DC Television James Gunn's Suicide Squad Spinoff ‘Peacemaker’ Starring John Cena on HBO Max

[DCDAVE]

Spoiler

Well, there's a rumor going around on Reddit that the alternate universe might be a bit...white supremacist-friendly.

Yeah I noticed there was no people of color in any of the scenes in that universe. Gunn, what are you up too……….

 

[FrankenCastle]

OMG!!!!! What a twist at the beginning. Did anyone see that coming. Harcourt in love with Rick Flagg Jr……

Meh, hardly batted an eye tbh.

I don’t see how Chris can leave this new dimension. Of course the father and brother will figure it out eventually.

I hope they do, he kinda murdered a better version of himself, then chopped him America Psycho style, and now he's usurping his identity and stealing his life, not very superheroic to say the least. Never got attached to Peacemaker; I hardly have any empathy for him.

The new dimension is giving Chris everything he wants. I think there is something up with his new family though. Something just isn’t right.

It's our Peacemaker who isn't right in his mind if you ask me.

 

[Still Wynning]

Spoiler

Well, there's a rumor going around on Reddit that the alternate universe might be a bit...white supremacist-friendly.

Yeah I noticed there was no people of color in any of the scenes in that universe. Gunn, what are you up too……….

I saw someone on Reddit suggest that maybe in this alternate universe the Confederacy probably won the Civil War and allied itself with the Axis powers during WWII. It would explain why we don’t see any people of color but still see a lot of traditional Americana. If it was just straight up Nazi Germany that took over, it would look a whole lot different aesthetically.

I hope they do, he kinda murdered a better version of himself, then chopped him America Psycho style, and now he's usurping his identity and stealing his life, not very superheroic to say the least. Never got attached to Peacemaker; I hardly have any empathy for him.

It's our Peacemaker who isn't right in his mind if you ask me.

I mean, if what we learned and is implied about this alternate universe Chris Smith turns out to be the case, he may actually be way worse.

The first time we see him at the end of episode one of this season, he’s super violent and aggressive to Chris Smith/Peacemaker 1 during their fight. He broke up with Harcourt 2 and is probably even more of d**k. He disappears a lot, so he doesn’t spend as much time with people and probably isn’t as socially put together. It’s implied that on top of being a heavy drinker, he is, or once was, also a huge drug addict. And, if this world is any indication, he’s probably also sexually closeted and repressed, which suggests and brings a whole other host of mental and emotional issues.

The Chris Smith/Peacemaker we’re familiar with may be messed up, might not have it completely all together, made a lot of mistakes and did some terrible and unforgivable things, but, by comparison, he looks more put together compared to Chris Smith/Peacemaker 2. He’s clearly going through it right now and wants to be better, and probably by the end of the season he’ll probably come to and be in a better place mentally and emotionally than he was at the start of the season.

 

[FrankenCastle]

I saw someone on Reddit suggest that maybe in this alternate universe the Confederacy probably won the Civil War and allied itself with the Axis powers during WWII. It would explain why we don’t see any people of color but still see a lot of traditional Americana. If it was just straight up Nazi Germany that took over, it would look a whole lot different aesthetically.

C'mon, the first villains we meet in that universe are the all-white Sons of Freedom, the cliché of the libertarian red-neck domestic terrorists. If we were in a Man in the High Castle-type universe, the terrorists would've been a bunch of communists or some kind of diverse resistance or something like that. It's not like the Peacemaker doesn't have the reputation of killing mostly minorities.

I mean, if what we learned and is implied about this alternate universe Chris Smith turns out to be the case, he may actually be way worse.

The first time we see him at the end of episode one of this season, he’s super violent and aggressive to Chris Smith/Peacemaker 1 during their fight. He broke up with Harcourt 2 and is probably even more of d**k. He disappears a lot, so he doesn’t spend as much time with people and probably isn’t as socially put together. It’s implied that on top of being a heavy drinker, he is, or once was, also a huge drug addict. And, if this world is any indication, he’s probably also sexually closeted and repressed, which suggests and brings a whole other host of mental and emotional issues.

The Chris Smith/Peacemaker we’re familiar with may be messed up, might not have it completely all together, made a lot of mistakes and did some terrible and unforgivable things, but, by comparison, he looks more put together compared to Chris Smith/Peacemaker 2. He’s clearly going through it right now and wants to be better, and probably by the end of the season he’ll probably come to and be in a better place mentally and emotionally than he was at the start of the season.

