Warning: Contains spoilers for Peacemaker episode 4.
In Peacemaker episode 4, a brief confirmation ultimately reveals that there is yet another Joker in the wider DCEU whose identity is still a secret. James Gunn’s Peacemaker follows on from his revival of the Suicide Squad franchise with 2021’s The Suicide Squad. However, how James Gunn’s work fits into the full DCEU timeline is growing ever more complicated.
In Peacemaker episode 4, “The Choad Less Traveled,” Peacemaker (John Cena) returns to the house of his father, Auggie Smith (Robert Patrick). As he is leaving, his father’s neighbor (Mel Tuck) opens a conversation with Peacemaker challenging the idea that he is a superhero by pointing out that he does not have a rogue’s gallery of supervillains like Batman, name dropping Joker, Riddler, and Mad Hatter. Crucially, Auggie Smith’s neighbor also mentions that Batman doesn’t kill people.
There have been several clues in the Peacemaker TV show that it doesn’t take place in the same timeline as the main DCEU. One of the most prominent is the idea that Batman’s no-kill rule is in place, while Zack Snyder’s direction of the Ben Affleck Batman had him kill people repeatedly, but a version of the Wayne Foundation logo is also seen and is notably different from the one that appears in the DCEU. If the Peacemaker timeline includes a different version of Batman that doesn’t kill people, then it logically means that the mention of Joker in Peacemaker episode 4 confirms a new version of Joker for this timeline as well.
With Peacemaker suggesting the presence of a new Joker, there are now five versions of the Joker that exist in active DC timelines. The main DCEU timeline has the Jared Leto Joker who appears in the original Suicide Squad (along with Ben Affleck’s Batman in a cameo), the Snyder Cut of Justice League, and is set for an announced upcoming project. 2022’s The Flash brings Michael Keaton’s Batman into the DCEU multiverse, confirming Jack Nicholson’s Joker, while 2022 will also bring Robert Pattinson’s The Batman, which is rumored to either include or set up another Joker. Finally, the Joaquin Phoenix movie Joker establishes the “Elseworld” Joker.
Based on the narrative of John Cena’s Peacemaker, it makes seems likely that Peacemaker, The Suicide Squad, and even potentially the Birds of Prey movie all take place in an alternate DCEU timeline within the multiverse. These taking place in a different timeline to the 2016 Suicide Squad would help to explain why Ben Affleck’s cameo as Bruce Wayne in the original movie’s post-credits scene was never paid off and seemed to be entirely forgotten. This split is ultimately a good thing as it implies that if DC wanted to include Joker as part of a future Margot Robbie Harley Quinn project as she continues to define herself outside of that relationship, they would not be beholden to including the divisive Jared Leto portrayal of Joker in this timeline.
Peacemaker releases new episodes Thursdays on HBO Max.
