Why That One Superman Movie Cameo Is a Pretty Big Deal for Peacemaker Season 2
The following contains spoilers from James Gunn’s Superman, now in theaters.
A major plot point in James Gunn’s Superman movie — now playing and officially launching the theatrical side of Gunn and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran’s new DCU — involves the hologram message that Kal-El’s parents, Jor-El and Lara, sent with their baby boy on his journey to Earth.
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AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R15e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R25e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeKal-El (played by David Corenswet) in his first 30 years on Earth had never heard the end of the message, because the file had been damaged. But Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), with a big assist from tech-savvy henchperson The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría), discovered the file and managed to restore it in full, revealing to the world Jor-El and Lara’s unexpurgated wish that their son ultimately build a “harem” of weak Earth women and ruthlessly lord over humankind.
When Lex shares that bombshell with the world, Superman takes quite a beating in the public discourse — setting up a montage in which assorted news programs and talk shows trash the Kryptonian.
Superman Peacemaker Cameo John CenaFor those who know supersmug Chris Smith/Peacemaker (played by John Cena) and watched Season 1 of his HBO Max series, it came as no surprise to see the chrome-helmeted antihero pop up in Superman, to gladly drag the top-shelf supe across the cable news airwaves.
Cena’s cameo squarely plants Peacemaker in the new DCU, which is no small deal. After all, when last we tuned into the HBO Max series, Peacemaker was interacting with members of the Justice League from the old DCEU — namely, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s The Flash — and in Gunn’s Superman, the Justice League does not exist yet in any form. Instead, the closest we get is the (unofficially named) “Justice Gang” comprised of Green Lantern Guy Gardner (The Rookie‘s Nathan Fillion), Mister Terrific (For All Mankind‘s Edi Gathegi) and Hawkgirl (The Last of Us‘ Isabela Merced).
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R1be4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2be4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeCan both things possibly be true at once? In a word, yes, Gunn has assured us over the past two-and-a-half years, even since he and Safran took charges of DC Studios.
HOW DID PEACEMAKER MEET A JUSTICE LEAGUE THAT DOESN’T EXIST YET?
As far back as November 2022, Gunn, in teasing his and Safran’s grand plan, said, “Yes, most definitely, the DCU will be connected across film and TV (and animation).”
However, the events that took place in Gunn’s 2021 film The Suicide Squad (which introduced Cena’s Peacemaker) and Peacemaker Season 1 itself are “light canon,” Gunn told THR.com in December 2024.
PeacemakerSeason 1, which aired in January/February 2022, “is pretty straightforward,” Gunn said, “with the exception of the appearance by a certain group” — the former DCEU’s Justice League — “at the end. They don’t existyet.”
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R1ie4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2ie4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeHow will Peacemaker Season 2, which launches Aug. 21 and, as seen in the first trailer, features Fillion’s Guy Gardner, Merced’s Hawkgirl and Sean Gunn’s Maxwell Lord, reconcile the fact that Chris Smith traded verbal jabs with a Justice League that hasn’t formed yet?
“I have a way in,” Gunn assured fans in January 2024. “It won’t be confusing.”
GUNN’S NEW DCU OVERVIEW
Across TV and film projects in the new DCU, “Everything is very consistent in terms of the politics of the world and where the world is at and what’s going on — who are the metahumans in power, who are the metahumans not in power? Who are the power brokers, who are not the power brokers?” Gunn has said. “We see a glimpse of it [in Season 1 of HBO Max’s animatedCreature Commandos], but we see more of it inSupermanandPeacemaker.”
“Season 2 ofPeacemakeris also going to take people by surprise,” Gunn teased. “We take a very different route than the first season, and it’s a really magical story that people are going to be blown away by.”
WILL SUPERMAN RETURN THE CAMEO FAVOR?
As teased by the Season 2 trailer, “We see a lot of different characters fromSuperman, [including] Isabela and Nathan and Sean, and then we see a bunch of other characters later on in the season from other parts of the DCU and fromSuperman,” Gunn said. “There might even be one really, really, really big cameo near the end of the show.”
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R1qe4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2qe4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeWant scoop on Peacemaker, or for any other DC TV show? Shoot an email to [email protected], and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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