Warning! Minor Spoilers for Superman follow.
James Gunn and the cast of Peacemaker stopped by IGN’s studio at San Diego Comic-Con today, where Gunn revealed some new info about what to expect in Season 2 of the series and where Christopher Smith/Peacemaker is in his life… including how he feels about Superman following the events of the movie.
John Cena makes a brief cameo as Peacemaker in Gunn’s recently released Superman, where he’s seen on a talk show, giving a litany of reasons he’s never trusted Superman. So did the end of that movie change his perception of the Man of Steel? Said Gunn: “I think that Peacemaker probably admires Superman a little bit more than he did.” But Gunn notes there is a bit of a murky area there, because as we see in Peacemaker Season 2 trailer, Chris is trying to join the Justice Gang in Season 2.
As Gunn put it, “We see him in the movie and he’s talking crap about Superman and I think he probably admires him a little bit more than he did beforehand [now], but also he really wants to get in with the Justice Gang. So he’s not going to say any more mean things about Superman knowing they’re his pals.” As for his previous statements about Superman, if they were brought up, Gunn said Peacemaker would “walk it back. He’s got no backbone with stuff like that.”
Regarding his overall approach to Season 2, Gunn explained, “I think the theme of Peacemaker Season 2, if anything, is about redemption. This is a character who knows he did wrong in the past. He has changed dramatically from Season 1. The one thing I didn’t want to do is have Peacemaker act exactly like he did at the beginning of Season 1. We saw dramatic things happen to him in the way he’s connected with other people in Season 1, and he has changed because of that. His friendship with Leota Adebayo has changed him completely. And now this is a new Peacemaker who is struggling to try to be the best person he can be. Often failing, but really trying his best to do that, and then all of a sudden his past won’t let him go, whether it’s his relationship with his father, who’s now gone, or his relationship with Rick Flag Jr’s dad [played by Frank Grillo]. So it’s really about that struggle about looking for redemption and also looking for love.”
On that last point, Gunn elaborated, “There is a love story in this. The first season was about the relationship between Leota Adebayo and Peacemaker. This in a lot of ways is about Peacemaker and Harcourt and their relationship.”
Among the additions to Season 2 is Sol Rodríguez as Sasha Bordeaux, a character primarily associated with Batman in the comics. Rodríguez said she felt “Sasha’s essence is still there from the comics, but she’s bringing new vibes,” and that when it comes to the DCU’s eventual version of Batman, “She has nothing to do with that.” Though who’s to say if Gunn was joking or not when he replied, “Yet!” to that statement about Sasha and Batman having no connection.
When Rodríguez added she very much didn’t know who will eventually be playing the DCU’s version of Batman, Gunn then added, regarding all of the fan speculation, “I don’t know who’s playing Batman!”
