The Peacemaker Season 2 finale made it very clear that Rick Flag Sr. is now a villain. He laughs and jokes with Lex Luthor's lackeys while loyal A.R.G.U.S. agents are brutally killed in the Quantum Unfolding Chamber, and robs Chris Smith of any due process by kidnapping him and leaving the former Task Force X member stranded in "Salvation."
That's the alternate reality prison he intends to trap the world's metahumans in...only the villainous ones, of course, but it seems likely that he plans to send many of the world's heroes there, as well.
Talking to Screen Brief, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn was asked about Rick's new status quo in the DCU after he was portrayed in a largely heroic light in Creature Commandos and Superman.
"Rick is dumb," he started. "I love the character of Rick Flag, but he thinks he is way smarter than he is. And we see it continuously. He thinks can compete with Lex, and there’s just no way he’s going to be able to. It’s not going to be great for him."
Elaborating on his villainous turn, the filmmaker said, "We saw a guy in Creature Commandos, who seems at first like he’s a good guy but he’s absolutely not. He screws up everything, again, because he thinks smarter than Waller—which he isn’t. And he messes that up, and he falls for this woman, and is played by her from the beginning."
"That to me, is the fun thing about Rick Flag. He’s totally imperfect. I certainly don’t think Rick Flag Sr is evil, I really don’t," Gunn added. "Whenever Frank Grillo talks about the character he’s always like 'I don’t see him as a villain, I see him as being a little obsessive about revenge, but I don’t know, someone kills my son, I’m not sure I wouldn’t feel the same way.'"
"I have compassion for Rick Flag, I don’t think he’s allowing himself to see the whole truth. The worst thing about Rick Flag is that he’s focused on the guy he can do something about more easily, rather than focusing on Amanda Waller who would be more difficult to confront," he continued. "Because Amanda Waller was the one that gave the order to kill Rick Flag Jr."
Talking more about Salvation, Gunn confirmed that the concept was always part of his plan for the DCU, revealing that his intention is for it to explore how "bad metahumans are going to have to figure out a new way to create a society."
Checkmate is another important addition to the DCU, of course, and Gunn revealed that both it and Salvation will be connected to other DC Studios series. "Lanterns is very connected to all of that. It may not seem like it, but it is all very connected."
While Peacemaker Season 2 didn't live up to the high expectations of many fans, Gunn has set the stage for some exciting developments in the DCU with how things unfolded in the finale. Man of Tomorrow will likely be where he touches on many of these ideas, and he added that a "pretty pronounced" threat will be what convinces Lex to team up with Superman.
However, he was quick to say, "I think that Lex Luthor is mostly concerned about Lex Luthor, so we’ll see what threatens Lex Luthor."
All episodes of Peacemaker are now streaming on HBO Max.