Warning: This article contains spoilers for Peacemaker episode 1.
A subtle detail in James Gunn's Peacemaker TV show may confirm that The Suicide Squad - and its John Cena-led spin-off - was never set in the same timeline as the main DCEU. That would at least explain why David Ayer's Suicide Squad mid-credits scene is never addressed in the part-sequel-part-reboot, and why certain elements of Ayer's and Snyder's timelines didn't return in Gunn's 2021 release.
The canon status of The Suicide Squad was always quite unclear, almost by design. Warner Bros were saddled with the problem that Ayer's original had a massive audience who propelled it to major success at the box office despite terrible reviews and the shadow of studio interference. Throwing away that entire continuity for a reboot - no matter who the director was or how confident the studio was in the new vision - would have been a betrayal of those who came out for Suicide Squad. And then there was the question of returning characters: with Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Boomerang (Jai Courtney), and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) all back for the sequel, the lines were blurred, to say the least.
With some story elements carrying over, like the friendship between Harley, Flag, and Boomerang, it felt like the insistence that The Suicide Squad was not a full reboot made sense, but Peacemaker suggests it actually was. At one point in the first episode, it's revealed that Danielle Brooks' Adebayo is the niece of Amanda Waller and is working covertly for her while also on Project Peacemaker. As part of the reveal, Adebayo shows Peacemaker's diary, which, weirdly, has a Wayne Foundation sticker on the front. The suggestion is that John Cena's Peacemaker is a Bruce Wayne fanboy, which teases how perfectly Batman's disguise works in the DCEU, but the logo suggests the version of Batman in Peacemaker's universe may not be Ben Affleck. The Wayne Foundation logo itself is completely different from the Affleck DCEU Wayne logo as established in the DCEU previously, hinting in the most subtle way, that this is not the same continuity as Snyder's original DCEU.
It's understandable that James Gunn may not want to stick to Snyder's timeline, because of the possibilities afforded by ignoring it. Should he wish to bring a Joker in for a Harley Quinn spin-off (and Gunn has already said more The Suicide Squad spin-offs could be coming), he wouldn't be beholden to Jared Leto's Joker, for instance. And Gunn could potentially use new versions of Killer Croc, Diablo, Enchantress, or any character Snyder's timeline introduced previously. Separating from that original DCEU movie timeline is smart, in actual fact, and Peacemaker does it without insulting the previous timeline (albeit apart from taking unnecessary shots at Aquaman), which is key for Snyder DCEU fans enjoying Gunn's show.
The Peacemaker's DCEU movie timeline confirmation tease also serves a couple more useful purposes: first, it means Batman's lack of involvement in The Suicide Squad make sense, given the fact that he threatened Waller in the previous movie's after-credits stinger and then seemingly ignored the Corto Maltese mission entirely. And then there's the fact that Peacemaker's DCEU timeline change could even be used as a soft tease of The Flash movie's Flashpoint reboot of the timeline, or at least a reminder heading into that movie that the multiverse is very much a consideration here. Presumably, if the Flashpoint rumors are true, Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad's timeline could become "main" lines again.
New episodes of Peacemaker are released every Thursday on HBO Max.
