I literally just wrote an article about how James Gunn has made the DCU good, but ultimately confusing about what is canon and where things are going forward. Nothing is more confusing than what he’s done with Peacemaker, retconning things to make the entire show DCU canon rather than DCEU as it was previously, making apparently parts of his 2021 Suicide Squad movie canon as well, but now? For some reason, he’s decided to reach all the way back and make at least part of the very bad, original 2016 Suicide Squad movie canon too.
That movie obviously shares Rick Flagg Jr., who was in the second Gunn film and now, Peacemaker. But Peacemaker himself hopping to a different dimension has thrown a wrench into things. In that world, Emelia Harcourt is sleeping with Flagg, but Flagg is also said to be dating/in love with June Moone, who is Enchantress in the 2016 Suicide Squad and its main villain.
Again, this gets so confusing. 1) there are carryover characters from 2016 to 2021 between Suicide Squad movies like Flagg and Boomerang, and those both existed in the DCEU. 2) Gunn has picked out parts of his own Suicide Squad movie to be canon in the main timeline in Peacemaker. 3) Now, he’s made 2016 Suicide Squad canon by this Flagg storyline, which takes place right before that film, but with Peacemaker taking place a while after. So either this is technically part of the DCU, or you can classify it as the “other world” Gunn just jumped to is an acknowledgement of the DCEU being an adjacent dimension rather than totally erased. Just…what.
I think we just have to expect this from Gunn at this point, who does not seem interested in making the connection between the DCU and DCEU all that fixed or clear. I think Gunn is a little over-involved in making Peacemaker close to the center of the DCU now, as he’s just said that it will serve as a clear lead-in to Man of Tomorrow, the Superman sequel, and there are strong hints, if not confirmation, that Superman himself is probably going to show up near the end of season 2 of Peacemaker. And again, this is the extremely R-rated Peacemaker, a show that just had an orgy in the first 30 minutes, so have fun, PG-13 Superman fans!
I guess I don’t mind this, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s almost not really even worth considering now. Is Harley Quinn going to be canon? Gunn doesn’t seem to know. Is Jared Leto Joker? No, Gunn hates him. But this Flagg/Peacemaker/Suicide Squad stuff is just all over the place, and I don’t think there’s any good way to parse it right now.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.