I won't try to justify our protagonist's (I refuse to use the term hero) unjustifiable actions based on some rumors people hope to be true, so they can easily swallow the pill that the Peacemaker is just a misunderstood good guy instead of a psychopath in the middle of an existential crisis.

Yeah, variant Peacemaker may be a dick, he may be unfaithful, but he's a genuine hero in his universe, and people respect him, he has a loving brother, a loving father, an ex-girlfriend who still has feelings for him, despite his flaws. Our Chris took him away from these people, didn't even give him a proper burial, just butchered his body into pieces, and stole his identity.

Imagine you are Peacemaker 2, You are living in a world full of supervillains who hate your guts. You come home from a mission, you find an intruder in your house, who looks exactly like you, lurking around your room. My first thought would be "That's Clayface or Jane Doe or whatever shapeshifters the DC Universe has in store". Of course, he's gonna be aggressive.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah Screencrush speculated that Chris and his family are actually ruling over people in this area and that’s why that kid as crying when he met him. And the fact that there are no people of color to be found is a BIG red flag, whether that means the confederacy won the Civil War, or something else. I’m wondering if Chris will bring Adabayo over (thinking he wants to show her the “best dimension ever”) and suddenly realize it’s full of racists.

David Corenswet just posted a selfie with Cena (in the Superman suit) and Cena is wearing one of (Peacemaker’s “Kardashian” shirts; not sure if it’s the one from this episode). Anyway, maybe this demension has a racist Superman.

I’ll be honest, not sure I want to see that but we’ll see what happens.

 

[DCDAVE]

Yeah Screencrush speculated that Chris and his family are actually ruling over people in this area and that’s why that kid as crying when he met him. And the fact that there are no people of color to be found is a BIG red flag, whether that means the confederacy won the Civil War, or something else. I’m wondering if Chris will bring Adabayo over (thinking he wants to show her the “best dimension ever”) and suddenly realize it’s full of racists.

David Corenswet just posted a selfie with Cena (in the Superman suit) and Cena is wearing one of (Peacemaker’s “Kardashian” shirts; not sure if it’s the one from this episode). Anyway, maybe this demension has a racist Superman.

I’ll be honest, not sure I want to see that but we’ll see what happens.

I don’t think there any Superheroes in this dimension. Remember they were beating villains in Gotham. That is Batman’s domain. The plot thickens……

 

[Deck Rickard]

I don’t think there any Superheroes in this dimension. Remember they were beating villains in Gotham. That is Batman’s domain. The plot thickens……

Hmmm… in that case, maybe Chris will call in a favor from the real Superman and we’ll get a live action version of Superman Smashes the Klan.

 

[dhandler01]

C'mon, the first villains we meet in that universe are the all-white Sons of Freedom, the cliché of the libertarian red-neck domestic terrorists. If we were in a Man in the High Castle-type universe, the terrorists would've been a bunch of communists or some kind of diverse resistance or something like that. It's not like the Peacemaker doesn't have the reputation of killing mostly minorities.

I won't try to justify our protagonist's (I refuse to use the term hero) unjustifiable actions based on some rumors people hope to be true, so they can easily swallow the pill that the Peacemaker is just a misunderstood good guy instead of a psychopath in the middle of an existential crisis.

Yeah, variant Peacemaker may be a dick, he may be unfaithful, but he's a genuine hero in his universe, and people respect him, he has a loving brother, a loving father, an ex-girlfriend who still has feelings for him, despite his flaws. Our Chris took him away from these people, didn't even give him a proper burial, just butchered his body into pieces, and stole his identity.

Imagine you are Peacemaker 2, You are living in a world full of supervillains who hate your guts. You come home from a mission, you find an intruder in your house, who looks exactly like you, lurking around your room. My first thought would be "That's Clayface or Jane Doe or whatever shapeshifters the DC Universe has in store". Of course, he's gonna be aggressive.

You know nothing about Peacemaker 2 or his world...you are just doing exactly what you are chastising the people on reddit for doing.

I dont think (and sci fi history pretty much backs up) that Peacemaker 2 or his family are heroes anymore than Homelander or say The Authority are.

 

[FrankenCastle]

You know nothing about Peacemaker 2 or his world...you are just doing exactly what you are chastising the people on reddit for doing.

I dont think (and sci fi history pretty much backs up) that Peacemaker 2 or his family are heroes anymore than Homelander or say The Authority are.

