Not Enough Vigilante, The DCU Timeline Takes Shape, and More Big Takeaways From the Peacemaker Season 2 Trailer

Summer 2025 is shaping up to beryllium a precise breathtaking clip for DC fans. Mere weeks aft Superman lands successful theaters and heralds the live-action debut of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU, we’re getting different play of Peacemaker. John Cena is backmost successful enactment arsenic the gun-toting, peace-loving Christopher Smith, and he’s bringing overmuch of the Season 1 formed on for the ride.

The archetypal Peacemaker Season 2 trailer gives america a amended thought of the crippled this clip around, arsenic good arsenic however precisely Season 2 connects backmost to the archetypal play and Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. From the caller reveals regarding the DCU timeline and Rick Flagg's relation arsenic “villain” to a frustrating deficiency of Vigilante, let’s interruption down the cardinal takeaways from the Peacemaker trailer.

Freddie Stroma’s Vigilante successful Peacemaker Season 2

It would bash a disservice to Cena’s Christopher Smith to telephone him the slightest absorbing quality successful Peacemaker. He’s decidedly a compelling fig successful his ain right. He’s a walking contradiction who preaches bid yet wages a bloody war. He’s besides a classical Gunn-style goofball with a profoundly buried bosom of gold.

But arsenic overmuch arsenic Peacemaker is ostensibly focused connected its rubric character, this bid genuinely is an ensemble project. The supporting formed is captious to the occurrence of this formula, each spot arsenic overmuch arsenic The CW’s The Flash bid lived and died connected the spot of its Team Flash dynamic. And retired of each supporting quality successful this series, nary stands retired and steals the amusement rather arsenic reliably arsenic Freddie Stroma’s Vigilante.

Vigilante was the breakout quality of Season 1. He was a hilarious foil to Cena’s Peacemaker - a clingy BFF who mightiness marque a large superhero if helium weren’t besides specified a bittersweet sack of a quality being. The bid doesn’t needfully connection a precise faithful adaptation of the quality from the comics, but erstwhile he’s this entertaining, who cares?

That’s wherefore it’s a spot disappointing not to spot much of Stroma’s quality successful the trailer. Obviously, Cena was ever going to hog the spotlight. We besides get a batch of absorption connected Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt, who’s intelligibly dealing with immoderate large rage issues. But Stroma’s Adrian Chase is relegated much to the background. We larn that he’s moving astatine a accelerated nutrient edifice and struggling with the realization that redeeming the satellite doesn’t warrant fame and nationalist adoration. But we would person loved to spot much of the character, and hopefully the trailer isn’t reflective of his relation successful the play arsenic a whole.

Meeting the DCU Justice League

The trailer opens connected a astonishing note, arsenic we spot Peacemaker amusement up to an unfastened interrogation with the Justice League. Sean Gunn’s Maxwell Lord, Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, and Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl are each present, and it’s wide they’ve written Peacemaker disconnected earlier helium adjacent has a accidental to plead his case.

In the process, we get a overmuch amended look astatine the Justice League radical dynamic than the Superman trailer provides. This is intelligibly a precise antithetic Justice League from the 1 that concisely appeared successful Season 1 (and we’ll get to the continuity shenanigans afoot a spot later). They’re a overmuch much sardonic and irreverent bunch, which suits the Peacemaker mounting a batch amended than the stuffy DCEU Justice League ever could.

More than ever, it’s wide that Gunn is drafting heavy from DC’s beloved Justice League International comics for his mentation of the team. As successful JLI, Lord is the team’s person and financier. Also similar those comics, the accent isn’t connected bringing DC’s biggest and brightest heroes unneurotic successful 1 room, but alternatively focusing connected a much eclectic clump of oddballs and misfits. These are heroes who really request the legitimacy that serving successful the Justice League provides.

Most likely, James Gunn filmed this country portion shooting Superman, making it easier to wrangle Sean Gunn, Fillion, and Merced together. We wouldn’t expect the squad to play a major, recurring relation successful Peacemaker Season 2 beyond Chris’ failed tryout. But it is bully to get a person look astatine the squad and a consciousness of their dynamic.

Above all, it’s large to spot however overmuch wit and property Merced is bringing to the Hawkgirl role. After suffering done the Arrowverse’s misguided instrumentality connected the quality (“I’m conscionable a barista!!!”), it’s wide the DCU is going to present a acold much enjoyable mentation of Hawkgirl. The caller Justice League is shaping up nicely.

The Return of Frank Grillo’s Rick Flagg, Sr.

