By God, that's Sean Cena's music. The time is now for Peacemaker and the time is now for the DC Universe. Here is how Peacemaker season 2 cements the brand new DCU is here to stay. And later on in the video, we're going to talk about what this means for future projects. So, fire it up. Let's get into it.
When James Gun was brought on to relaunch the DC Universe, the question was simple. What from the DC EU will be carried over. In an ideal world, you start from scratch. You start anew. But of course, James Gunn wants his former DC project, The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Season 1 to count in his brand new universe.
So, how do you make it work? What are the leftover threads that you need to connect? Again, in an ideal world, they can do the Don Cheeto thing from Iron Man 2. It's me. I'm here. Get over it. But it's a little bit more complicated than that because you have these two projects. First, The Suicide Squad, which is undoubtedly a sequel to 2016's Suicide Squad because of Viola Davis's Amanda Waller, Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, and most importantly, Joel Kinnman's Rick Flag, making it undoubtedly a DCU sequel. But really, those are just characters. We've seen multiple variants of multiple characters in pretty much every movie in the 2020s. So, we can explain that away in the whole variant multiverse kind of way.
But Peacemaker season 1 is where it gets interesting. Obviously, a spin-off from the Suicide Squad and at the end of season 1 in the finale, we get the moment where the Justice League shows up. Yeah, it's Jason Mamoa as Aquaman. It's Ezra Miller as the Flash. It's the silhouette of Superman and Wonder Woman, we assume by Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot. So, how do you explain that not being a part of the new DCU, but Peacemaker is? And James Gun did it in episode 1 of season 2. And he did it in a way that people shouldn't be thinking about all that much. It's a simple retcon. When you watch season 2, episode 1, you get the previously on for Peacemaker. And in that previously on, that moment with the Justice League is switched. It's not the Justice League. It's the Justice gang introduced in 2025. Superman, it's Guy Gardner. It's Hawk Girl. It's Mr. Terrific, but also it's Superman and Supergirl. That's a whole another video for a whole another time. But the idea is the previously on retcons, the ending of season 1, making this a branched off brand new DC universe.
So, everybody's asking what's canon, what's not. James Gun put it simple. If you see it in the show or if it's referenced by the characters that is canon from the DC EU, but not everything will be. It's really just the hanging chad of the Justice League. If you take that away, we're just dealing with characters and we can explain away a new universe with similar characters moving forward. It's going to be interesting to see what else from the DC EU will be referenced. My guess, my hypothesis as a comic book movie expert, we're only going to get things from The Suicide Squad and things from Peacemaker season 1, making this as fresh as it can be. No, it's not ideal. Of course, we wish we didn't have to muck up Peacemaker season 1 by featuring the Justice League, but we did. And now we're here, and we should really just move on because what James Gun did here is a fastball retcon. It's not the smoothest thing, but it had to be done because we have to start a new DCU. So, replacing the Justice League with the Justice Gang starts us off on a new foot while still being able to hold on everything that happened in Peacemaker season 1 and most of what happened in the Suicide Squad.
What I have my eyes on. What's going on with Harley Quinn? Do we get Margot Robbie back? A Mount Rushmore comic book movie casting is featured in The Suicide Squad. We get the carryover to Peacemaker with the Rick Flag stuff. We get the carryover to Creature Commandos with the Rick Flag stuff. And now we're here at Peacemaker season 2 and we're hanging on by a thread. But are we gonna get Margot Robbie back as Harley Quinn? These are the questions and we want answers. James Gunn, you let us know as soon as you possibly can. Another reason Peacemaker season 2 submits the new DCU is what they are doing with movies and streaming. A thing comic book movie universes have been trying to do for this entire decade. How do you bridge together your theatrical experiences with your streaming experiences at home? We've really only gotten two examples of it. Of course, there's Marvel Studios and what they're trying to do on Disney Plus. Their movies connecting to their shows have been sketchy to say the least. A lot of people believe that you have to watch the shows in order to enjoy the movies. And a lot of people believe if you miss the movie, you can't enjoy the show. That character shows up next. Now, Marvel fans like myself will tell you that that's not the case. But getting people to the theaters is not about what's true and what's not. It's about what they believe when they see the trailer.
Historically, since Endgame, any Marvel Studios project that features characters that are introduced or really heavily relied on on Disney Plus shows, they don't perform well. Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, The Marvels, all shows that take Disney Plus characters and put them on the big screen. None of them did great at the box office. And then you got Thunderbolts, which is a really great movie, not holding up on the box office side of things. It really is hard not to point to Disney Plus and people thinking if they miss the show, they can't see the movie. The only other example we got is here in Warner Brothers, here in the DC universe. It's the Batman and the Penguin. It's much more simple. It's a very easy path. You get the Batman and introduced in that is Colin Ferrell's Penguin and then he gets his spin-off series which ties into the Batman only in the sense that the Penguin is there but that is a one-two. What's next is when the Batman 2 comes out will events from the Penguin be referenced? These are things we're looking at when these comic book universes are trying to combine the theater and the couch. And then you have the DCU which three projects in is absolutely killing the streaming to theater experience because you have the animated show Creature Commandos released on HBO Max earlier this year. It features Rick Flag Senior voiced by Frank Grillo that leads directly into Superman that also features Rick Flag Senior voiced by Frank Grillo. It also has the Justice Gang. And both of those things, Rick Flag and the Justice Gang show up in Peacemaker season 2. It's an amazing experience. If you watch all three, you see Creature Commandos bleed right into Superman and Superman bleed right into Peacemaker season 2. If you want to take Peacemaker season 1 and the Suicide Squad and bleed them all together, we have a great five project start between streaming and movies. But also, the most important thing is that for the most part, if you didn't see one of the pieces, you're not missing a ton on the other pieces.
