Warning: This article contains spoilers for season 1 of Peacemaker.
Just before the season 1 finale of Peacemaker, “It’s Cow or Never,” premiered on HBO Max, the streamer announced that the series had been renewed for a second season, with creator and showrunner James Gunn returning to the helm. With a familiar mix of heart, humor, and heroism and a healthy dose of B-movie madness, the John Cena-starring Suicide Squad spin-off has been a surprise hit.
While the second season wasn’t confirmed until the airing of the series was well underway, it’s clear from the events of the finale that Gunn has been planning additional seasons from the beginning. “It’s Cow or Never” sets up a handful of interesting conflicts and storylines for the recently greenlit second season of the show.
In The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker was framed as a villain. After Rick Flag became a surprisingly likable, sympathetic figure, he learns that Peacemaker is hiding important government secrets for Amanda Waller. They get into a brutal fight that culminates in Flag’s heartbreaking death, at which point he quips, “Peacemaker – what a joke.”
Going into his own solo series, Peacemaker wasn’t a good guy. His determination to create peace (despite threatening to kill men, women, and children to achieve it) made him something of an antihero, but he was closer to a “bad guy” than a “good guy.” After his straightforward heroism in season 1, it’s fair to say that Peacemaker has become a more traditional good guy.
The Suicide Squad movies suggested that cold-hearted government bureaucrat Amanda Waller was as much of a villain as any of the convicted metahumans she sent on suicide missions under the Task Force X program, because she considers the lives of her prisoners to be expendable.
After being included on the Project Butterfly team at the behest of Waller (who turns out to be her mother), Adebayo publicly announces that Waller is responsible for a bunch of deadly black-ops missions. So, Waller is officially a villain in the DCEU.
While the death of the “cow” in the season finale successfully stopped the Butterfly invasion, the Butterflies might not be gone for good. At the end of “It’s Cow or Never,” Peacemaker returns to his trailer with a couple of companions in tow: his trusty bald eagle, Eagly, and the Goff Butterfly.
Peacemaker kindly feeds the last of the cow’s amber fluid to Goff, but he might not last long after the supplier of that fluid has been destroyed. Goff could return to space and seek a different planet as a home or find another way to sustain himself on Earth.
From the beginning of its run, the heart of Peacemaker was the titular antihero’s relationship with Adebayo. As a naive young recruit with a conscience, Adebayo represents the polar opposite of what Peacemaker represents. But since she sees him as a human being, they develop a real friendship.
Ahead of the finale, Adebayo’s reluctant betrayal of Peacemaker had turned him against her. By the end of the finale, she proves her loyalty as a friend. Now, Peacemaker and Adebayo are going into season 2 as stronger friends than ever.
In addition to vilifying her mother Amanda Waller in the media, Adebayo also publicly reveals the “Task Force X” program that allowed Waller to assemble the teams of supervillains seen in the Suicide Squad movies.
This isn’t just a huge development for Peacemaker itself; it’s a huge development for the entire Suicide Squad franchise. The operations of Task Force X are no longer heavily guarded government secrets.
After Murn turned out to be a Butterfly revolutionary trying to stop the invasion, Emilia Harcourt took over the leadership of the team. Played by Jennifer Holland, Harcourt was little more than a bit part in The Suicide Squad. The role was significantly expanded in Peacemaker – namely as a no-nonsense badass.
Harcourt took over as the team’s leader right before the “cow” assassination in the season 1 finale. Whatever bonkers B-movie monster these antiheroes face in season 2, it’s safe to say that Harcourt will lead them into battle once again.
The Peacemaker finale has a hilarious spoof of last-minute legacy cameos like Luke Skywalker’s appearance in The Mandalorian or the original team’s appearance in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. After Adebayo requests their assistance, the Justice League shows up to help fight the “cow” in the final battle – but only after Peacemaker and co. have taken care of it. Superman and Wonder Woman are played by stand-ins, but Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller reprise their roles as Aquaman and the Flash, respectively.
Cena nails the deadpan delivery of the line, “You’re late, you f***ing d***heads!” This brief sequence brought Peacemaker into the wider ensemble of the DCEU (outside the Suicide Squad franchise) and could pave the way for more high-profile cameos in season 2. It would be fun to see Cena’s brash, loud-mouthed Peacemaker interact with Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman or one of the live-action versions of Batman.
