafe from their archetypal tests,” Gunn said. “But successful the comics, and [in Peacemaker], obviously, there's hints of it being dangerous, but I besides similar the thought of being capable to make this different situation wherever radical that are considered atrocious metahumans are going to person to fig retired a caller mode to make a society. And that was what was ever absorbing astir it for me.”

Art by Sean Chen. (Image Credit: DC)

In the lawsuit of some Checkmate and Salvation Run, DC fans shouldn’t beryllium expecting a afloat 1:1 adaptation of the root material. As overmuch arsenic Gunn’s DCU leans connected the comics for inspiration, he’s ne'er been 1 for nonstop adaptations. That won’t alteration now.

“It truly is astir the concept,” Gunn said. “So there's a precise chiseled storyline with Joker versus Lex Luthor and each that, but it's not that. The portion that truly spoke to maine was the opening of it, wherever successful that version, Rick Flag, Jr. and Amanda Waller were like, ‘F*** it. Metahumans are a symptom successful the ass. They support escaping. Let's conscionable get escaped of them permanently.’ And they nonstop them to the different place. And of course, determination are a clump of repercussions astir sending a clump of atrocious guys to different dimension, and successful this case, the sole idiosyncratic determination close present is simply a bully feline who has to past connected his own.”

As with the comics, wherever Salvation Run ended with the villains escaping and returning to Earth with vengeance successful mind, the existent value of the Salvation concern successful the DCU whitethorn impact what happens erstwhile these characters bash inevitably return. How bash heroes similar Superman and the Justice Gang respond to what Flag has done? Is determination a constituent wherever ARGUS goes excessively acold successful its pursuit of bid and order?

Will There Be a Peacemaker Season 3?

Naturally, 1 of the large questions present that Peacemaker Season 2 has ended is erstwhile and wherever we’ll spot Cena’s Chris Smith next. Is determination going to beryllium a Season 3? Maybe, but Gunn doesn’t look focused connected that successful the contiguous future. The Salvation concern seems much geared toward mounting up different projects similar Man of Tomorrow and Creature Commandos Season 2 (which Gunn confirmed is presently being written).

“This is astir the wider DCU and different stories successful which this volition play retired close now,” Gunn said. “So that doesn't mean that determination won't be, I don't privation to ne'er accidental never, but close now, no, this is astir the aboriginal of the DCU.”

We’re expecting Cena to instrumentality successful Man of Tomorrow, perchance successful a much important relation than his speedy Superman cameo. Where that sequel leaves Chris whitethorn good find erstwhile and however Gunn tackles a imaginable Peacemaker Season 3. But Gunn does astatine slightest look to person plans for the alternate beingness mentation of Chris’ member Keith (David Denman) introduced successful Season 2.

“I person plans for Keith,” Gunn said. “I conscionable haven't figured retired precisely however it's each going to enactment out, truthful I person to marque definite I tin bash it. It's hard with the interdimensional hopping worldly to marque these things travel unneurotic successful the mode I'd like. So I person what I would similar to hap with Keith, but I'm not sure. I’ve got to marque definite it'll work.”

Let’s besides not hide that there’s a wide way guardant for the remainder of the show’s formed without Chris. He whitethorn beryllium marooned connected Salvation, but Checkmate inactive exists. Gunn could good beryllium readying a Checkmate spinoff bid alternatively than a Peacemaker Season 3, arsenic we spot this fledgling enactment turn into thing bigger. Whatever comes next, Gunn confirmed that we volition spot Checkmate proceed to play a cardinal role.

“You'll decidedly spot Checkmate carrying through,” Gunn said. “They're a happening now, truthful they're a portion of what's going to happen, and I deliberation they're going to beryllium really, truly bully astatine what they do. So erstwhile we spot them next, I deliberation their circumstances volition beryllium a small spot antithetic than the startup that they're astatine now.”

Do you privation to spot a Peacemaker Season 3 oregon a Checkmate spinoff? What are your thoughts connected Flag’s bottommost turn? Let america cognize successful the comments below.

For much connected Peacemaker, cheque retired IGN’s reappraisal of the Season 2 finale.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected BlueSky.