Peacemaker season two wrapped up on Oct. 9. While the season finale didn’t have much to do with it, we saw what has arguably been the darkest arc in James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe in episodes six and seven. The arc takes inspiration from DC’s Earth-X story, in which the Nazis won World War II. There will be spoilers included in this article, so if you want to avoid them, watch the show before reading. Otherwise, here’s what has led up to the most recent episodes’ plot line.
First off, DC rebooted in between the two existing seasons of the show, so the season one recap replaced the DC Extended Universe’s Justice League (composed of Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Flash) with the newer Justice Gang seen in 2025’s “Superman” (composed of Superman, Supergirl, Mr. Terrific, Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl). Aquaman and the Flash’s dialogue about “Fish-Fucking” was also replaced with Gardner and Hawkgirl’s “Puke Freak” title, given to Gardner by Peacemaker. A little bit of comedy follows the tragedy that was introduced moments before, throwing us right back into the show’s unique pacing.
In the first episode, we watch Chris Smith (Peacemaker) struggle to join the Justice Gang because he has a history of killing people, many of whom are implied to have been innocent. The rest of the 11th Street Kids are seen dealing with their own struggles: Emilia is diagnosed with a “severe form of toxic masculinity”, Leota is dumped by her dream girl and fails to get her new business off the ground, Adrian/Vigilante still works at a casual restaurant and Economos still works for A.R.G.U.S., being tasked with spying on Peacemaker. Each character is struggling, but it gets worse for Chris after he tries and fails to ask Emilia out. One morning, he uses his father’s old “Quantum Unfolding Storage area that leads to a dimensional nodule outside normal space,” and finds another reality where his dad, Auggie, is nice.
Eventually, after escaping jail and killing his Earth-X counterpart, he becomes the Peacemaker of Earth-X and steps into a world that appreciates him much more than his own does. Additionally, his brother Keith is alive, and he and Auggie fight alongside Chris. After finding out where he’s gone, his friends follow him to Earth-X and split up.
Emilia goes to A.R.G.U.S., where she and Peacemaker reconcile their friendship/relationship; meanwhile, Leota goes on a walk and the two parties figure out simultaneously that something is wrong. Leota gets chased by a bunch of white people while they shockingly yell, “one got out,” and Chris finds a US flag with a swastika emblem replacing the stars. Episode 6 ends there. Most of the episodes, thus far, have ended with funny cliffhangers, but this one was very worrisome, which is what made headlines.
Funnily enough, Fortnite, which had recently collaborated with the show, removed the emote titled “Peaceful Hips” to investigate the show’s “creative intentions,” specifically because the dance contained hand movements that could have been interpreted to resemble the swastika.
Episode 7 ends the overall involvement with Earth-X. Chris and Emilia are apprehended by the police before being rescued by Auggie and Keith. Leota is rescued by Judomaster, a villain in the previous season, and the group comes back together at Peacemaker’s mansion. The duo questions the group, where they find out that their Chris is dead. Vigilante and his alternate self literally smash through a window and stab Auggie to death. Keith and the police attempt to apprehend the 11th Street Kids as they make their way to the portal.
Keith is also stabbed as they all try to escape, leading to the emotional sequence where Chris breaks down at the realization that everything he touches gets ruined. The team leaves Earth-X, and Peacemaker turns himself over to the police, so that the rest of his friends can walk free. The episode ends with alternate Keith barely alive and very angry.
There was still one episode left in the season that clocked in at 57 minutes. Unfortunately, it did not resolve much, leaving many points open to interpretation, and was generally considered to be a letdown by fans of the show. Keith was nowhere to be seen, so it is now more likely that he will return in other media. Most importantly, though, James Gunn seemingly confirmed that season three would not happen. So we will see how it goes from here. There is still a story to be told with Earth-X, and the ending of episode seven proved that.
