James Gunn Says "Almost All" Of PEACEMAKER Season 1 IS DCU Canon... With One Exception

James Gunn has now clarified comments he made earlier this year about the first season of Peacemaker not being part of the new DCU's canon...

News

By MarkCassidy - Nov 18, 2024 03:11 PM EST

Filed Under: Peacemaker

DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has now clarified some confusing comments he made earlier this year about the first season of Peacemaker, which he said he didn't view as being canon with the new DCU despite the upcoming second season being a part of the burgeoning shared movie and TV universe.

While speaking to IGN, Gunn revealed that "almost all" of Peacemaker season 1 is canon, with one notable exception that you've probably already guessed.

"In Creature Commandos, you'll hear them talk about things that happened in [The] Suicide Squad or Peacemaker,” Gunn explained. “Well then, those things automatically become canon.”

“The truth is almost all of Peacemaker is canon with the exception of Justice League," added Gunn. "Which we will kind of deal with in the next season of Peacemaker."

As expected, the comedic sequence featuring members of the League showing up way too late to save the day in the season finale of Peacemaker will need to be retconned. We're not exactly how Gunn intends to accomplish this, but thanks to some recent set photos, we might have a pretty good idea.

Though the photo has since been removed, a mural was spotted on set earlier this year featuring Cena's Peacemaker (wearing a slightly different costume), his father in his White Dragon outfit, and a mysterious third character who many believe will turn out to be Christopher's late brother, Keith.

We do know that Robert Patrick is set to return as Augee Smith despite being killed off in the season 1 finale, and the characters somehow finding themselves in a different part of the DC Multiverse would explain Gunn's comments about season 1 not being part of the DCU.

Rather than simply pretending the Justice League cameos didn't happen, Gunn might be planning to bring Peacemaker and the supporting characters into a whole new reality.

"Peacemaker explores the continuing story of the character that John Cena reprises in the aftermath of executive producer James Gunn's 2021 film The Suicide Squad – a compellingly vainglorious man who believes in peace at any cost, no matter how many people he has to kill to get it," reads the season 1 synopsis.

Gunn, Peter Safran, and Matt Miller are the series' executive producers. Co-executive producer John Cena and consulting producer Stacy Littlejohn are also involved in the production of the show.

Peacemaker is set to return to our screens for its second season next August.

PEACEMAKER Promo Art Reveals The Official New Helmet Design Ahead Of DCU-Set Season 2

Recommended For You:

PEACEMAKER Season 2's Premiere Window Revealed And It's Coming Sooner After SUPERMAN Than Expected

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

Do you have what it takes to write for us?

Want to contribute?

54 Comments

1 2

McMurdo - 11/18/2024, 3:57 PM

Good. Peacemaker season 1 was fantastic, as was The Suicide Squad. Gunn doesn't really miss, at least thus far. His worst cbm is what.....Guardians 2? And when you eat some blue cap mushrooms and put that sequel on, and you see Kurt Russell riding a space ship in the distance whilst waving to a talking raccoon, you realize that even that film is heavily entertaining.

lazlodaytona - 11/18/2024, 4:35 PM

@McMurdo - Peacemaker was a little hit and miss for me but I liked it overall. I'm glad there's a plan in place to connect those two projects into the DCU.

asherman93 - 11/18/2024, 5:13 PM

@McMurdo - I actually disliked a lot of his creative decisions with Volume 1 and would call that his "worst" CBM. I was inclined to not be impressed with Volume 2...
And then I saw that movie, and completely forgave him, because it was just. That. GOOD!

Malatrova15 - 11/18/2024, 3:57 PM

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA CAVILL....MOMOA....GADOT ..GET REKT HAHAHA ....AND NOW WE WONG kang bros!

McMurdo - 11/18/2024, 3:59 PM

@Malatrova15 -

thedrudo - 11/18/2024, 4:01 PM

That comedic JL scene was painful.

lazlodaytona - 11/18/2024, 4:37 PM

@thedrudo - Yeah, I can't believe Gunn even let that happen or did it himself. I mean, of course we only got to see two of the League's faces.

