Peacemaker Season 2's Premiere Completely Changes The Justice League's History In The DC Universe

Contains spoilers for "Peacemaker," Season 2, Episode 1 — "The Ties That Grind"

"Peacemaker" Season 2 has finally arrived (here's our review), and fans are already buzzing — not just about the show, but about the recap of Season 1 that precedes the season premiere, "The Ties That Grind." In it, we see one of the last scenes from the Season 1 finale, which features a cameo from Zack Snyder's Justice League, but with a new twist: In place of the DCEU's Justice League — Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Aquaman — is the Justice Gang, rewriting the scene to firmly set it in the new DCU, and bringing it in line with the recently released "Superman" film.

The reshot scene replaces the silhouettes of Henry Cavill's Superman with David Corenswet's new Man of Steel and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman with Millie Alcock's Supergirl (whose own film is slated for 2026). Joining them are Edi Gathegi's Mister Terrific, plus Nathan Fillion and Isabela Merced as Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl, replacing Jason Momoa's Aquaman and Ezra Miller's Flash — and both appear to have filmed new dialogue for the sequence.

Gardner even gets to deliver a wisecrack similar to that of Aquaman, uttering a sarcastic remark about Peacemaker's (John Cena) repeated insults against him (in this version, Peacemaker is seen mocking the Green Lantern for enjoying watching people vomit).

The opening recap of "The Ties that Grind" does more than show us some of the the biggest moments from "Peacemaker" Season 1 and retcon a major scene. It also gives us a potential glimpse into the future of the new DC Universe. 

At the end of "Superman," the Justice Gang only officially consists of three members: Green Lantern Guy Gardner, winged warrior Hawkgirl, and costumed super genius Mister Terrific. By the end of the film, it's suggested that Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) is a possible new recruit, and it's hinted that Superman could join them too. Yet in the new, retconned scene, Metamorpho is nowhere to be seen and the others are joined by Supergirl instead.

Nowhere in "Superman" is it ever suggested that Clark Kent's Kryptonian cousin is a member of the Justice Gang, and we don't even get the impression that they've even met her. So it would seem that "Peacemaker" Season 1 may actually take place after the "Superman" movie just released in 2025, with both Superman and Supergirl among the Gang's roster. Where that leaves the likes of Metamorpho — not to mention Wonder Woman and Batman — is anyone's guess.

The rejiggered scene in the Season 1 recap of "Peacemaker" firmly moves the events of that story into the DCU, retconning prior events rather than having the character step into an alternate universe. But it turns out that writer-director — and now DCU architect — James Gunn never really considered using the multiverse to explain how one of DC's biggest sad boys moved into a new cinematic universe.

Gunn told Rotten Tomatoes, "He was part of this 'in-between' universe of DC when there was nobody really making sure that everything was connected and at a time when they were going to rewrite everything with 'The Flash.'" That 2023 film was originally intended to reshape the DCEU and allow new actors to take on old roles while folding in other characters, which gave Gunn more freedom even when he was just writing and directing Season 1 of "Peacemaker." 

While Gunn couldn't easily retain much of the DCEU for his new cinematic universe, "Peacemaker," was a simple shift because "there's hardly anything else that you need to change for him, he can slide very easily into the DCU," Gunn explained, adding, "But maybe we have to retcon a couple of things." Retcon he did, and now it's easy to understand why Gunn has repeatedly commented that "Peacemaker" Season 1 would be "mostly" canon.