The new season of 'The Peacemaker' is the acid test for the new DC Universe.

Superman has laid the groundwork for James Gunn's new DC Universe with a solid box office run, but the immediate question is, what now? To answer this question, all eyes are on the second season of The Peacemaker, the only product that has made it through the filter of the previous stage and which arrives on HBO Max on the 22nd . A sequel season that will test whether the director's vision for his cohesive world can work by mixing his most familiar and irreverent productions.

The season picks up a month after the events of Superman, returning to the chaotic adventures of Christopher Smith to bridge the gap between two fictions, the first connected to The Suicide Squad , and this new installment with an inevitable narrative continuity with the premiere still in theaters. It may be that certain DCEU properties can be retroactively integrated into the current timeline, revealing a calculated industrial strategy that doesn't discard everything that came before, but preserves what works.

Gunn's approach lets his past peek through, his experience within a model that some will soon call the Marvelization of DC, but despite the echoes of crossover characters, continuity, and a lighter tone than Snyder's dark introspection, there's a willingness to mix scatological humor and emotion that increasingly resembles a more mature Kevin Smith. If anything, Gunn rarely takes himself as seriously as the guy from New Jersey, highlighting the inherent ridiculousness of superhero situations as something human.

As for commonalities with Superman , we have Isabela Merced (Hawkgirl), Nathan Fillion (Guy Gardner) and Sean Gunn (Maxwell Lord), who appeared in a microcameo, although one more important than it seems to solidify the connective tissue of both productions. Also appearing is Rick Flagg Sr., played by Frank Grillo , who comes from Creature Commandos . These are additions that alter the DNA of the series, opening up to situations on another scale, more tied to the DC Universe.

Gunn's strategy for making everything feel contrived is to avoid forced exposition , allowing his characters to flow naturally between projects without too much explanation. Therefore, the appearance of the Peacemaker in Superman is almost a wink, but it allows for the building of other bridges, breaking DC's curse of wanting to move things too quickly. It seems that the new film will take into account the director's experience at Marvel, but will seek a compromise between the obligatory cameo and the narrative need to tell a bigger story.

The second season of The Peacemaker must demonstrate that Gunn's universe can maintain its individual identity while also establishing continuity, maintain its irreverent tone—but not one that will define the entire DC Universe—and make its approach work across different media formats. A series of challenges amid the crossroads of superhero cinema, with Superman's box office figures well short of $1 billion and the relative failure of Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The last two major comic book projects in the film industry are a pair of summer blockbusters that pale in comparison to the flood of dollars from Barbenheimer, which makes the new project's momentum subpar. It doesn't help that three years have passed between the two seasons, but it's time needed to reset and present this sequel as something fresh.