Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Peacemaker season 2, episode 1Peacemaker season 2 has just arrived, though I think it might already be setting up a future DCU project. Starring John Cena as the titular Chris Smith aka Peacemaker, a whole new misadventure has begun involving a brand-new dimension. However, I think the series is already laying the groundwork for a highly anticipated DC show releasing in the near future.
Peacemaker is a spin-off of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021), a soft reboot/quasi-sequel to David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016). Across all three projects, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller was the common denominator, the head of ARGUS and Task Force X. While Waller is notably absent in Peacemaker season 2, some key reveals may be setting up her future DCU series.
Peacemaker Season 2 Gives A DCU Status Update On Amanda Waller
As revealed in Peacemaker season 2, episode 1, Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. is the new head of ARGUS, having replaced Amanda Waller as its new director.
Having been teased in the DCU’s first animated project Creature Commandos, Waller is currently facing congressional hearings after her daughter, Leota Adebayo, outed Waller’s covert Task Force X and Project Butterfly programs to the public, a means of clearing both Peacemaker and Vigilante’s name (seen in Peacemaker season 1’s finale).
While Waller apparently had enough power to blacklist Emilia Harcourt within the intelligence community, it’s clear that the exposure of her darkest deeds for what she sees as the greater good has dealt the former ARGUS director a serious blow, explaining her absence from Peacemaker season 2 (thus far). However, further reveals may be hinting at Waller’s future DCU plans.
Interestingly, it’s revealed that the public’s distrust of metahumans is at an all-time high in the DCU. Initially, one could point to the events of James Gunn’s Superman and Lex Luthor’s attempt to turn the world against the Man of Steel, not to mention multiple metahumans’ interference in a geopolitical conflict as seen at the end of Superman.
However, Peacemaker season 2 reveals even more reasons for the public to be concerned about metahumans. According to a news report from The Sphere (the same news channel that interviewed Lex Luthor in Superman), there have been multiple recent escapes from both Belle Reve and Gotham City’s Arkham Asylum:
“There has to be a solution. This is the third metahuman escape from Belle Reve or Arkham in the past two months. We’ve got to find a way to protect people from what is rapidly becoming an existential threat.”
The headlines also make it clear that there is a growing consensus that “metahuman containment systems are failing” and that the breakouts are a “major black eye for ARGUS”. Seeing how the news is being watched by Rick Flag Sr., it’s obvious that the news report is meant to show the pressure the new ARGUS director is under, and why he’s eager to prevent another “Luthor Incident” with Peacemaker and his continual use of his father’s Quantum Unfolding Chamber (a pocket universe not unlike Luthor’s).
However, Flag also has an obvious personal vendetta against Peacemaker, seeing as how Smith killed his son in The Suicide Squad.All of this to say, I do wonder if these recent metahuman breakouts are actually more than they might appear on the surface. It’s quite possible that it could all be part of an elaborate plan orchestrated by someone looking to continue the business of keeping the country safe, regardless of how dark or unethical the means: Amanda Waller.
Peacemaker Season 2 May Already Be Teasing The DCU’s Upcoming Waller Series
We know that a Waller series is currently in active development by DC Studios and is set to release sometime after Peacemaker season 2. Given this recent confirmation that Waller is no longer running ARGUS, it follows that her own series may be focused on her attempts to regain the power and control she once had.
Perhaps this could involve some recently escaped metahumans assembled by Waller into a new rogue Task Force, one even more off the books and illegal than the previous iterations.
At any rate, other characters like Leota Adebayo, John Economos, and Rick Flag Sr. will reportedly be featured in the upcoming series as well, suggesting that Waller isn’t done with ARGUS by any measure, regardless of any potential metahuman involvement (though some degree of superpowers does seem likely).
In the service of protecting and furthering the interests of the US government, Amanda Waller is one of the most ruthless and cunning DC Comics characters of all time. That means there’s no way congressional hearings are going to keep her down for long.
While she may be down and out currently, I fully expect Amanda Waller to be back on top by the end of her upcoming DCU series.
New episodes of Peacemaker season 2 release Thursdays on HBO Max.
