John Cena is currently heeling it up for the first time in his WWE career as the challenger for Cody Rhodes' championship at WrestleMania later this month, but we've seen his DCU character undergo the opposite transformation.
Christopher Smith went from being a pretty despicable figure in The Suicide Squad to a more sympathetic protagonist in spin-off series, Peacemaker, and it seems he'll be trying his hand at being a fully-fledged hero in the second season of the Max series.
The streamer has released a new promo spotlighting a number of upcoming shows, and it includes some footage from Peacemaker season 2. It's only a few seconds, but we see Smith giving a thumbs up as fiery chaos rages in the background, before leaping through the window of a burning building. Then, Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) tells her teammate that he's a "superhero now."
Peacemaker will return to our screens on August 21.
Gunn recently clarified some confusing comments he made last year about season 1 of The Suicide Squad spin-off, 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 sure 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..