With the second season of Peacemaker having neared its end, the buzz surrounding John Cena’s future as the fictional DC anti-hero is pretty high. Recently, DC Universe’s co-CEO, James Gunn, was asked to address the possibility of there being a Season 3 for the fan-favorite series, and the program creator had a pretty cryptic response for the same.
Engaging in a conversation with Deadline a few days ago, he responded to the query about another season of Peacemaker, saying,
You’re gonna find out more in episode 8 because it’s not necessarily that. Some of these characters will continue, but also, it’s not exactly Peacemaker 3. I’m not ruling it out. You’ll see (episode) 8 and maybe you’ll find out a little bit more.
While he didn’t confirm it, Gunn also didn’t entirely shut the door for the possibility of a third season for the Prime Video series. Either way, while John Cena‘s future remains uncertain, judging from Gunn’s words, one thing is clear: Some key characters from the Peacemaker universe will continue to have a presence in the DC Universe, moving forward.
James Gunn Addressed One More Possibility About John Cena’s Peacemaker
During his interview with Deadline, James Gunn also addressed one other possible theory about Cena’s Chris Smith.
As fans who are regularly keeping themselves updated with the soon-to-conclude Season 2 of Peacemaker must know, Chris killed his doppelgänger, who was reportedly an Aryan utopia, at the end of the first episode of this season. The incident occurred after the character traveled to a parallel universe in search of a better life with his parallel-universe family.
However, upon discovering an alternate, more successful version of himself, the two got into a fight. The brawl happened in the Quantum Unfolding Chamber, and Chris accidentally killed his doppelgänger by impaling him on a spiked ceiling fixture. He then disposed of the body with the help of Vigilante, but it continues to be a traumatic experience that haunts him.
Still, this brought about the speculation: Could it be that Chris’ father, Auggie (played by Robert Patrick), is actually alive? And was it an Auggie clone that Chris killed at the end of Season 1, and that the real Auggie has been living in the other-verse? As interesting as these questions might be, Gunn had a pretty flat-out answer to all of them: “No.“
Continuing, he once again pushed the entire talk and speculation about it onto the next episode, i.e., the most recently released episode 7. Gunn said:
Whatever Auggie is in this other world, he’s kinder to his children, that is true. We’ll find out more about Auggie next episode.
And that’s what happened, too. In a shocking turn of events, episode 7 revealed Auggie Smith (aka Blue Dragon) to be a man fighting against fascism instead of the monster that Chris knew from Season 1. Unfortunately, he couldn’t sport his good side and win fans over with it for too long, as Auggie soon faced a tragic end.
After explaining to Chris and Harcourt that he only fought “the madman murderers and monsters in front of [him] because that’s all [he] can control,” the character was brutally killed by Vigilante (played by Freddie Stroma) while trying to save his newfound allies. So that’s that too.
James Gunn Also Has a Future Planned for Peacemaker‘s Clemson Murn
Apart from John Cena’s Chris Smith and Robert Patrick’s Auggie Smith, James Gunn also previously dove into conversation about one more character from the Peacemaker lore: Chukwudi Iwuji‘s Clemson Murn.
Fans must remember that Murn was the character that Chris worked for in Season 1, and he was also the one who turned out to be possessed by Ik Nobe Llok, who was an alien butterfly who didn’t want to join his people’s plans for world domination.
At the end of that season, Murn faced his demise in episode 8, A Whole New Way to Die. This happened when Butterfly-Song shot Murn’s body, killing the Butterfly Ik Nobe Llok inhabiting it, after he, Harcourt, and Adebayo were ambushed by a group of Butterflies at his apartment.
Turns out, the DCU co-CEO was actually planning on bringing him back in this latest season. This plan would have seen Murn in Earth-2 (i.e., Earth-X) as another member of the Sons of Liberty alongside Vigilante, looking to free the planet from the Nazi-like regime.
On a recent episode of the Peacemaker podcast (via YouTube), Gunn candidly addressed the same, saying that instead of being “the worst guy in the world before he became a butterfly, Murn on their planet was a total action hero.” He also likened the character to a “kick-ass Harriet Tubman.”
Had this plotline materialized, it would have been part of a larger storyline for the season, but it ended up being cut. Still, Gunn made sure to keep the hopes up about the same as he confirmed that this idea “still exists. There’s still the future; we didn’t blow up Earth-2.”
That said, for now, all fans have to do is wait for the upcoming finale of Peacemaker Season 2 to know for sure what exactly awaits Cena’s Chris Smith in the DCU.
What do you think about this story? Got some thoughts or opinions to share about these latest updates from James Gunn? Make sure to let us know in the comments section below!
Peacemaker Season 2 finale drops on October 9, exclusively on HBO Max.
