Let’s be clear, Peacemaker is a miracle of superhero storytelling. It’s based on a D-list hero who, up until now, was more famous for being the inspiration behind Watchmen’s Comedian than anything he ever did in the pages of his own comic books. And yet, across a movie (The Suicide Squad) and two seasons of his eponymous series, James Gunn managed to turn the dopey character into a person, Christopher Smith (John Cena), and make him someone you want to spend time with.
Honestly, that this happened to Peacemaker of all characters is proof Gunn gets these characters in a very special way.
But with the close of season 2, Chris’s status in the newly-minted DCU has changed again. And with it, a few key shifts in the fictional universe have also occurred. But Gunn, now the complete architect of this storytelling realm, is also using the ending to set up various other elements of his overarching plan. And, bizarrely, it does not include a season 3. According to the DC Studios co-CEO, the fallout from the finale will play out in other films and series and, at least for now, Peacemaker: Season 3 is not on the schedule. That means Chris, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), John Economos (Steve Agee), and Adrian Chase (Freddie Stroma) will have other things to do in other places as Gunn’s tale of Gods and Monsters unfolds over the next several years.
What will that future look like and what will become of the characters without a Peacemaker series to center them? And, for that matter, what will become of Chris now that so many people care about him and his current status separates him from them? Let’s make some educated guesses about what’s next for the 11th Street Kids and their new associates in the DCU.
Checkmate!
As we guessed at the conclusion of season 1, the kids have finally formed Checkmate, a rival intelligence agency to A.R.G.U.S. Although, nearly three years ago, we invoked the name of that agency as part of Amanda Waller’s (Viola Davis) backup plan in the wake of Adebayo’s press conference outing her as the mind behind Task Force X. But in the Peacemaker:Season 2 finale, Checkmate is, instead, the name for the company Ads had been trying to get off the ground all year. Thanks to an infusion of cash from Adrian, and the support of the other Kids — plus disgruntled A.R.G.U.S. agents Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodríguez), Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows), and Judomaster (Nhut Lee) — Checkmate may be a force to be reckoned with in the DCU.
Back in the comics, Checkmate began as a new name for “The Agency” and organized around a chess board. While the Kings and Queen ran operations, Bishops advised, Rooks handled logistics, Knights hit the ground, and Pawns supported the rest. We’re unsure if that rigid structure will appear right away in Adebayo’s Checkmate, but it is possible she and the others will eventually see some wisdom in using a similar hierarchy. Also, it would be funny to hear Economos complain about being a Pawn.
Like the DCU’s A.R.G.U.S., Checkmate’s aims and methods in the comics are sometimes shadowy. At one point, it was even suborned by Maxwell Lord to further his plan to kick all metahumans off the planet. In the fallout, Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott emerged as Checkmate’s new White King (head of intelligence gathering). Although, his time there was ultimately short-lived.
Presuming the Kids can attract some top talent for their Checkmate, the list of potential members could lead to very exciting things. Using some comic book stories as a guide, imagine characters like The Question (the basis for Watchmen’s Rorschach) becoming affiliated with the group.
Okay, we’ll be honest, we just want The Question — either Vic Sage or Renee Montoya — to make their DCU debut in the short term and Checkmate is a great way to do that. Also, if the Sage version appears first, he could give Adrian a real run for his money in terms of being the most unhinged costumed character in the office.
Other Checkmate operatives from the comics who could easily become affiliated in the DCU include Sarge Steel — another Charlton hero like Peacemaker, Judomaster, and The Question — Deathstroke, a character still waiting for his full big screen debut; the aforementioned Alan Scott, more on him in a moment, Mister Terrific, who already made an impression thanks to actor Edi Gathegi in this summer’s Superman; Creature Commandos’ G.I. Robot (voiced by Sean Gunn), who we know will be coming back for that program’s second season, and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan).
A couple of these options could happen sooner than later. Rumors surrounding the upcoming Lanterns series suggest the murder Green Lanterns John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) are trying to solve is, in fact, that of Alan Scott. But could he have made contact with Checkmate before his untimely death? Will they hold a key bit of info for the Lanterns’ investigation?
Lois, meanwhile, feels like the sort of person who would want to know about Checkmate for her own intelligence gathering as a Daily Planet reporter. We also think she and Harcourt would get along like a house on fire. So what might start as a quid-pro-quo could lead to another fascinating friendship.
And though Lord (also Sean Gunn) is already bankrolling the so-called Justice Gang, we could see him reaching out to Checkmate as they are way friendlier to metahumans than A.R.G.U.S. Of course, knowing that his comic book counterpart had more nefarious intentions, could his DCU equivalent be harboring a malevolent intent more in line with Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult)?
The nature of these connections could unfold in various ways. Harcourt and Economos could go back to their cameo status, as seen in the later films of the previous DC Films continuity. Any number of Checkmate affiliates could be major characters in Lanterns or upcoming films like Clayface and Man of Tomorrow. Or … Checkmate itself could become a series in lieu of Peacemaker’s third season and/or the seemingly stalled Waller TV project.
But through it all, Checkmate would have an ongoing directive: find out what happened to Chris Smith.
