Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show I’m your host Paul aka Peace Taker, cos I take the Peace…do you see what I’m saying and this video we’re breaking down the ending of Peacemaker.
From the intro to the end the show has been a blast and the series went out in style with the doctor of Thuganomics himself John Cena at the helm.
Expertly crafted by James Gunn we’ve followed on directly from the events of Suicide Squad which was released last year.
Throughout this video we’re gonna be breaking down the entire show and because of this there will be heavy spoilers. If you enjoy the video then please smash the thumbs up button and also don’t forget to subscribe for videos like this every day.
With that out the way, thanks for clicking this, now let’s get into Peacemaker.
Ok so first up I wanna do a quick recap of the series but if you wanna skip ahead to just the ending then timecodes will be linked below.
In Peacemaker attempted to destroy any evidence of Starro’s existence so as to preserve the peace. After killing Rick Flagg, he was taken out by Bloodsport who is now not the worst dad in the DCEU I’m talking about you White Dragon.
Mr T. 1000 year Reich.
Though it seemed like he was killed, the post-credits scene revealed that Peacemaker survived and the series picked up on the other side of this with the character recovering in Hospital.
Harcourt and Ecomonos were sent to watch him by Amanda Waller and he would soon get his first assignment after the Corto Maltese Job.
Chris was approached by Murn and the rest of this sub-team which included Amanda Waller’s daughter. Tasked with taking down alien parasites known as the Butterflies we’ve followed the group as they’ve attempted to stop them.
Along the way, we also got introduced to Peacemaker racist father The White Dragon, who’s basically a white supremacist Iron Man.
Early on things turned south when Peacemaker accidentally slept with a Butterfly host and he wound up having to kill her.
The police showed up and they followed him but after a little help from his friends, Chris managed to get away. To cover things up Economos stepped in but he got a little too ahead of himself and he switched Chris’s licence plate and fingerprints so that it seemed like they belonged to his dad.
Auggie was framed and he was put in jail over his son.
War on the Butterflies
On the first proper mission, Peacemaker was sent to take out Royland Goff, a US Senator who was suspected of being butterfly hosts. This was revealed to be true but Peacemaker got cold feet and thus his ally Vigilante stepped in to finish the job. Cold feet…more like…missing toes ey.
What.
During this mission they encountered Judo Master lover of Cheetos who’s capable of moving his organs about to protect his body parts…apparently. Peacemaker captured Goff and held him captive throughout the series which eventually led to another uprising that sort of sets up the ending.
After another bloody mission involving the butterflies, a big twist came when we discovered that Murn was actually one of them. Adebayo worked this out using Peacemaker’s X-ray helmet which is when the truth about the creatures was revealed.
We discovered that they came from a dying planet in search of a new home. Goff’s butterfly wanted to take over Earth and Murn’s Butterfly dissented and then he took over the worst person he could find, Clemson Murn.
Meanwhile, Detective Song, released Peacemaker’s father, leading him to want to get revenge on his son.
We learned that Chris and his brother were forced to fight in bare-knuckle boxing for their father’s entertainment which does explain a lot of their relationship. During one of the bouts, Chris accidentally killed his brother and since then his father has blamed him instead of taking responsibility.
He ended up donning his White Dragon Armour and he set out to kill his son which we’ll talk about in just a bit.
On the other side of this, the Police ended up going after Vigilante and Peacemaker who managed to escape but during this time Goff was freed. In the body of Detective Song, it took over the police force including Waller’s plant Locke.
He was supposed to help the mission but he exposed Peacemaker instead.
Song also killed Murn and crushed the butterfly which MOTH Balled the team’s plan.
Thank you I’m here all week.
White Dragon went after him too but Chris managed to overpower his dad and he killed him which just left the butterfly threat.
During the last episode, the team were able to locate where the Butterflies food source was being kept and went to take out the ‘Cow’ which is the sole source of the food supply.
They’re attempting to teleport it out and early on the episode somewhat becomes a mission against time to track it down. They end up defeating the cow in the end but we’ll talk about that later on.
Aquaman Does What To Fish?
Now come the end of the finale we meet the Justice League who arrive in the aftermath of the battle.
