Like many TV shows with a continuing story, the premiere of Peacemaker season 2 opens with a series of flashbacks form the previous season, reminding viewers how Chris formed a friendship with fellow oddballs in the 11th Street Kids, killed his abusive white supremacist father, and defeated the butterflies. Tellingly, this section comes with a title card that reads, “Previously in the DCU.”
But instead of the Justice League arriving too soon, it’s the Justice Gang seen in Superman: Hawkgirl, Guy Gardner, and Mister Terrific, with Superman and Supergirl in tow. As with the original version, only two of the characters are fully visible and interact with Chris, as we see Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner grouch about being called a “meathead,” and Isabela Merced cackles at him as Hawkgirl.
Some will certainly leap to the conclusion that we’re seeing the line-up of the new Justice League, complete with David Corenswet’s Superman and Milly Alcock’s Supergirl as members, but that would be way too premature, especially as the first episode finds Chris trying out for the Justice Gang. Others will complain that Gunn hand waved something so huge. The entire universe changed! This deserves an entire Crisis on Infinite Earths-style event! It can’t be just a couple seconds in the intro!
Turns out, no you don’t. And Gunn knows this well because he knows how comic book universes work.
The DC Universe has been a continuing storyline since 1938. The Marvel Universe has been a continuing storyline since 1961—longer if you count pre-Marvel comics starring Namor and Captain America. While DC has rebooted its universe several times, with the aforementioned Crisis and others, and Marvel had a pseudo-reboot in Secret Wars, even those events are part of ongoing stories.
The ongoing story can be wonderful, as it’s fun to see Flash pop up in a Batman adventure or Spider-Man try to join the Fantastic Four. But when writers have to spend too much time explaining how Flash can be in Gotham City when readers know he was trapped on Earth-2 that same month, then they’re spending too much time on exposition, telling instead of showing. And when they’re doing exposition, creators can’t do the thing that fans really want in a story: character development and action.
