DC Studios CEO James Gunn recently confirmed that the upcoming second season of Peacemaker will address the new DCU continuity that is expected to begin with Creature Commandos.
Gunn has fielded a number of questions on Threads lately and one of them seemingly provided a definitive answer as to when Gunn’s new DC Universe begins.
He stated, “Nothing is canon until Creature Commandos next year – a sort of aperitif to the DCU – & then a deeper dive into the universe with Superman: Legacy after that.”
He added, “It’s a very human drive to want to understand everything all the time, but I think its okay to be confused on what’s happening in the DCU since no one has seen anything from the DCU yet.”
He elaborated in a subsequent post, “And, yes, some actors will be playing characters they’ve played in other stories & some plot points might be consistent with plot points from the dozens of films, shows & animated projects that have come from DC in the past. But nothing is canon until CC and Legacy.”
He went on to reveal that some of the actors that will reprise their roles in the new DCU are Xolo Maridueña as Blue Beetle, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, and John Cena as Peacemaker.
“Xolo Maridueña will continue playing Blue Beetle in the DCU, as Viola Davis will Amanda Waller, and John Cena will Peacemaker,” Gunn wrote.
Gunn would also confirm that Freddie Stroma will reprise his role as Vigilante.
“Yes Freddie as Vigilante is still around,” he posted.
Gunn also said that viewers will not need to have watched anything before Creature Commandos to understand what’s going on.
A user asked, “For any actors/ characters returning, will the audience/ viewers need to watch ANYTHING prior to Creature Commandos to understand what’s going on?is this a clean start here point for all audience but a wink to returning viewers?”
Gunn replied, “They will not, no.”
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Gunn would also be asked by a user, “Will season 2 of peacemaker take place in the new DCU/ new continuity Or will it at least be addressed?”
Gunn replied, “Yes and yes.”
So, there might be a caveat that viewers might indeed need to have watched Peacemaker Season 1 in order to know what’s going on. In fact, that seemed implied when Gunn made the initial DCU slate announcement at the end of January where he revealed the Waller series would feature a number of individuals from Peacemaker.
He said, “Viola Davis is going to team up with members of Team Peacemaker and this is a story that’s been created by Christal Henry who did Watchmen and Jeremy Carver who created the Doom Patrol. It is a fantastic story that’s out of this world.”
Also based on Gunn’s confirmation that Peacemaker Season 2 will address DCU continuity, there will likely have to be some kind of multiverse explanation given Peacemaker featured Justice League cameos from Ezra Miller as The Flash and Jason Momoa as Aquaman. The show used stunt doubles for Henry Cavill’s Superman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. It omitted Ben Affleck’s Batman and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg altogether.
Clearly, Peacemaker Season 1 was operating in the old DCEU given the cameos, but Gunn is now stating that his new DCU canon does not exist until Creature Commandos and that you don’t even have to watch anything before Creature Commandos. But at the same time he’s saying that Peacemaker Season 2 will address DC continuity despite it being in the old continuity.
That doesn’t even get to the fact that John Cena’s Peacemaker was in The Suicide Squad alongside Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn who had a number of run ins with Affleck’s Batman in Suicide Squad.
It appears Gunn wants to make a smooth break with Superman: Legacy, but he’s hamstrung himself by greenlighting the Peacemaker spin-off series Waller and Creature Commandos as well as doing a second season of Peacemaker.
And it’s quite likely those shows were already on the table before the announcement given they are clearly set within Gunn’s Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad niche at DC he had been building out before Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav tasked him as CEO of DC Studios.
Gunn would be better off scrapping any connection with the old DCEU and starting over.
What do you make of Gunn claiming Peacemaker Season 2 will address DCU continuity?