Peacemaker: What That Big Cameo Means for Superman 2

This article contains spoilers for Peacemaker season 2.

Just as we feared, things have gotten very bad for the 11th Street Kids on Peacemaker season 2.

In the sixth episode of Peacemaker’s second season, Chris Smith’s friends follow him into an alternate dimension. When they do, they realize a truth that Chris couldn’t see through the actualization of his fantasies of respect and a happy family. This Earth is ruled by Nazis, a revelation that comes only after A.R.G.U.S. agents arrest Chris and Harcourt, after Auggie stabs Economos in the hand, and after Keith sends a mob after Adebayo.

With a whole universe full of bad people in the episode, it’s shocking that James Gunn, who both writes and directs this one, found room for one more. But sure enough, when Rick Flag needs help dealing with the Quantum Folding Chamber and Multiversal Map that the 11th Street Kids use to go across realities, he goes straight to the source. Flag returns to Belle Reeve prison where has an audience with Lex Luthor, played once again by Nicholas Hoult.

As demonstrated by his use of a cane and by his many “I told you so” asides about the threat posed by metahumans, Luthor has more than a few wounds left over from the events of Superman. Yet, it’s not the past that makes Luthor’s second appearance in the new DCU so compelling. It’s the future.

When Luthor offers a radar to track multiversal incidents in exchange for his freedom, Flag flatly denies it. But Flag does suggest Luthor could gain something else in return: “An opportunity for redemption.”

That phrase is particularly compelling, given what we know about James Gunn‘s follow-up to Superman, Man of Tomorrow. In the announcement and in several subsequent posts, Gunn has suggested that Man of Tomorrow will see Superman and Luthor team up, most likely against the larger threat posed by Brainiac. By helping Flag, Luthor takes his first steps toward becoming the type of person who can save the world alongside Superman.

Given that Lex shows up in an episode that confirms the existence of Earth-X (even if that designation isn’t ever used here), one might assume that the next step of Luthor’s redemption will pit him against a Nazi variation of Superman. After all, the Grant Morrison-penned issue of The Multiversity that took place on Earth-X (or, Earth-10 in the current DC Comics nomenclature) features Overman, Kal-El from Krypton as raised by Hitler. Few things would make Lex happier than to kill a Superman, and Flag would be happy to let him do it.

But even though Morrison recently (gently) pointed out some shortcomings in the filmmaker’s approach in relationship to All-Star Superman, Gunn understands their work well enough to know that redemption for Lex cannot come through indulging envy.

Instead, Lex’s road to redemption will probably mirror an exchange from the climax of All-Star Superman. At the end of that story, Luthor gains Superman’s powers, thinking he can finally defeat the Kryptonian. Instead, Luthor’s enhanced senses allow him to see how many people rely upon one another, how they all need to help each other. “You could have saved the world years ago if it mattered to you, Luthor.”

Gunn echoed the sentiment at the end of Superman, when the titular hero delivered his passionate speech about humanity. “I screw up all the time, but that is being human, and that’s my greatest strength,” Superman tells Lex. “And someday, I hope, for the sake of the world, you understand that it’s yours too.”

Hopefully, Man of Tomorrow will see Lex starting to understand that. Because if Chris Smith can go from a dumb jingoistic to someone appalled by American Nazis, then maybe there’s hope for Lex Luthor as well.

Peacemaker airs every Thursday at 9pm EST on HBO Max.

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