Aquaman and Flash make some major cameos and alongside them are Superman and Wonder Woman. At the moment Henry Cavill is pretty much Schroedinger’s Supes as we don’t know whether he’s in or out of the DCEU. There’s been a lot of back and forth behind the scenes from what I’ve heard and the rumours about things being a stalemate could be true. They do keep him in shadow however the same thing is done with Wonder Woman so this may be a case of the show not having the budget to bring the actors in without it spiralling out of control.
I can imagine that the Supes being in shadow will annoy a lot of people who wanna see Henry Cavill back and for whatever reason, he’s kept in the dark as much as we are.
Now Aquaman appearing of course pays off a big joke from the first episode in which Chris said he f**ks fish.
Which the jury is still out, probably better than Amber Turd in the bed.
There’s also the Flash there too who will of course be appearing in his own solo movie this year. It looks like the film will be based heavily upon Flashpoint and it’ll have him going back to save his mother from being murdered. This will create a branched timeline in which Michael Keaton will be Batman instead of Ben Affleck. With Peacemaker Season 2 coming, we don’t know whether this will be brought into that or if it’ll just continue going the way that things are.
Interestingly there is no Batman in the Justice League cameo and though he did get name-dropped earlier in the season, we do know things are a bit up in the air with him too. In addition to Affleck and Keaton appearing in the Flash, we also have Robert Pattinson showing up as the character next month in his own separate universe so perhaps they just didn’t wanna get people too confused.
On top of this Cyborg is also missing from the lineup. Ray Fisher very publicly has talked about the harassment and erasure that he had by WB and yeah I think they should’ve included him in this lineup, even if it was in shadow like the others. We know Ray is very much done with the DCEU so it is quite complicated over whether they should’ve included the character without his blessing and I’d love to hear your opinion on the situation below.
I don’t wanna get too deep into that as I could spend all day talking about it but the cameos are pretty big and it was great seeing Jason Mamoa especially due to the joke in episode 1.
Harcourt ends up in the hospital paralysed which somewhat mirrors the way that Chris started off at the beginning of the series.
It’s quite a bittersweet ending and yesterday before the finale’s release it was announced that John Cena will be back for Season 2. James Gunn will once more be behind the show and we’ll theorise what’s going on later in the video.
Strap on Your Helmets
Now we start off the entry with the group riding out to the cow with the song Steel Panther if you really love me playing in the background.
They approach the camp and assemble the helmets, some of which are named after the rock albums And Justice for All and Sonic Boom, by Metallica and Kiss respectively. And Justice For All is and Scabies for all and I love the little easter eggs laced throughout the show.
This isn’t really an easter egg breakdown but yeah I thought I’d bring them up because they’re pretty niche.
Green Arrow is confirmed in the DCEU and Eagly isn’t Eagerly in approaching the base. Ey.
He drops the helmet in the forest and when looking for it Chris comes across a hallucination of his father which he kills in his imagination. He kills him by hitting him in the same spot that he did to kill him in real life and come to the end of the entry his father clearly haunts him. Now I think that this confirms Robert Patrick will be back for Season 2 and that he’ll very much be at the character’s side taunting him. This is something that the Joker did in Arkham Knight and it works really well, allowing the vision to embody all the characters doubts. Though early on he talks about his brother’s death and somewhat comes to terms with him not being guilty over it, it’s clear he still resents himself. Since then he’s murdered people in the name of peace but his father appearing once more shows the guilt that he somewhat feels over killing him.
Potentially.
I’m not a psychologist but I think that the whole point of Peacemaker is that he internalises his mistakes and tries to learn from them. He’s even down to kill his father’s vision but come to the end of the entry he finds somewhat acceptance with it, showing that he is likely on the right path to growing as a person. Perhaps he will keep his father around until he’s completely dealt with all the trauma he caused and I think that would be a really interesting way to take season 2.
Now Economos manages to sneak into the base using a stolen uniform and a bag with the Sonic Boom helmet in. He’s questioned and acts really weird over it but he’s let in for an unknown reason. I actually think this is because he acts really weirdly and as the butterflies act weird they think it’s normal. Might be a reach but we get some more nods to other moments with the character.
When seeing the cow he panics and leaves saying No More Kaijus. This is a callback to Suicide Squad when he called Starro a Kaiju as well.
He’s also asked about his beard which is a nod to Peacemaker calling him Dyebeard.
After admitting his insecurities Economos is caught and the Butterflies chase him down. However, the Sonic boom helmet saves the day with the repeat activation of it slowly destroying the lair.
