James Gunn teases that Peacemaker Season 1 will be canon to the DCU, with one major exception. Peacemaker Season 1 debuted in January 2022 and was firmly part of the DCEU, spinning off from the events of The Suicide Squad, which itself was a sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad. Peacemaker not only featured references to the wider DCEU, but also cameos by a faceless Superman and Wonder Woman, while Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller appeared as Aquaman and the Flash, respectively.
With Peacemaker Season 2 being part of Gunn’s new DCU, which will have a different Superman and history than Peacemaker established, many have wondered about the canon status of Season 1. While speaking with IGN, Gunn revealed that “Almost all of Peacemaker is canon with the exception of the Justice League… which we will kind of deal with in the next season.” Gunn confirmed that Creature Commandos will reference the events of Peacemaker Season 1 and that Season 2 will also reference past events from the prior season and The Suicide Squad.
This is a change of pace from Gunn’s previous comments when he said Peacemaker Season 1 was not canon with the DCU. His DCU is taking a similar approach to continuity as DC Comics, particularly the New 52. While the New 52 was a reboot of the DC Universe in 2011, both Batman and Green Lantern’s storylines remained intact while everything else was a clean slate. This decision was criticized by many, saying it made the comics more confusing, but it might work better on film. For example, if Gunn does reintroduce Wonder Woman but doesn’t want to retell her origin, he could say the events of the 2017 film happened in his universe. Then, no matter who becomes the new Wonder Woman, like how the MCU cast Mark Ruffalo after not playing Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, those events are canon to the DCU.
Will a Connected DC Universe Work This Time?
The Peacemaker finale came at a time when DC was trying to tie their universe together as heroes were crossing over into one another’s projects, like Henry Cavill’s Superman appearing at the end of Black Adam, or Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman appearing in both Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash alongside Ben Affleck’s Batman. However, it came as too little, too late, as just eight months after Peacemaker Season 1 aired its finale with the Justice League cameo, James Gunn became co-chairman of DC Studios and began work to relaunch his own DC Universe. Now, Superman will not look like Henry Cavill, but instead David Corenswet. Notably, the roles of Wonder Woman, Flash, and Aquaman have not yet been recast in the DCU.
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While the Justice League cameos might, on the surface, seem to make it difficult for Peacemaker to break from the established DCEU canon, the series was relatively stand-alone for the most part. Peacemaker would reference other heroes like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Flash, but they were nothing specific to the DCEU versions. Theoretically, these could be retroactively made into the new DCU versions of these characters. Even the Justice League cameos themselves could be written off as meta-jokes, with Peacemaker believing so many conspiracy theories he could reference how the superhero team doesn’t look the same and everyone dismisses him. It speaks to Gunn’s new DCU that, instead of looking backward, it is time to look forward to the new storytelling possibilities this universe can hold.
