So how will the DCEU become the DCU? It won’t be that one thing stops and another thing starts. There is some kind of link. Some might also call it a hangover. Peacemaker was confirmed as being part of the DCEU through the appearance of Zack Snyder’s version of the Justice League in the closing episode.
Yet season 2 of Peacemaker is coming, and this will somehow be part of the new DCU. How?
Well, maybe we started to get our first clues this week in an interview James Gunn has given to Entertainment Weekly. He says The Purge and Kingdom actor Frank Grillo’s role of Rick Flagg Sr. is key.
He will first appear in the animated series Creature Commandos premiering soon on Max. He will also make an appearance in Superman next Summer in live-action form.
Gunn then confirms he will play a key part in Peacemaker season 2. Remember, John Cena’s character killed Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman) in The Suicide Squad. So yet another link between the two universes.
Does this feel like some multiverse shenanigans might be at play? Let’s hope it is brief!
Gunn confirmed these appearances and spoke in more detail about the character:
“He is a really cool character that Frank has been molding. The character’s also in Superman, and he’s an incredibly important part in Peacemaker. He is one of the primary characters in Peacemaker season 2. So we get to see this character from different angles, and he is not simple.
This isn’t just a good guy, not at all. We see all different sides of his character. He is morally a complex human being. Grillo is somebody who I’ve known for a little while, and I’ve wanted to work with him for a long time. He was one of the first people that I talked to when I took over the studio, like ‘we’re going to find something cool for you,’ and now he is everywhere.”
Gunn and Safran had been clear that in order to bring the characters to life in both animated and live-action form, they would be played/voiced by the same actors in the same way. They will act and appear consistent between the two mediums. Grillo is the first confirmation of this.
Creature Commandos premieres December 5th on Max. Superman and the second season of Peacemaker land in 2025.