Summary
APeacemakerseason 2 star hinted that John Cena’s Christopher Smith will face consequences for killing a character inThe Suicide Squad.
James Gunn’sThe Suicide Squadaptly killed off multiple characters, but perhaps no death was more surprising than that of Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag. The death was surprising because it came at the hands of his team member,Peacemaker, who was secretly hired by Amanda Waller to destroy evidence of the US government’s involvement in experiments on the citizens of Corto Maltese. Although Rick Flag’s death weighed on Peacemaker in the latter’s solo series (or at least Flag’s dying words did), the consequences of his decision may only come to a head in the second season.
During an interview withGamesRadar, Frank Grillo discussed his role as Rick Flag Sr. in the DCU. The character will debut inthe animated seriesCreature Commandos, the first DCU project, before returning in Gunn’sSupermanmovie andPeacemakerseason 2. Grillo teased that when Rick Flag Sr. gains a new position of power inCreatures Commandos, it allows him to learn the truth about his son’s death:
I take over for Viola Davis in what she was the leader of Argus. So now I become almost an administrator. I’m wearing a suit. I go from being boots on the ground badass to now being in charge, which enables me then to find out the truth about my son because now I can see things that I couldn’t see before. And, it just makes my passion for revenge even stronger.
Understandably, Rick Flag Sr. is angered by what he discovers and Grillo noted that “revenge” is a key theme forPeacemakerseason 2. The actor explained that Rick Flag Sr. will use his new position to confront Peacemaker when he returns in the second season of the latter’s solo series. Although details on the confrontation were not divulged, Grillo described it as “a pretty serious epic scene.”
It really is. It doesn’t go without me. I still understand the capacity of which I have to serve this world. […] It’s a big responsibility, and so I have to be careful so that it doesn’t go too far, which has been fun as an actor to kind of balance that thing. John Cena and I have a pretty serious epic scene that culminates with all this anger.
Gunn has revealed that Rick Flag’s death is one of the onlyThe Suicide Squadevents that is still DCU canon. While he saidPeacemakerseason 1 is mostly canon, aside from the Justice League cameo, Gunn noted that he’s being looser withThe Suicide Squadevents. To explain why some events fromThe Suicide SquadandPeacemakerare DCU canon while others aren’t, Gunn explained that he considers both projects bad memories of what happened.
So, while some fans may not be pleased that Gunn is picking and choosing what DCEU events are canon–especially since he’s so far mostly kept characters and storylines from the DCEU projects he wrote and directed–at least there will be consequences for Rick Flag’s death. Some fans are put off by comic books because of the common retconning or rebooting, which leaves many people feeling it isn’t worth investing in a story that may not “count” later. WhileGunn may never bring back Henry Cavill’s Supermanor Ben Affleck’s Batman, at least Peacemaker will have to face his actions in the DCU.
Peacemakerseason 2 is scheduled to appear on Max in August 2025.
Peacemaker
John Cena stars as James Gunn’s titular Peacemaker, a former member of the Suicide Squad who will go to any lengths to ensure peace. He is once again enlisted by Amanda Waller to take on an alien threat, and he’ll have to learn to work with the other members of his team in order to complete his objective. Along the way, Peacemaker faces demons from his past and confronts his own identity.
