Warning: SPOILERS for Peacemaker's Season 1 Finale - "It's Cow Or Never"
In Peacemaker's season 1 finale, Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) may have put an end to the Suicide Squad - something Batman (Ben Affleck) was possibly too scared to do. Peacemaker (John Cena) and his Task Force X team successfully saved the world from an invasion of the Butterflies, even though Goff (Annie Chang) claimed the alien insects were just trying to save the world from the foolishness of the human race. Afterward, Adebayo went public about the existence of Task Force X, effectively following through on Bruce Wayne's threat in Suicide Squad (2016).
In the end-credits scene of Suicide Squad, Bruce Wayne met Amanda Waller for dinner and to exchange intel. At this point in the DC Extended Universe's timeline, Superman (Henry Cavill) was dead and Batman was looking into known metahumans like Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) and Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) to recruit into his alliance to save the world from a forthcoming alien invasion. Waller gave Wayne the files he needed, but the Gotham billionaire told the ARGUS agent that he knew about her plan to use superpowered criminals in black ops operations. Wayne threatened Waller to "shut it down or my friends and I will do it for you." But Waller also told Bruce he should "stop working nights," insinuating she knew he was the Batman.
At the end of Peacemaker's season 1 finale, Leota Adebayo gave a press conference publicly revealing the events of Project Butterfly in order to exonerate Peacemaker of guilt. Adebayo went on to expose the existence of Task Force X as the brainchild of her mother, Amanda Waller. Now that the harsh light of day is glaring on the Suicide Squad, it could potentially put an end to Waller's devious and immoral black ops program. This would spare the inmates of Belle Reve prison and all of the supervillains Waller forces to join the Suicide Squad. Adebayo did exactly what Batman threatened Waller he would do years prior. Yet the Dark Knight never acted. Was it because Batman was frightened Waller would expose his secret identity?
Adebayo going public was especially brave because Amanda Waller is her mother, so there was a very personal stake in it for Leota as well as justified fear of how Amanda would retaliate. Yet Leota did the right thing whereas Batman allowed Waller to keep running her Suicide Squad in order to protect his own identity. Batman's inaction resulted in thousands of deaths, including Col. Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and other members of Task Force X. Had Batman actually followed through on his threat, he would have shut down the Suicide Squad just to get back at Waller. Laudably, Adebayo acted, in part, out of her genuine friendship with Christopher Smith. Leota's actions were also a sign of compassion for Belle Reve's other super convicts, who may now be safe from having to brutally die at the push of a button by Waller.
Curiously, Batman hasn't encountered Amanda Waller or the Suicide Squad since that rainy dinner when he and Waller exchanged threats. The Dark Knight did save the world from Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) with the Justice League, but he was nowhere to be found when Task Force X invaded Corto Maltese to stop another alien, Starro, in The Suicide Squad. It's also notable that Batman was absent when the rest of the Justice League, including Aquaman, Flash, Wonder Woman, and Superman, showed up late after Peacemaker and Adebayo killed the Butterflies' Cow. If Leota's Peacemaker press conference does cause the end of the Suicide Squad, then it was completely without the help of Batman, who may have been too scared to stop Waller years prior.
Next: Peacemaker Just Made The Suicide Squad 3 Impossible