As of close now, Frank Grillo truly is the glue holding the DCU together. His Rick Flagg, Sr. was a large subordinate successful the Creature Commandos animated series. We cognize that Grillo is making his live-action debut successful the relation successful Superman. And present Flagg is being acceptable up to play a large relation successful Peacemaker Season 2.

Flagg seems to beryllium positioned arsenic the main villain of Season 2, though possibly “villain” is simply a spot harsh, considering the character’s motivations. He’s a begetter mourning the execution of his son. He’s besides present the duly appointed caput of ARGUS, meaning helium has some the ineligible jurisdiction and the motivation precocious crushed successful his feud with Peacemaker.

This each sets the signifier for what should beryllium a fascinating dynamic successful Season 2. As overmuch arsenic Chris wants to judge he’s a changed antheral and a morganatic hero, there’s nary getting astir what helium did successful 2021’s The Suicide Squad. He’s a antheral with immoderate superior humor connected his hands. Saving the satellite doesn’t absolve him of those sins. How overmuch volition viewers upwind up rooting for Flagg to gain his revenge and instrumentality down Team Peacemaker? This should beryllium a amusive ride.

Making Sense of the DCU Timeline

On the Flagg front, isn’t it absorbing however straight this play builds connected The Suicide Squad? As overmuch arsenic the DCU is astir wiping the slate cleanable and starting implicit with a caller continuity, immoderate elements of the erstwhile DCEU stay successful place. At this point, it seems similar The Suicide Squad present stands arsenic the unofficial archetypal DCU movie. Too overmuch of that movie is being referenced successful the DCU to simply constitute it disconnected arsenic a relic of a dormant cinematic universe.

There’s a wide timeline for the DCU opening to signifier now. The Suicide Squad kicked things disconnected successful 2021, followed by Peacemaker Season 1 successful 2022. Then came Creature Commandos successful 2024, the archetypal authoritative DCU project. Next up is Superman successful July 2025, followed by Peacemaker Season 2 successful August 2025. Then the DCU truly starts to detonate successful each directions, with the accomplishment of shows similar Lanterns and movies similar Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

Gunn evidently doesn’t privation to propulsion retired immoderate of the hard enactment helium enactment into The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Season 1, conscionable due to the fact that Warner Bros. is present drafting a hard enactment betwixt what came earlier and what lies ahead. Who tin blasted him? And arsenic Gunn told IGN successful a caller interview, canon lone matters truthful much. In the end, arsenic overmuch arsenic these characters and stories matter, nary of this is real.

“Hopefully there's authenticity and information to those stories due to the fact that we attraction astir those stories, the characters, the actors, the performers, the animators,” said Gunn. “They each attraction astir these stories, but it's not real.”

That being said, Gunn is good alert that helium wrote himself into a country by having the DCEU Justice League amusement up successful Peacemaker Season 1. Somehow, Season 2 is going to woody with that escaped thread.

“The information is astir each of Peacemaker is canon with the objection of Justice League … which we volition benignant of woody with successful the adjacent play of Peacemaker,” helium teased.

It’ll beryllium absorbing to spot precisely however Season 2 works to resoluteness the Justice League of it all. It whitethorn person thing to bash with the country precocious successful the trailer wherever we spot Chris task into his father’s magnitude and brushwood different mentation of himself. The multiverse is present successful play, truthful thing is possible, and everything tin beryllium explained away.

In immoderate case, isolated from that Justice League cameo, there’s precise small preventing Gunn from simply breaking The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Season 1 disconnected of the aged DCEU and officially making them portion of the DCU. The Suicide Squad is already specified a standalone project, with lone a fewer characters/actors tying it backmost to the larger DCEU. And that allows Gunn the accidental to support Margot Robbie successful the Harley Quinn role, conscionable arsenic we’ve seen Cena’s Peacemaker and Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller transportation implicit into the caller canon. There’s nary consciousness successful throwing the babe retired with the bathwater by recasting Harley erstwhile Robbie’s mentation has been beauteous wide embraced. Joker, though? He’s a antithetic story.

Ultimately, we fishy the question of precisely what’s canon and what isn’t successful the DCU volition beryllium a batch clearer by the clip Peacemaker Season 2 wraps up. We’re looking guardant to the bid making its long-awaited return. Just don’t skimp connected Vigilante, please.

For much connected the aboriginal of the DCU, spot what to expect from DC successful 2025 and brushwood up connected each DC movie and bid successful development.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected BlueSky.