Peacemaker Tries to Join the Justice League—Fails Spectacularly

Last weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, HBO Max gave fans the first look at what’s to come in Season 2 of Peacemaker when it debuted a full-length trailer for the Emmy-nominated DC spinoff series from James Gunn. The action-packed trailer offers the first extended look at John Cena’s Christopher Smith following the events of The Suicide Squad and Gunn’s spinoff Peacemaker, which returns for a second season on August 21.

Season 1 began five months after the events of The Suicide Squad (2021) on the island of Corto Maltese and found Smith barely alive after suffering a near-fatal gunshot wound. He was brought on by the U.S. government for a clandestine mission codenamed “Project Butterfly” and was led by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), a military man backed by A.R.G.U.S. agent John Economos (Steve Agee), NSA agent Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and the latest government recruit, Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).

But Project Butterfly was anything but an ordinary government mission. As the team discovered, the mission was the first wave in a large-scale invasion by an alien species: parasitic butterflies that took human hosts. By the end of season 1, the team had bested the creatures in a bloody battle on a ranch, escaping with their lives, but not without their own injuries and emotional baggage.

Fast forward to SDCC 2024. Peacemaker Season 2 has a whole new DCU to play in—well, a new-to-it. Gunn dropped a teaser for what to expect this season in May’s panel, and now we can finally see what Season 2 is all about.

What we know about Season 2

The first season of Peacemaker existed in the DCEU, but Gunn’s standalone DC Universe reboot was in The Suicide Squad. Gunn dropped news of the DCU reboot during SDCC this year as a part of his “Gods and Monsters” slate of stories. It’s still the same continuity as the former DCEU and events from previous seasons and films—including some, like Harley Quinn’s time with The Joker and the circumstances of Ramonda’s death—are canon for Peacemaker Season 2. Gunn himself has confirmed this, except for certain appearances by members of the Justice League.

The full cast will return this season with Cena, Brooks, Holland, Agee, and Freddie Stroma as the fan-favorite, unhinged Vigilante. They’re joined by Nhut Le as Judomaster and Eagly, the always-loyal Peacemaker sidekick bald eagle. Robert Patrick also returns as Peacemaker’s dead father, Auggie Smith, whose bigoted influence still taints Chris Smith’s relationships with those closest to him. Gunn also said they will be joined by several new additions this season. The biggest of these is veteran actor Frank Grillo as Rick Flagg Sr., who becomes a major antagonist this season. Flagg is Rick Flagg Jr.’s father, who was killed by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad. Grillo’s character is now in charge of A.R.G.U.S. and is out for vengeance. They’ll also be joined by Tim Meadows as agent Langston Fleury, Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux, and Michael Rooker as Red St. Wild, who Gunn described as Eagly’s “nemesis.”

The official synopsis for Season 2 is that Chris Smith “struggles with the emotional fallout of his violent past, as well as a budding desire to become a better person.” Gunn has said the character is still on a path toward peace at any cost—but this season, he’s trying to find a way to truly earn it by being a hero, rather than blindly following orders.

Earlier this year, a teaser trailer dropped ahead of SDCC 2024. While brief, Gunn’s teaser gave fans a taste of the sheer ridiculousness fans can expect. Set to the music of Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord,” the trailer’s action and gunplay are extreme as ever, and it sees Chris make a failed pitch to join the Justice League. The team members seen include Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced), and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), who all make appearances in Gunn’s Superman and will return in roles reprising from that movie. After an awkward pitch falls on deaf ears, of course.

The other fun notes the teaser offers up for the characters are that Adebayo is “living in the worst level of Grand Theft Auto” per Economos. Harcourt is suffering from “a particularly severe form of toxic masculinity,” and Vigilante landed a job working in the food service industry.

The most bombshell reveal of the trailer is a dimensional portal. In it, Chris wanders into a parallel universe and encounters a different version of himself. This other Chris has it better: he’s already beloved and celebrated as a true hero, which we know of from Season 1, but he’s also happy in love. Frustrated with his present-day life and failures, he makes it clear he’d prefer to stay. But we all know how this goes. His past, of course, will not leave him alone. As Harcourt puts it, “No matter how green the grass is over there, you belong here. With us.”

Gunn, who spoke during SDCC’s Hall H panel, was able to address the character growth and change from Season 1 to Season 2. “I like TV shows where the characters don’t just come back every season and they’re the same characters,” Gunn said. “I want to see growth, I want to see change—and sometimes regression. Peacemaker is a different guy this year. He’s dealing with the demons that he had in the first season and trying to figure out how to deal with them, and the world is not accepting him the way he is. They aren’t accepting him as a hero.”

Peacemaker Season 2 premieres August 21, 2025, exclusively on HBO Max.