Salvation Run
Viewers know exactly where he is right this moment, though: a reality somewhere in the Multiverse code-named “Salvation” by A.R.G.U.S. director Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo). And although Chris is the first person deposited there with no hope of reprieve or parole, he will be far from the last as the government has seemingly given Flag the green light to put more metahuman offenders there. This is, perhaps, the key change for the DCU going forward.
The concept is an almost direct lift from Salvation Run, a 7-issue miniseries released in the run up to DC’s 2008 Final Crisis event story. In it, Waller began depositing metahuman criminals on a distant world she dubbed “Salvation.” The supervillains took various turns at attacking each other, allying, attempting escape, or striving to set up a new society far from Earth.
Reportedly, Salvation will matter to Lanterns and Creature Commandos. The latter is easy to imagine as Flag already worked with Task Force M in the first season and would have reason to deposit The Bride (Indira Varma), King Shark (Diedrich Bader), and the other creatures currently at Belle Reve prison in that distant reality. Well, presuming he is already thinking as heartlessly as Waller or Lex. If that is the case, then the mission for the Creature Commandos will be a prison break. Maybe they’ll even run into Chris and get him home, too.
How Salvation will play into Lanterns is a little harder to grasp. Unless, of course, John and Hal hand over their prisoner to Flag. He will, naturally enough, send a criminal who required two Green Lanterns to contain far from Earth. But come to think of it, what sort of super-powered miscreant needs two (or even three) Lanterns to subdue? And who will be there once that offender is offloaded to Salvation?
Outside of Chris, the list we imagine comes from the original Salvation Run comic book and includes the likes of The Flash’s Rogues Gallery, the Joker, Mr. Freeze, and Clayface, among many others.
That last name immediately opens certain possibilities as the character will get his own feature film due out next year. Reportedly, it will center on the more human version of the character, but could he become a literal monster while in Salvation? Anything is possible when you consider the truth of the prison planet from the comics: it was also being used by the evil New God DeSaad to train Parademons on behalf Darkseid. Both characters briefly appeared in Justice League and although that film is not in the DCU continuity, the New Gods could easily fit into the Gods and Monsters theme of Gunn’s current overarching DCU plot. And exposure to them could completely alter Clayface following his solo cinematic outing.
Also, introducing Batman and Flash villains — if just for Flag to exile them — before the heroes themselves appear in the DCU has a certain appeal. On that front, Bane eventually made his way to Salvation in the comic book, as did Lex himself. Imprisonment in Salvation after his role in Man of Tomorrow could be a cosmic joke. Per Gunn’s comments about the Superman follow-up, Lex will have to team up with Clark (David Corenswet) to save the world from a larger threat. But wouldn’t it be funny if his reward for working with Superman is removal from the planet by Flag despite the way all of Lex’s flunkies are partying with the A.R.G.U.S. director?
Alternatively, would Lex use his knowledge of Salvation to bring Flag down? We imagine Clark would take a very dim view of a US-sanctioned prison reality with no chance of return.
It also makes you wonder if Clark knows about the Phantom Zone…
Or have all the LuthorCorp employees implanted Lex’s masterplan into Flag’s mind? We expect the exact nature of what’s going on between Lex and Flag will be revealed in Man of Tomorrow.
But presuming that Salvation will survive as an A.R.G.U.S. program past that film, a reckoning will occur eventually. Those deported will return and Flag will likely answer for his insistence on using the alternate reality as a prison, no matter if the idea originated with him, Lex, or even Waller. Those events could be part of the culminating event to cap off “Gods and Monsters” or a film all its own. Maybe the fallout from Salvation will even lead to the creation of the DCU’s Justice League as someone needs to deal with the legitimate metahuman threats.
Then again, there could also be a Department of Extranormal Operations that emerges once A.R.G.U.S.’s role in Salvation is exposed.
Season Three
Despite the ways Checkmate and Salvation could filter out into the other Gods and Monsters stories Gunn and other filmmakers have planed for the DCU, there are a few things that still feel like they are meant for a third season Peacemaker.
Chief among these: Chris discovering what else is in Salvation. We hear a distant growl as the final episode closed, suggesting life exists there. Could it be DeSaad’s Parademons or something like Doomsday? Other possibilities include creatures like Starro from The Suicide Squad or unspeakable interdimensional terrors glimpsed in the pages of The Authority as its ship/headquarters wandered the Bleed between realities. Well, presuming the planned Authority film ever materials. There are also hundreds of aliens in DC Comics lore, like the Bloodline Parasites, who could also inhabit Salvation.
But even if Chris manages to find a way back to Earth in a different film or television series, there is one last plot point that would be best served by another season of Peacemaker. Back on Earth-X, Keith Smith (David Denman) is still alive and looking to avenge himself on the 11th Street Kids — and Chris in particular — for the murders of his brother, the Earth-X Chris Smith, and their father. Will he ever find a way through to the DCU? And what will he do once he gets there? While a fight with Peacemaker seems inevitable, will it also be an opportunity for them to actually find an accord? That is the Peacemaker way, after all.
Time will tell, of course, but we hope the characters from this series have long and storied lives in the DCU.
