Despite being possibly the best DC release in years, James Gunn has no plans to reintegrate John Cena’s Peacemaker into his newly established cinematic universe – at least in the short term.
Gunn has arguably the toughest job in Hollywood right now, that of trying to rebuild the legacy of DC and its character roster into something more positive than it has been lately. With years of experience in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn took a suitably Gunn-esque way of writing into his Suicide Squad film and spin-off Peacemaker. The HBO Max original series was a resounding success and seemed to show signs of life for a shared DC canon in live-action.
Despite this, Gunn’s first slate titled Gods and Monsters doesn’t feature Cena’s character at all. The perennially Twitter active creative has shot down a rumor of Peacemaker‘s second season coming around with this first slate of films, confirming the follow-up won’t enter production until after Superman: Legacy.
Peacemaker having a large gap between first and second seasons could end up being fraught, with Legacy not intended for release until 2025. Given the current climate around comic book movies slowly souring, and Marvel spacing out their releases, it could face further delays. Legacy, as it stands, is far more crucial to the success of the new canon than Peacemaker‘s follow-up.
The good news, though, is Peacemaker is still very much in Gunn’s long-term plans. DC’s new vision stresses the Elseworlds narrative, allowing multiple different universes to exist alongside each other, meaning the Matt Reeves Batman, remnants of Snyder’s DC, and Gunn’s vision can all live peacefully with each other.
Peacemaker is available to stream on HBO Max.