NinnesMBC - 11/18/2024, 4:02 PM

McMurdo - 11/18/2024, 4:08 PM

@NinnesMBC -

NinnesMBC - 11/18/2024, 4:24 PM

@McMurdo - We never had a damn say in any of this, big difference.

bkmeijer1 - 11/18/2024, 4:33 PM

@NinnesMBC - is it really lying though? One thing isn't canon, so by extent the whole season isn't. He never said he wasn't gonna reuse some history though

lazlodaytona - 11/18/2024, 4:38 PM

@NinnesMBC - even though we vote we really don't have any say in the government too.

NinnesMBC - 11/18/2024, 4:41 PM

@bkmeijer1 - The statement is right there from him, now he's switched. And it only takes logic to see the hole in the reasoning that because the Justice League is not canon to his DCU because they belong to the old regime, why is Peacemaker different when it was also done and came out during said previous administration?

I am not even touching the fact that it should affect as well TSS. Just that Peacemaker and JL both belong to the old guard when Gunn wasn't in charge, the one that hired him to do TSS and Peacemaker all before the WBD merger was complete in April 2022.

NinnesMBC - 11/18/2024, 4:42 PM

@lazlodaytona - I can vote whether I want or not to spend my money on any of these cashcow grabs Zaslav desperately wants to cash in so we put money in his pockets.

lazlodaytona - 11/18/2024, 4:47 PM

@NinnesMBC - understood

McMurdo - 11/18/2024, 5:29 PM

@NinnesMBC - We voted with our wallets

DrDReturns - 11/18/2024, 6:10 PM

@McMurdo - Look at that fool HAHAHA

TheVisionary25 - 11/18/2024, 4:06 PM

I’m not surprised tbh and genuinely thought that he first worded the whole S1 isn’t canon comment wrong he originally made when in reality , some of it isn’t but most of the season is.

It would make no sense to just get rid of all that development and such in Peacemaker S1 if they are doing a S2 so better to continue on and ignore the wider DCEU references then just start anew

I know people have issues with him playing favorites it seems but from a business standpoint , it would be stupid to do away with Peacemaker since it was such a rousing success and The Suicide Squad is connected to that.

ImNotaBot - 11/18/2024, 4:06 PM

TSS is my favorite DCU movie because it feels like a standalone project. I hope Gunn dont get too carried away with the whole universe continuity stuff, for me the MCU is getting kind of boring because of every damn project having to stick with the whole universe building. We could've had the entire Doctor Strange and Black Panther trilogy already but we have to wait for Secrect Wars or whatever to come out because they cant [frick] up with the universe continuity.

McMurdo - 11/18/2024, 4:08 PM

@ImNotaBot - TSS feels like a real DC comic brought to life.

HashTagSwagg - 11/18/2024, 4:09 PM

If it's not in the movie, it ain't canon.

TrentCrimm - 11/18/2024, 4:09 PM

Gunn should have just let go of his DCEU pet projects and completely rebooted everything. Hard reboot. Cut the cord.
They should have used The Flash to introduce a different universe. Cut and dry. No questions needed.

It would have saved all the confusion. Want to make more Peacemaker? Go ahead. Want to recast some actors and not others? No problem. You want to keep some story ideas and not others? Sure why not.

Guns ego got in the way of logical thinking in my opinion. I'm not saying his DCU will fail, but it's been off to an unnecessarily confusing and bumpy start.

Deklipz - 11/18/2024, 5:11 PM

@TrentCrimm - There is no confusion. The EVENTS of Suicide Squad and Peacemaker happened other than the justice league scene. They’ve already stated that projects are free to cast as they like. There’s no reason they can’t just cast a new Harley or whomever and just move on. No different than multiple artists drawing a character different ways.

harryba11zack - 11/18/2024, 4:10 PM

when I take a sh1t and it flushes

ChrisRed - 11/18/2024, 4:10 PM

Having any of Peacemaker season 1 and the Suicide Squad being canon makes no sense.
If TSS is canon then Suicide Squad is too - there's no way around that.
And if SS is canon, then BvS and MoS are too and then what's the entire point?