Now, the controversy does start here with Superman getting a digital release very early after its theatrical release earlier this month, even earlier than a lot of movies do, which is already a really short time. Screen Rance Liam Crowley said it the best. Remember the good old days where you see a movie as many times as you can afford it, then you'd have to wait months to get the DVD or months to get it on streaming and you can't wait to watch it again. Bring us back. Bring us back to the old days where people had to wait on these things and they had to go to the theaters to see the movies they wanted to see. I digress. Because Superman's early release on digital, James Gun came out and said the reason is they wanted people that couldn't go to the theaters to see Superman to be caught up with the DCU before Peacemaker season 2. The big thing here is the Justice gang. Guy Gardner and Hawk Girl and Maxwell Lord. Shout out Sean Gun show up in Peacemaker season 2 episode 1. If you didn't see Superman, you don't know who the hell these guys are. Does it completely take away from what happens in Peacemaker season 2 episode 1? Absolutely not. But if you know who these guys are, this is a blast. This is a straight continuation of everything we saw from the Justice gang and Superman. And I cannot wait to keep building and building on this goofy team. Get Isabella Marced and Nathan Fillian going back and forth with each other as many times as you possibly can. The duo nobody asked for, but now everybody wants.
Now, it's hard not to compare the DCU with the MCU. There's obviously some inherent rivalry and competition going on there. My thought is that Kevin Feige is pumped about how excited everybody is for the DCU because Rising Tides lift all boats. And if you don't believe that, then look back at the heyday of the MCU when movies like Venom were making 970,000 and movies like Aquaman were making over a billion. Superhero movies are good for superhero movies. One of the biggest complaints about the MCU after Endgame is the homework of it all. If you didn't see the show, you can't see the movie. We're not getting that yet in the DCU, but they plan on having a streaming movie schedule pretty consistently as we build this universe. It'll be interesting to see if people have the same complaints about the DCU not seeing the show. Can I see the movie? I didn't see the movie. Can I see the show? At the end of the day, it could be. If it's great, nobody cares. But if there's too much volume, people are going to start asking questions. So, that's the universe stuff. That's why the DCU is here to stay and it's really planting its feet in this new era.
But more importantly, when you watch Peacemaker season 2, episode 1, it's the James Gun style that really sticks out. And now we have three official projects in the DCU, all directed by James Gun. And they all have exactly what you expect. Lot of heart, lot of jokes, runchy as hell, especially Peacemaker season 2, episode 1. Holy. But that's really what's going to define the DCU moving forward. We saw it in the MCU with Iron Man. Everything about that movie, the charisma, the charm, the heart, the character-driven story that defined the tone of the MCU for nearly 20 years later. The biggest question is the DCU projects releasing next year. Supergirl, Lanterns, and Clayface. All three projects not directed by James Gun. So, what is going to happen to the tone and humor and heart and character-driven narrative that we've gotten? So far from the DCU when James Gun's not behind the camera. Are people going to follow suit? Are they going to try to emulate that classic James Gun style? Or are they going to do their own thing, switch it up a little bit? Does the universe carry a similar tone throughout, or is it project by project? So far, three projects, one director, all similar tones. I'm excited to see what happens to the DCU when we finally switch up directors with James Gun still behind the scenes running the show.
And finally, I think one of the biggest things that Peacemaker season 2 in the DCU proves is a proof of concept that any character, as long as they're written well, acted well, and we get a good story behind him, can work. Peacemaker, never heard of him. As somebody who doesn't read a lot of DC comics, the general public did not know who Peacemaker was. And now he's appeared in every single DCU project and has kind of become a household name. Sure, the John Cena of it all really helps that out. But it's the character, it's the story, it's the writing that really lets everybody fall in love. It doesn't matter how popular the character is in comics when the story on screen is good. And I think that's huge for the DCU because they aren't restricted on who they can and can't shine a spotlight on. Another great example in Superman, one of the biggest comic book movies of the decade, the biggest comic book movie of the year, Mr. Terrific was a standout superstar. Stole every scene he was in. Mr. Terrific isn't necessarily your common known DC character. But because the writing and the character and the acting was great, people fell in love.
So in short, Peacemaker season 2 is off to a very hot start. I cannot wait to see what happens next. And I also cannot wait to see how we continue to build on the brand new DCU, which seems to be off and running as the next great comic book movie universe. Let us know what you thought of Peacemaker season 2 premiere. Let us know what you're thinking so far of the DCU. And I'm Matt Rimky. Until then, we'll see you next time.
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