With the charges depleted the group head into the rubble leaving Adebayo behind. Peacemaker takes his shield and when discussing the character Gun has often referenced how he’s basically a twisted version of Captain America. The poster for the show even looked extremely similar to an old Image of Captain America and it’s nice that this is included.
After going all out on the butterflies Chris stumbles inside the lair but both Harcourt and Vigilante are shot on the outside.
Seeing the destruction Adebayo runs in and shows exactly why she’s Amanda Waller’s daughter. She saves Harcourt from being taken over and goes after him with the Torpedo helmet.
Trapped under rubble Goff in the body of Song pulls him out and beats the crap out of him. Goff goes somewhat on a social commentary tangent and says that the butterflies very much recognise the failings of their planet in our own. There are clear allusions to climate change, the pandemic and how profit is often put above people. Goff recognises the good in Chris because of how he cared and the butterfly says that Cena can be the Peacemaker he’s always wanted.
Instead, he activates the human torpedo helmet which sends Adebayon flying into the cow, killing it in the process. Peacemaker kills Locke and Goff but he allows the butterfly to live again.
Peacemaker a changed man?
Now Peacemaker refusing to destroy lives in the name of peace brings his character full circle and throughout the season we’ve seen as he’s been filled with regret over his actions in Suicide Squad. The guy knew deep down that he didn’t do the right thing and though he’s kept up this image of bravado he finally drops it and allows humanity to continue making their own mistakes instead of being enslaved.
On the outside, he runs into the Justice League and Flash says it…he f**ks fish man. Ain’t a rumour.
Harcourt and Vigilante are dropped off at the hospital and Adebayo and Chris have a heart to heart. In many ways, the pair mirror one another and they were of course put on a path by their parents to follow them in their footsteps. Both kinda showed that they were more than that and that they can make their own choices which were reflected in Chris putting an end to Goff’s plan.
The notes on Operation Butterfly are exposed to the public by Adebayo along with the truth about Chris and his fake diary. Taskforce X is brought to light which brings Taskforce X into the public eye. For years Taskforce X has used criminals on black ops missions and Waller will now have to deal with not only the fallout from her own daughter but also the public who are now aware of the operations.
She returns to her wife putting her above the job and Harcourt recovers in hospital with Chris at her side.
Economos returns to Belle Reeve as a member of staff and though he’s back behind a desk he remembers the fun he had with his friends.
Judo master surveys the carnage and in the woods, Vigilante and Chris have some fun whilst Harcourt teaches herself to walk again.
Now the final scene deals with Goff coming back to Chris and rather than being placed in a jar he’s now alongside it showing somewhat inner peace within Chris. He’s joined by a vision of his father once more and we end the season with him laughing showing that the character might have to come to grips with all that we discussed earlier. It’s a great way to end the season and going forward I think that Goff might somewhat become an ally to Peacemaker as they tackle more intergalactic threats. With Taskforce X now in the public, there’ll likely be a debate over whether its existence should be a thing or not.
I can actually see a for and against argument and Chris might be brought back into a mission but I think he’d have more free will at this point rather than being forced to do it. It sends the series out on a high and the post-credits scene is an extended moment with Vigilante saying to Economos he’s worried that he’s gonna die.
It ends things on a high note and we close the series out looking forward to season 2.
Now as for my thoughts on the series I have to say I’ve had an absolute blast with Peacemaker and it’s been my favourite show of the year so far. I think it’s done the action, drama and comedy really well and John Cena has nailed everything in front of him. When they eventually do a Terminator Reboot I’d love to see him play the robot machine as I think the guy is built like a brick s**thouse but he’s also able to do the friendly and more charismatic things Arnie pulled off.
Anyway veering completely off subject there but I think the show has been so good.
James Gunn is really talented when it comes to team up things and after Guardians, Suicide Squad and this I can’t wait to see what he does next. The guy is a great writer and I don’t really have anything bad to say about how it was paced, directed or written.
Even the intro is so good that it’s something you just can’t skip and it’s been the show that I’m most excited for every single week.
I don’t really have anything bad to say and Peacemaker was a complete blast from beginning to end. The next DC project coming out is The Batman and the company has a really solid year by the looks of it.
Overall I loved the show and it gets a…
9/10
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