In 2022, James Gunn (Creature Commandos) debuted his The Suicide Squad spin-off series centered on John Cena’s morally questionable antihero, Peacemaker. As with other films and television released around that time, fans have waited three years for a follow-up. But Gunn has been quite busy helming DC Studios, developing new DCU projects, and writing/directing a little film called Superman.
Continuity confusion aside, the eight-episode Season 2, all written by Gunn, continues to expertly balance dark humor and character depth, making it a standout among a sea of superhero media.
The events of Peacemaker’s first season take place after 2021’s The Suicide Squad. Chris Smith, aka Peacemaker, is discharged from the hospital and returns to his life before being locked up in Belle Reve prison. He’s recruited by A.R.G.U.S. for an off-the-books contract job called Project Butterfly. We’re reacquainted with agents Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee), and meet the project leader and mercenary Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) and Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), daughter of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who was put on the team as Waller’s spy.
Peacemaker reluctantly agrees, since his only alternative is to go back to prison or have his head blown up via the chip implanted at Belle Reve. When he visits his dad, it takes less than a minute to understand their dynamic. August “Auggie” Smith (Robert Patrick) is aggressive, unloving, and, as we later find out, he’s also a white supremacist with a super suit of his own, calling himself the White Dragon. He’s a major antagonist in the season. More importantly, we meet Chris’s sidekick, Eagly the eagle.
The series peeled back the antihero’s hard exterior and revealed a heap of unresolved trauma. As kids, Auggie had his two boys bare-knuckle fighting in front of a group of rednecks, placing bets. Chris accidentally kills his older brother Keith, which his dad blames him for. It explains why he’s been so distraught over killing Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman) in Corto Maltese. When he’s asked to take out Butterflies inhabiting the bodies of two children, he wavers, and his skilled and sociopathic friend, Adrian Chase / Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), has to take over.
The team, later dubbed the 11th Street Kids (after Hanoi Rocks’ 1984 track), goes up against a talking gorilla, martial artist bodyguard Judomaster (Nhut Le), Auggie and his white-hooded Klan, and alien butterflies seeking world domination. In the end, Murn, revealed to be a Butterfly detractor, was killed by the leader of his species. Harcourt was on the mend after being shot. Vigilante healed from his various injuries and casually jumped out of a hospital window. Leota ends the season with more confidence and outs her mother’s shady dealings in a press conference, and Chris is still haunted by his father’s ghost.
The season one finale surprised viewers with a cameo from the DCEU’s Justice League with Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, Ezra Miller’s The Flash, and silhouettes of the other members. As fans know, Gunn became the head of DC Studios after Peacemaker season one and has since retconned this scene. The superheroes are replaced with the Justice Gang, specifically Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Guy Gardner / Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion).
The two appear in the season two premiere episode alongside their benefactor, Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), to interview Peacemaker as a potential Justice Gang member. But they don’t take him seriously or see him as an asset of any kind. The situation only makes Chris feel worse about himself, setting up his journey for the season — “I don’t want to be a joke anymore. I want to be a real hero.”
Peacemaker season two follows the events of Creature Commandos and Superman. The former introduced Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), who was recruited by Waller to lead Task Force M, and now, he’s the new head of A.R.G.U.S., hellbent on avenging his son. Flag also works with agents Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodriguez) and Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows), and taps eccentric eagle hunter Red St. Wild (Michael Rooker) to handle Eagly. The character is pretty silly and intentionally culturally appropriative. However, his side quest pays off in a wild fight in the woods.
Even though they’re more scattered and off doing their own things, it’s nice to catch up with the 11th Street Kids, who have become much closer friends (I still miss Murn). John is still employed by A.R.G.U.S., Leota is trying to get work as a mercenary, Emilia is less put together and purposely getting into bar brawls, and Adrian is still being Adrian. They saved the world from an alien invasion, though they’re not heralded as heroes.
While we only got a glimpse of the Quantum Unfolding Chamber in Auggie’s house before, this season makes the dimensional portal a key element in the story. The focus is Chris Smith, the person outside the costume, and when he finds a parallel universe similar to his current reality but significantly better, he’s more than tempted to make that his life. Multiverses may be a bit tired in the comic book movie/show genre, but it’s intriguing that there’s a better timeline where he gets everything he wants, not to mention endless possibilities of other dimensions.
The opening credits featuring Wig Wam’s “Do Ya Wanna Taste It” were a wonderfully strange, hilarious surprise in season one. Fans might not love the new intro set to “Oh Lord” by Foxy Shazam, but with many season one characters dying off and the addition of new faces, an update makes sense.
In Peacemaker’s sophomore season, James Gunn builds on the character-driven narrative in season one with plenty of dark humor and exciting action scenes with impressive fight choreography and a decent amount of gore. While the energy feels a bit different than before, there’s still a lot to like, including the team’s close bond and all the blood-spattering, bone-crunching fun.
Season 2 of Peacemaker premieres August 21, 2025, on HBO Max, followed by weekly episodes through October 9.
