The Peacemaker Season 2 Finale Has Everything To Do With the DCU’s Future
October 12, 2025
Peacemaker’s second season has finally wrapped up, and the finale fully delivers on its promise to set the scene for the DCU’s future. The worldbuilding takes center stage in the final episode, with many important developments to the overarching DCU narrative being introduced. It may not be the most satisfying conclusion for Christopher Smith’s story, but the major characters in Peacemaker, overall, end the season with clear directions for where their stories are headed next.
The finale has major implications for the future of the 11th Street Kids, but it has even bigger implications for the world at large. Peacemaker does ultimately set up the Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, as had been advertised. The connection between the two projects is a lot more subtle than fans were expecting, though. There is no doubt, however, that the developments in Peacemaker will be crucial to the future of the DCU.
In all likelihood, the Peacemaker series has run its full course, but the ending does pave the way for new storylines to take place. Let’s take a look at all the doors the finale may have just opened.
Spoilers ahead! The final episode will be discussed in more depth in the following sections.
Salvation — Rick Flag and LuthorCorp’s Answer to a Metahuman-Filled World
Rick Flag Sr., by the start of Peacemaker Season 2, has had his fair share of run-ins with metahumans. The Creature Commandos, Clayface, Superman — Flag has seen for himself what they’re capable of. Though Flag starts off the season seeking revenge against Peacemaker, his acquisition of the Quantum Unfolding Chamber in episode 7 turns his attention back to the dangers of metahumans. Flag realizes that the QUC could be an answer to the world’s problems.
Manipulated in part by LuthorCorp, Rick Flag successfully weaponizes the QUC. The portal technology allows A.R.G.U.S. to dump people into an alternate Earth with no way back. Instead of operating through proper justice, the United States government can simply make its enemies disappear. Salvation, an alternate Earth that actually seems fully livable, is key to the plan. After all, A.R.G.U.S. needs a prison planet to send people off to. Condemning people to a more direct death is apparently too cruel, even for Flag.
The concept behind Salvation comes straight from the comics. Salvation Run (2007-2008) was a limited comic series that explored the prison planet idea fairly thoroughly, with many major villains including Lex Luthor and the Joker ending up on the alien planet. The United States was similarly motivated by a need to address metahuman threats.
Gunn is distancing himself from the plot of that run, but he seems to be open to many of the included ideas. Salvation’s connection to the New Gods of Apokolips, for one, can’t be discarded as a potential future plot point. Peacemaker and his inevitable villainous companions may have a lot worse in store for them on Salvation.
Checkmate — Doing The Right Thing
James Gunn’s vision for the DCU will have metahumans, corporations, and the government all clashing heads. Within season 2 of Peacemaker alone, we can see A.R.G.U.S. abusing its power. In Superman, we saw the lengths that LuthorCorp was willing to go to just to contain Superman. In terms of the metahumans, we haven’t seen any major disasters just yet, but they legitimately have the power to change the world, if they so desired.
Checkmate was born out of a necessity to combat the looming injustices. Leota Adebayo had long been looking to create a venture focused on security work, and her meeting with Sasha Bordeaux pushed the two women to finally take the initiative. We don’t quite know how Checkmate will operate in the DCU, but it’s clear that it will aim to run in opposition of shady practices, like the Salvation project.
In the comics, Checkmate has typically been established by Amanda Waller, as a small companion force for the U.S. government. The DCU version of the agency looks set to be a lot more morally guided. Considering that Checkmate is composed of the 11th Street Kids with the addition of Sasha Bordeaux, Judomaster, and Langston Fleury, it’s likely that we eventually get a more in-depth look at the agency.
A Checkmate show may not be in the cards right now, but all these characters could easily make their return in future projects, including Man of Tomorrow and Waller. These characters are important to James Gunn. A tease like that in a finale must absolutely lead somewhere.
