Goodbye forever to the DCEU: ‘Peacemaker ‘Season 2 rewrites history and James Gunn completely eliminates the Justice League

‘Peacemaker’ is one of the few works from the old DC Extended Universe (DCEU) that would survive the transition to James Gunn’s new DC Universe. This full-blown reboot has claimed several victims and has involved key changes to the series starring John Cena. The co-CEO of DC Studios had already warned that the scene in the final episode of ‘Peacemaker’ Season 1, where the Justice League made an appearance, would be drastically altered for Season 2, and he has delivered: in the first episode of the new season, there is a flashback in which the characters have been replaced by the Justice Gang, consisting of Superman, Supergirl, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Mr. Terrific, and Hawkgirl.

Goodbye to the Justice League: Season 2 of ‘Peacemaker’ removes them from the series and adds the Justice Gang instead

Episode 1 of season 2 of ‘Peacemaker’ premiered on Thursday, August 21, 2025, and marked the return of John Cena as Christopher Smith, a peculiar antihero who believes so fervently in world peace that he is willing to kill as many people as necessary to achieve it. However, fans of the series and the character have noticed a drastic change that has taken place in this episode: in a flashback that recaptures a scene from episode 8 of the first season, the Justice League, with Henry Cavill’s Superman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller’s Flash, and Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, has been completely removed.

Instead, it shows how those who came to the rescue late, once Peacemaker had completed his mission, were not the Justice League, but the Justice Gang, the new superhero team we saw in the recent Superman (2025) starring David Corenswet. In other words, in this new version of the sequence, those who arrived to assist Peacemaker were Superman (David Corenswet), Supergirl (Milly Alcock), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced).

We are facing a full-blown retcon through which James Gunn has sought to consolidate his new DC Universe while definitively closing the door on the DCEU, which was mainly driven by Zack Snyder. On the other hand, on a narrative level, this “inconsistency” can be justified both by the ending of The Flash (2023), where Ezra Miller’s superhero’s time travel altered the timeline, and by the Peacemaker series itself, as alternate dimensions and universes form an indispensable part of the story arc of its new season.

Although for some fans of the DC Extended Universe this new sequence has been a punch in the gut, others have found it a fun and unorthodox way—in true James Gunn style—to directly address the possible narrative and plot inconsistencies in Peacemaker, since, for all intents and purposes, it has acted as a bridge series between the DCEU and the new DCU. In other words, Peacemaker is considered canon within these two distinct continuities.

Related stories

HBO

James Gunn promises that season two of Peacemaker will have plenty of surprises: “There might even be one really, really, really big cameo”

DC Studios

‘Peacemaker’ Season 2 gets its first teaser, full of the same level of brutality we expect from it

Follow MeriStation USA on X (formerly known as Twitter). Your video game and entertainment website for all the news, updates, and breaking news from the world of video games, movies, series, manga, and anime. Previews, reviews, interviews, trailers, gameplay, podcasts and more! Follow us now!