Neither do you. We know squat about Peacemaker 2’s world, white extras don’t prove it’s Nazi-ville or some Confederate fever dream. It’s all guesswork, and people are eating it up because they want Peacemaker 1 to be the good guy. Why? He’s the star of the show, so fans bend over backwards to justify his actions. Meanwhile, even if it's true, Peacemaker 1 actually broke into his double's place, hacked him to bits, and stole his life without having a single hint about what's going on in that universe, and it's not like he never did some dirty work for his neo-nazi father until the events of S01. He didn’t know if Peacemaker 2 was a hero or a villain; he just acted like Patrick Bateman once he accidentally killed his double instead of being accountable. People cling to “dystopian vibes” to excuse that, but it’s flimsy.

 

[FrankenCastle]

Let's say the rumors are true, and that Peacemaker, whether he was right or wrong to do what he did, stepped into an alternate reality where the Germans or the Confederates won their respective conflicts. Since Gunn said that the events of Peacemaker S02 will tie in with the broader narrative of the DCU, does that mean we're getting an adaptation of Earth-X as our first Justice League movie, maybe?

 

[dhandler01]

I don't think so. I don't think its a Nazi World I think The Smiths and Argus rule as racist authoritarians.

But we will see there is a lot of story left to tell.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[flickchick85]

Hmmm… in that case, maybe Chris will call in a favor from the real Superman and we’ll get a live action version of Superman Smashes the Klan.

Goddammit, I know this will not happen but now that it’s in my head it’s all I want. So in summary, you’ve ruined this season for me.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Goddammit, I know this will not happen but now that it’s in my head it’s all I want. So in summary, you’ve ruined this season for me.

View attachment 147195

I’m sorry! lol

 

[J.Drangal]

I don't think so. I don't think its a Nazi World I think The Smiths and Argus rule as racist authoritarians.

But we will see there is a lot of story left to tell.

Same. People are quick to label just about anything and everything as "Nazi", but I don't think the world Peacemaker finds himself in is literally one where the Third Reich won the war. I see it more as a very American society that has been inward-looking for decades, and whose references are more likely to be found in the Jim Crow Laws or the KKK, etc.
Now, I feel like there's something else going on here, perhaps in addition to that... The people in this dimension seem a little too emotional, even naive, if not... a little stupid? There are also those two big buttons on the terrorists' bomb showing a thumbs up and a thumbs down, as if the logistics needed to be extremely simplified.

 

[dhandler01]

I agree 100%. Its like everyone is a step below where they should be. And the bomb thing definitely stood out not just because of the "thumbs up/down" thing but all he needed to do was pull out the wires?

Everything feels surface, hollow. The intelligence level is friggin low...which is what Authoritarians thrive on.

 

[FrankenCastle]

Everything feels surface, hollow. The intelligence level is friggin low...

That's just regular DCU (from Gunn's perspective), the Evergreen beat cops from S01, the neighbors of the first Butterfly Peacemaker kills, Jamal, the veterinarians.... they all act and talk like parodies of human beings. That's just how James Gunn writes random civilians.

 

[dhandler01]

I disagree...but even if it was true Emilia and Flagg also seem that way on Earth2.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[DCDAVE]

I am looking way ahead here but you can see Peacemaker will have to make a gut wrenching decision concerning his brother. As much as he wants a life with Harcourt, it’s his brother that he misses. Gunn is going to have us fans that are close to our brothers in tears at the end of this season.

 

[blueharvest]

Gunn is going to have us fans that are close to our brothers in tears at the end of this season.

Meanwhile, those of us who never had any siblings when we were growing up are going to be just fine.

 

[FrankenCastle]

I disagree...but even if it was true Emilia and Flagg also seem that way on Earth2.

It's a clumsy Flag, sure, he hides behind a wall without being conscious that everybody sees him, but that's a regular James Gunn gag, like Vigilante (who has major intelligence issues too) hiding behind the trash can or Drax thinking he becomes invisible if he stands still (that IW scene was written by J.G.)

Harcourt 2, if anything, looks more mentally stable than Harcourt 1, she's happier, healthier, and more optimistic. Nothing in what she does or says has led me to believe she's low-intelligent.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Dirk Hardpec!
Punch Rockgroin!
Big McLargeHuge!

 

[Deck Rickard]

Meanwhile, those of us who never had any siblings when we were growing up are going to be just fine.

Only children, unite!

 

[Gu3ree]

Have to admit, I liked the third episode better than than last two. I had one question. Did this other universe where Peacemaker is beloved-is he about as ruthless as prime Peacemaker when it comes to killing?

It's interesting and it makes me more curious to see what else this other dimension has that is different from prime Peacemaker's/DCU's earth.

Off topic but I hope to see a doppelganger Superman.