“If this just a dream, I don’t want to wake up”. So says the song “Dreamer” by Foxy Shazam, the band that provides much of the soundtrack and opening theme song for Peacemaker Season 2. In those lyrics lies the thesis statement of the second instalment in James Gunn’s series about the trauma-ridden, peace-driven, hyper-violent Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker.
The story at the core of Season 2 is Peacemaker’s own internal conflict. While Season 1 showed Peacemaker embarking on a new adventure while ignoring his past, this is the season where he must reckon with it all, intimately, aggressively, and conclusively.
Peacemaker is a character that like many of Gunn’s favourites is fundamentally broken. And this season deals with that head on. That means that it feels markedly more serious than Season 1. It’s sentimental, deeply personal, and self-reflexive at every turn.
What’s particularly striking about this tonal shift is that it’s only heightened by John Cena’s performance. While he was excellent in Season 1, he’s a different kind of force here. The presence he holds in more intimate scenes is incredible, and the story certainly serves us plenty of those scenes.
The way that Gunn achieves tone this is by crafting a story about choices. The choice to reckon with the broken past that has made you the person you are, or to escape to a better life that might just exist somewhere else.
While recent superhero stories have used the multiverse to fill their screens with cameos or references to the past, Gunn uses it to create a “Sliding Doors” scenario, similar to what 2023’s “The Flash” presented. A world where things might have turned out better than the life our characters presently live in. Where trauma and tragedy are replaced by love and happiness.
These themes aren’t surface level. They become thematically rich through extended dialogue scenes, character debates and hugely emotional realisations that craft an existential story about the path life leads us on.
With that comes an emotionally resonant season, accompanied by a killer soundtrack, great action, and character development that quite easily makes Peacemaker one of the most compelling characters in modern superhero media.
The humour is still here but is more paired back than in Season 1. In addition, the action is excellent, but again scarcer because Gunn prioritises the dramatic elements of the show, which is a welcome change. Episode 1 ends with a break-neck fight scene that is masterfully directed. Episode 3 includes the best showcase of Peacemaker’s skills ever, that reminds you why he’s such an asset in any combat situation.
Of course, each character in the supporting cast of 11th Street Kids is also given a chance to develop this season. John Economos is unhappy with his new job at ARGUS, which pits himself against his allies. Emilia Harcourt struggles with her workaholic nature and the fallout from Amanda Waller being exposed. While Leota Adebayo is struggling to maintain her relationships as she tries to forge a new career path. Vigilante is still the same old Vigilante, in the best way possible.
New additions to the supporting cast also make for great chemistry. Frank Grillo is the standout. Reprising his role as Rick Flag Sr. from “Creature Commandos” (2024) and “Superman” (2025), he gets the spotlight more here. Vengeance fuels him, but his particular brand of aggression and physical presence give the show a great momentum. Tim Meadows has some of the funniest lines in the entire series as Director Florey. And the extended team of ARGUS team have a great back and forth dynamic of humour too.
The pacing of the show is just as gripping as the first season. One of Gunn’s greatest strengths as a writer is his ability to ramp up the stakes in the final ten minutes of an episode so that he can end on a cliffhanger that will have you rabidly guessing what could possibly happen next. Specifically, characters find themselves in seemingly impossible situations with no way out. Which is what makes the series so compelling from episode to episode.
DCU World Building
As the first story to follow “Superman” (2025), Peacemaker Season 2 is a welcome addition to the new DCU. It brings over characters from the Superman film and does a great job of fleshing them out in far more detail that will help you appreciate their motives more. Additionally, there’s direct references to the “Metropolis incident” from Superman, which informs the way ARGUS responds to Peacemaker having his own inter-dimensional portal.
What’s particularly striking is how different it is in both tone and subject-matter to Superman. With this, Gunn proves that the DCU does not have to be limited by the fact that it is a connected universe. Stories of hugely different varieties can be told. In this case, a hugely explicit, violent, and tragic story showcases how much the style is allowed to shift from project to project. Fair warning for families who enjoyed “Superman”, this series is not for kids.
What’s refreshing about this is that it strikes a balance between having a connected universe and also achieving stylistic diversity in projects. Passionate DC fans are rewarded for their investment in the franchise by recognising smaller details that add to their enjoyment of the universe. But these connections don’t come with a studio mandate for stylistic homogeneity, where the same colour pallet, dialogue tropes, and plot beats are enforced to make every project in the universe look and feel the same. Equally, it means that casual viewers can pick and choose which entries appeals to them without feeling the need to watch everything in the franchise.
Even still, for those paying attention, the details of the DCU continue to be filled in here. Much like he did with Creature Commandos, Gunn takes the opportunity to cement the DCU as a world very different than our own. It is coloured by its own unique political nuances, social norms, and geographical and historical content. Metahumans aren’t just commonplace, they’re becoming a hot-button political issue, and the aftermath of Creature Commandos lingers in Peacemaker Season 2.
Clever world-building like this creates a universe that feels more like an escape world rather than a reflection of our own world. In a sea of fictional media that all too often is concerned with being a perfectly realistic mirror of what “could happen” to the real world, it’s exciting to have a purely fantasy-driven alternate history that allows viewers some escapism.
Finally, allow us to clear up the DCEU to DCU universe shift. It has nothing to do with the alternate dimension that Peacemaker visits. There is no jumping from the old to new universe. We begin the season in the DCU from the start, and Gunn treats the canon logic much like how the comics explained DC’s New 52 reboot in the early 2010s.
The show maintains the same canon as Season 1, but with small changes in details. Whatever is mentioned or shown in flashbacks clarifies exactly what is canon. It’s simple, it’s clear, and most of all, it’s fun. Because it gives us a chance to enjoy callbacks and references to things we’ve enjoyed from the past.
Peacemaker Season 2 is a brilliant existential story about reckoning with the trauma of your past, and the chances life gives us for redemption. It has a killer soundtrack, banging action, and a more serious tone than Season 1. You’ll punch the air from excitement but also cry from how deeply tragic it is.
Thank you to Warner Bros. for providing us access to the first five episodes to facilitate this review.
Peacemaker Season 2 starts streaming on HBO Max from August 21st ( August 22nd in Australia).
It has 8 episodes, releasing once per week.
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