How Peacemaker Season 2’s Finale Sets Up Future DC Comics Villains

The following article contains spoilers for “Peacemaker” Season 2, Episode 8 — “Full Nelson.”

Following the 11th Street Kids’ excursion to Earth-X, the “Peacemaker” Season 2 finale offers a glimpse of what James Gunn is setting up for the DC Universe’s future. Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) unlocks a seemingly idyllic dimension he calls “Salvation,” which he intends to use as a prison to permanently get rid of metahuman criminals. The final scene shows Flag locking Peacemaker (John Cena) away, as he hears the screeches of some unknown creatures lurking amongst the trees.

Salvation hails from the DC storyline “Salvation Run” from creators Bill Willingham and Lilah Sturges. Gunn has effectively written a way to bring any villain he wants into his DCU, as the “Salvation Run” story involves Amanda Waller using a Boom Tube (an extra-dimensional portal) to transport dangerous criminals to a planet called Salvation. They’ve given their weapons and can either learn to work together or kill one another. 

There are two main factions in “Salvation Run” led by Lex Luthor and Joker (as well as a minor faction led by Vandal Savage). But a ton of iconic DC villains make appearances, including Catwoman, Bane, Gorilla Grodd, Solomon Grundy, Killer Croc, and plenty of others. The next time we see Peacemaker, he might be forced to choose sides in an epic villain conflict, assuming they don’t get overrun by a bigger threat first…

With Salvation, James Gunn can pretty much place any villain he wants there, but if he’s planning a truly faithful adaptation, there’s one villain the ending of “Peacemaker” Season 2 appears to be setting up. 

While Salvation appears pleasant on the surface, the villains soon realize it’s actually a training ground DeSaad (Darkseid’s right-hand man) uses to test his parademons, the mindless drones that make up Darkseid’s army. The “Peacemaker” finale sees the titular character stranded on Salvation as he hears something chittering in the forest. It’s very possible those sounds come from parademons, in which case, it would be a very good idea for Peacemaker to run as fast as he can, especially since he’s stranded without any of his super-powered helmets. 

“Salvation Run” is ultimately a tie-in event leading up to “Final Crisis,” from Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones. The villains eventually get off Salvation and return to Earth just in time to find Darkseid attempting to use the Anti-Life Equation to upend reality, killing as many of Earth’s heroes as possible. Given Darkseid’s weird comic book history, it’s one of his more straightforward storylines, and it’s one that could be the endgame of Gunn’s DCU. Still, there could be plenty of time before we actually meet Darkseid, and in the meantime, Gunn has created a neat little sandbox for himself with Salvation.

James Gunn didn’t waste any time getting to social media to clarify how the “Peacemaker” Season 2 finale will be instrumental to the DCU’s future, particularly his “Superman” follow-up, “Man of Tomorrow.” “Where Chris is at the end, what is happening between the government and the metahumans, Rick and Lex’s new partnership, and all of their decision to do what they did is all a part of the future, [‘Man of Tomorrow’], and more,” Gunn wrote on Threads. There’s not much we know about “Man of Tomorrow” at this point other than speculation concerning Brainiac being the main villain and Superman (David Corenswet) and Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) potentially teaming up. 

The idea of a Superman and Lex Luthor alliance may seem farfetched, especially given how much Luthor hates Superman. But what if both those characters wind up on Salvation? If something or someone sends them both to the planet, then they would more or less be forced to work together to find a way home. This could also force Superman to work alongside myriad antagonists, including some Batman foes like Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Man-Bat, and, yes, even Joker if Gunn wanted to set the stage for “The Brave and the Bold” Batman movie that’s supposed to still be in the works. 

Conversely, Rick Flag could mess up. Instead of putting something inside Salvation, something could get out. A new threat, especially if it’s related to Darkseid and his forces from Apokolips, would definitely warrant some unlikely team-ups. Gunn has already mentioned how “Peacemaker” Season 3 isn’t actively in the works, but fans should expect to see Peacemaker again. Whatever he’s planning, hopefully it ties up all those loose ends from “Peacemaker” Season 2.