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Peacemaker Season 2’s Ending Explained (How It Sets Up the Future of the DCU)
It’s all been leading to this. Despite being one of the top dogs in an industry obsessed with binge-watching, James Gunn has stuck to his guns and kept Peacemaker Season 2 on its weekly release schedule. That has let the Internet run wild with theories about what’s really going on Earth-2 and whether a multiversal war is about to break out after what Christopher Smith did to his doppleganger. However, not every idea is the right one, and it’s been clear over the last couple of weeks that Gunn has a very specific vision for where his DC Universe show is going.
The penultimate episode of Peacemaker‘s sophomore outing acts a lot like the end of Act II in a movie, putting the titular anti-hero up against insurmountable odds by putting him in A.R.G.U.S. custody for what might be the final time if Rick Flag Sr. has anything to say about it. Of course, the 11th Street Kids are going to sit idly by and let horrible things happen to their friends. That’s where the Peacemaker Season 2 finale kicks off, and by the time the episode ends, the DCU is in a very different place than it started.
Peacemaker Finally Gets the Love He’s Been Seeking & a New Career
The bargaining chip that Peacemaker uses when negotiating with A.R.G.U.S. is the Quantum Unfolding Chamber, which allows him to access different dimensions. Rick Flag Sr. has been talking a big game about using the portal to gather information, and he turns out to be a man of his word. In the finale, he tasks his subordinates with finding a habitable planet to which he can send dangerous metahumans. Lex Luthor is also on board with the plan, and it seems like Peacemaker might be one of the first to be forced through the mysterious door by Flag. Well, that opportunity slips away because the 11th Street Kids bail their friend out and make sure he feels like a million bucks after his brief siesta, explaining how much they appreciate him and that they want him in their lives.
To drive their point home, John Economos and Emilia Harcourt even decide to quit A.R.G.U.S. for good and offer to help start something new with Leota Adebayo, Sasha Bordeaux, Langston Fleury, and Judomaster. They choose to call the organization “Checkmate,” a name that should raise its fair share of eyebrows. In DC Comics, Checkmate is a covert agency that serves as an offshoot of Amanda Waller’s Task Force X. Since Waller isn’t in the picture anymore, this motley crew could pick up the baton but do things the right way, recruiting troubled metahumans to take on missions that will help the world, not hurt it. Unfortunately, Checkmate’s muscle won’t be available for a while because Flag Sr. gets the last laugh and sets up another major storyline.
DC’s “Salvation” Storyline Is Coming to Live-Action
After getting his happy ending, another bad beat comes Peacemaker’s way when A.R.G.U.S. comes knocking and sends him back through the Quantum Unfolding Chambers to Salvation. Flag Sr. is going to use his son’s killer as a guinea pig for his interdimensional prison experiment. That way, he doesn’t have to worry about Peacemaker living his best life while Rick Flag Jr. rots in the ground. There is a problem with Flag Sr.’s plan, though: he hasn’t read the comic books. The Salvation Run storyline has the same premise as Peacemaker‘s latest finale, with A.R.G.U.S. rounding up villains and sending them to a distant planet. Lots of familiar faces end up there, including Luthor, The Joker, and the Rogues.
What the villains quickly realize is that they’re not alone on the planet, as one of Darkseid’s minions, DeSaad, uses it for training purposes. With Parademons breathing down their necks, they’re forced to work together to create a plan to get home. Depending on who else Flag Sr. sends through the portal in the DCU, he may be making a powerful alliance that could easily take him out. Luthor probably won’t be on Flag Sr.’s radar, since the two have come to an understanding ahead of Man of Tomorrow, but there are other DC villains with big brains that could take his place. A reunion with Keith Smith could even be in Peacemaker‘s future. After all, the Season 2 finale leaves that thread dangling, opting to leave Keith’s revenge story for another day.
Peacemaker Season 2 is streaming on HBO Max.
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