Today’s a Sad Day For Fans of Zack Snyder’s DC Movies
The first season of Peacemaker aired in early 2022 on HBO Max, setting John Cena’s first post-The Suicide Squad adventure firmly in the DCEU. The show’s DCEU connections were further strengthened when most of Snyder’s Justice League lineup — Henry Cavill’s Superman, Ezra Miller’s The Flash, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman — showed up too late at the end of Season 1 to help Peacemaker. While Superman and Wonder Woman remained in the shadows, the scene featured a brief back-and-forth between The Flash and Aquaman, with Miller and Momoa reprising their respective roles.
In the three years since Peacemaker‘s Season 1 finale, Gunn came aboard to co-lead DC Studios with Peter Safran, the DCEU was concluded in 2023 with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and the new DC Universe was launched with Creature Commandos and Superman. Cena made an uncredited cameo in the latter as Peacemaker, marking his first appearance in the DCU. In the lead-up to Peacemaker Season 2, some fans wondered how Gunn would address Peacemaker going from the DCEU to the DCU, with some wondering if the multiverse would be used. In the end, all Gunn did was begin the Season 2 premiere, “The Ties That Grind,” with a Season 1 recap that retconned the Justice League from existence and replaced them with the Justice Gang, thus ending any hope Snyder fans might still have had of Gunn continuing Snyder’s world.
Who Does Peacemaker Meet Instead of the Justice League?
Instead of Snyder’s Justice League, Peacemaker crossed paths with the Justice Gang — consisting of Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl, and Edi Gathegi’s Mister Terrific — and David Corenswet’s Superman and Milly Alcock’s Supergirl. Mister Terrific, Superman, and Supergirl replace Cavill’s Man of Steel and Gadot’s Wonder Woman as the silent, shadow cameos, while Fillion’s Guy and Merced’s Hawkgirl are the ones to get annoyed with Peacemaker instead of The Flash and Aquaman.
Gunn’s decision to reshoot parts of the Season 1 finale of Peacemaker for the recap montage at the start of Season 2 is perhaps the best continuity explanation yet for what from the DCEU is still canon in the DCU. The DC head has repeatedly explained that no DCEU movie or series is canon in the DCU, but Gunn has also said that certain events from those movies might have also happened in the new universe, leading to some confusion within the fandom. The Season 1 recap effectively closes the door on Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Miller’s Flash, Momoa’s Aquaman, and any other superhero introduced during the DCEU, like Ben Affleck’s Batman, Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, and Zachary Levi’s Shazam, from returning in the DCU, paving the way for new iterations to be introduced in due time.
