Put simply, it kind of doesn’t – but at the same time, it does. Here’s why. At first, Peacemaker didn’t leave many loose threads from Season 1, but the show’s shift from the DCEU to the DCU suddenly created one. With the announcement, many fans were left questioning just how the change would work, even if most of the first season remains contained, the final episode fully plants the series in the DCEU with the appearance of the Justice League, with actors Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller fully reprising their roles for the gag. So how exactly did James Gunn address that massive plot hole in the new season?
The Justice-Wait Who?
In the early moments of the Season 2 premiere, we get a quick recap covering the events of the first season of Peacemaker, with mostly old footage, emphasis on mostly. Most of the footage is the same; however, some scenes are reshot from the finale with new dialogue and even some new additions. In the moment where Leota Adebayo calls her mother, Amanda Waller, instead of requesting the Justice League be sent in, the footage is now dubbed over with some new dialogue that has Leota asking for the Justice Gang. Yes, the very same team seen in Superman, consisting of Mister Terrific, Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl and funded by Maxwell Lord.
If that wasn’t enough, the recap continues throughout the finale and takes us to the moment the Justice League show up; however, they don’t. Instead, the Justice Gang is now present at the end of Peacemaker Season 1 and arrives fashionably late to help stop the Butterflies and kill the abominable “cow.” Yes, everyone is accounted for, but what may surprise fans is to see not just Superman, but Supergirl alongside the Justice Gang. Similar to the original ending, only a couple of characters actually show up in the scene, with Terrific, Superman, and Supergirl remaining as silhouettes while Hawkgirl and Guy Gardner banter about whatever dumb stuff comes out of Peacemaker’s mouth.
How Does This Work?
So yeah, Gunn essentially addresses the situation, but not by addressing it, instead painting over it with a shiny new coat of paint. The DCEU Justice League is effectively erased from the canon of Season 1 and merely replaced by the legendary Justice Gang (as Guy Gardner would put it).
This would also make it so that Superman has been working alongside the Justice Gang for a while now. Superman shows us that the team and ‘Big Blue’ have a pre-existing relationship, but the extent of that is never totally followed up on. In the film, we learn that Superman has been active for three years, which would put his starting point as the Man of Steel around early 2022, meaning Superman was likely relatively new to this whole thing when he appeared, with his film being set during mid-to-late May 2025.
It was definitely obvious that this was, of course, set way before the events of Superman due to the absence of someone who joins the gang at the end of the film. Rex Mason, aka Metamorpho, of course, joined the Justice Gang following their excursion to Jarhanapur to save its people from Boravia. Mason is absent from the scene, with Supergirl instead tagging along with the team. This would certainly hint at Supergirl having a larger presence on Earth than we may have been led to believe with her brief appearance towards the end of the film and Clark’s criticism of her party girl nature.
The first episode of Peacemaker Season 2 is streaming now on HBO Max, and Popped will have full coverage of the series throughout its run, so make sure you’re following along for more. Check out our review of the season here, and see the trailer below:
