The third episode of Peacemaker season 2 features the return of Rick Flag Jr. and...Rick Flag Jr.! In the DCU timeline, we learn that Rick and Emilia Harcourt were sleeping together, and that they met just hours before he was dispatched to Corto Maltese in The Suicide Squad.
The cold open also made Suicide Squad's Enchantress canon, but muddied the waters of what is and isn't DCU canon from the DCEU. Still, it's interesting that James Gunn wanted to give the DCU's Flag Jr. a little more backstory (including a romance with Harcourt).
What does all this mean moving forward? Well, depending on how things play out in the weeks ahead, it seems safe to assume that the new Rick Flag Jr. introduced in the alternate timeline that Peacemaker visits will eventually be brought into the DCU.
If so, that's going to allow Chris Smith to make things right with Rick Flag Sr., and to fill a void that he left when he murdered the hero at former A.R.G.U.S. Director Amanda Waller's behest. However, as you'll see in the video below, this Rick is a little different to his tough-as-nails DCU counterpart.
Speaking to The Wrap, Jennifer Holland explained how Harcourt's history with Rick influenced her complicated dynamic with Peacemaker.
"It helped me to understand why it was okay for me to be a total c–t, for lack of a better word, to Christopher Smith," she said. "Her moral compass is very specific. And that’s, you can do really morally f–ked up things, as long as it’s not to the people who have entrusted their life to you, who are on your team. She’s a soldier, and so she believes in no man behind even if that means that you don’t like them."
Holland added, "It gave me the freedom in Season 1 to just hate Chris, sort of unabashedly, and not having to worry about layering in some other thing in those early episodes, when she’s just saddled on a team with this guy who she absolutely despises."
Would you like to see this newly introduced Rick Flag Jr. replace the version killed by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad? You can watch the cold open—confirming that The Suicide Squad took place three years ago—by clicking here.
Peacemaker season 2 follows Chris Smith, the vigilante superhero, as he struggles to reconcile his past with his newfound sense of purpose while continuing to kick righteous evildoer butt in his misguided quest for peace at any cost. He discovers an alternate world where life is everything he wishes it could be. But this discovery also forces him to face his traumatic past and take the future into his own hands.
Season 2 stars John Cena, Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, Frank Grillo, Sol Rodríguez, David Denman, Brey Noelle, and Tim Meadows.
James Gunn wrote all eight episodes of Peacemaker and directed three, including the first episode. Gunn, Peter Safran, and Cena serve as executive producers. Greg Mottola, Peter Sollett, and Alethea Jones also direct.
In our review of Peacemaker season 2, we wrote, "Peacemaker season 2 feels like a wholly superfluous addition to the new DCU, and lacks the stakes and emotion that made season 1 so special. Fortunately, it’s buoyed by some fun surprises for fans and another exceptional turn from John Cena."
Three episodes of Peacemaker season 2 are now streaming on HBO Max.