Why not just keep Peacemaker in a separat universe or use the second season to transport him to the new DCU?

Starting a new universe clinging to the scraps of a previous one is so confusing.

Superman (or Creature Commandos) should be free to start from scratch with no ties holding them down.

Super12 - 11/18/2024, 4:15 PM

@ChrisRed - Yup. An easily avoidable and totally unnecessary misstep that's going to cost WB millions. All for Gunn's ego. That's how it looks from here.

McMurdo - 11/18/2024, 4:26 PM

@ChrisRed - there's absolutely a way around it. The first SS simply isn't canon. It simply has characters and actors that happen to be the same. TSS and Peacemaker are canon minus Justice League scene. It's not rocket science.

TheVisionary25 - 11/18/2024, 4:27 PM

@ChrisRed - not necessarily with the first SS being canon since the second one makes no mention of it if I’m not mistaken so it was its own seperate thing or it can be treated as such

The Suicide Squad would have to be canon if Peacemaker is since it directly references events in that such as him killing Rick Flagg.

It’s not really that confusing , it’s essentially a soft reboot

MasterMix - 11/18/2024, 4:17 PM

Should've just rebooted the whole thing without James Gunn. Leave everything behind and start completely fresh. Doesn't matter how good anything was before that. I hope Superman is good, but I can honestly take or leave everything else.

TheVisionary25 - 11/18/2024, 4:20 PM

Plus , we already knew Peacemaker S1 would be canon since The Creature Commandos trailer reveals that Waller isn’t allowed to use humans involuntarily to be a part of her task force.

That is due to the direct situation of her own daughter revealing she was doing this to the public.

?si=XZfk4YQk9r_R2Hms

MrDandy - 11/18/2024, 4:25 PM

Someone find my comment on the old article! Called exactly this that piecemaker and The Suicide Squad would be folded into the DCU and the justice League cameo hand waved away.

bkmeijer1 - 11/18/2024, 4:34 PM

I don't mind it. As long as they make clear what isn't canon anymore. Would be fun if they reshot that scene with the new JLI for a flashback (with Peacemaker knowing something is off)

BraveNewClunge - 11/18/2024, 4:48 PM

@bkmeijer1 - they literally should do that.

Order66 - 11/18/2024, 4:36 PM

So Robbie is the DCU Harley. Great smh

lazlodaytona - 11/18/2024, 4:42 PM

@Order66 - I hope not. They need to lay off Harley for a while. She's in 3 movies and animation plus getting her own comics and such.....
Give it a rest on her for a while and then seeing a new actress take over would be easy for the general audience.

ModHaterSLADE - 11/18/2024, 4:36 PM

The more VIGILANTE the better. Would love for him to get a spinoff.

BraveNewClunge - 11/18/2024, 4:44 PM

Lol what a self-indulgent pr1ck 🤣

'Everything is did is canon'

I hope superman is good because I liked TSS but yeah he's a pr1ck.

BraveNewClunge - 11/18/2024, 4:47 PM

@BraveNewClunge - i*

JFerguson - 11/18/2024, 5:20 PM

@BraveNewClunge - Gunn will instantly regret it when he inevitably has to direct Cena shagging his wife

James Gunn Says "Almost All" Of PEACEMAKER Season 1 IS DCU Canon... With One Exception

James Gunn has now clarified comments he made earlier this year about the first season of Peacemaker not being part of the new DCU's canon...

PEACEMAKER Promo Art Reveals The Official New Helmet Design Ahead Of DCU-Set Season 2

PEACEMAKER Season 2's Premiere Window Revealed And It's Coming Sooner After SUPERMAN Than Expected

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.