Full spoilers immediately follow for Peacemaker season 1 and Superman.
Well, that’s someone I didn’t expect to see in Superman. In a movie jam-packed with fan-favorite and unfamiliar characters from DC Comics – read my Superman cast guide for more details on many of them – I was not expecting to see John Cena’s Christopher Smith/Peacemaker at all.
Yet, around midway through James Gunn’s Superman movie, there the increasingly popular anti-hero was. Okay, it wasn’t a major appearance – in fact, compared to the cameo Milly Alcock’s Supergirl makes, it was almost a missable moment. Nonetheless, even though the appearance he makes as a talk show guest is incredibly brief, Smith is technically part of the DC Universe (DCU) film’s cast.
It’s a cameo that raises some major questions about Peacemaker season 2, which is due to be released on HBO Max and other streaming platforms in late August, though. After all, the R-rated series’ first season was set in the now-defunct DC Extended Universe (DCEU), so how does Cena’s Smith wind up in Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted cinematic franchise?
Right now, we don’t have a definitive answer, but Gunn has indicated (per Entertainment Weekly) that Peacemaker’s Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC), which we saw on a couple of occasions in season 1, has a big role to play. Season 2’s first trailer also suggested there’ll be some multiversal shenanigans at play that’ll allow Smith to crossover into the DCU. According to fans who’ve seen a new teaser playing in front of Superman screenings in select theaters worldwide, it’s increasingly likely that Smith will use the QUC to traverse the DC multiverse and end up in the DCU, too.
If that ends up happening, we’ll know how Peacemaker makes the leap from one cinematic universe to another prior to season 2’s arrival. It’ll also explain why he appears in Superman, aka the second DCU Chapter One project to be released after season 1 of Creature Commandos.
So, mystery solved, right? Not so fast. Peacemaker’s wild cameo in Superman might provide a solution to the aforementioned query, but it generates three other questions about one of the best HBO Max shows’ sophomore outings.
For starters, do the events of Peacemaker 2 run concurrent to Superman? If Cena’s titular character appears on a talk show in DC Studios’ rebooted cinematic universe, he must crossover into the DCU early on in the HBO TV Original’s second season. That’s the only logical explanation as to why Smith is seen in Superman and therefore indicates that these projects’ stories run parallel to the other.
Then there’s the fact that season 2’s initial teaser confirms Peacemaker will have a job interview (one that quickly goes awry, based on the footage we’ve seen) to join The Justice Gang.
This group, one funded by Maxwell Lord that features Guy Gardner/Green Lantern and Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, also appeared in one of 2025’s most anticipated new movies. Unless he uses the QUC to access the DCU, there’s no way Smith can meet this trio. Again, that suggests he’ll enter the DCU early on in season 2 and lends further credence to Peacemaker’s second season and Superman‘s narratives occurring at the same time.
Lastly, there’s the elephant in the room re: 2021’s The Suicide Squad. This film was also part of the DCEU, but Peacemaker season 2 will pick up a huge unresolved plot thread from that Gunn-directed flick – that being said, Smith murdering Rick Flag Jr.
We already know that Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr will appear in Peacemaker 2. By all accounts, it sounds like he’ll be the show’s next major antagonist, with Flag Sr looking to avenge the death of his only child.
What’s particularly interesting about Grillo’s own small role in Superman, though, is he seems to get an extra incentive to embark “on a mission” for justice in Peacemaker 2, as Grillo told me during a pre-release interview for Creature Commandos season 1.
Indeed, not only does he have a vast amount of resources at his disposal after becoming ARGUS’ newest director, but there’s also a notable shift in his sympathetic view on metahumans before Superman ends. That moment occurs when a fellow member of the Pentagon’s executive team implies that superpowered beings are running the proverbial show following everything that happens in Superman. If Flag Sr didn’t already have a major reason to find and kill Peacemaker, he will do now with that phrase ringing in his ears.
Okay, much of this is speculation on my part, but it’s the best I can come up with ahead of Peacemaker season 2’s debut. Thankfully, there’s just over one month (at the time of publication) until it’s released, so my questions will be officially answered sooner rather than later.