Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Peacemaker season 1 finale.

John Cena offers his thoughts on the Peacemaker finale's massive DCEU cameos. In the span of half a year, Cena's chrome-domed DC anti-hero has become one of the franchise's biggest characters thanks to a pair of well-received projects. Peacemaker, aka Christopher Smith, first made his debut in last year's The Suicide Squad, and he then scored his own HBO Max spin-off series. Created by writer-director James Gunn, Peacemaker picked up with Chris after the events of The Suicide Squad and challenged the audiences' perception of him as he embarked on another world-saving mission.

Peacemaker season 1 came to a close last Thursday and served fans with a major DCEU surprise. After the conclusion of the Project Butterfly plot, Chris and his remaining team members come face to face with some latecomers: The Justice League. Though Superman and Wonder Woman are largely kept in shadow, Aquaman and the Flash actually exchange words with Peacemaker, as Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller appear onscreen. Not only did this firmly connect Peacemaker (and thus The Suicide Squad) to the rest of the DCEU, but it gave the normally serious heroes the chance to get in on Chris' profane jokes.

Related: Peacemaker Finale's DCEU Cameo Reveals A Lot About New Era DC Films

Cena sat down with Fandom after the Peacemaker finale and reacted to the Justice League cameos. He spoke at length about them, first mentioning that they were important to include because Peacemaker is jealous of them all, and so he jokes about them in horrible ways. However, from a real life perspective, the cameos were significant because they gave Peacemaker the show some major credibility within the rest of the DCEU. Cena was especially grateful that Momoa and Miller participated, saying:

“I’m forever grateful [to Momoa and Miller], because they did us a huge solid by doing that. And they were able to put themselves in the limelight and get everybody talking, but they do so in a way where the joke’s not on them. And they did it for the good of our show. Whether that was their intention or not, it really, really, really, really helped us, especially after eight episodes of people being excited about the show, to put a stamp on it. It lets everybody know that there’s a new player in the DC Universe and that this is what’s going on. ‘These folks are now on an equal playing field, wow!’ That’s my takeaway from that. I think that was a very important moment for us. And of course, it gives everybody a whole lot of stuff to talk about and James Gunn is really good about making people talk about stuff! So mission accomplished in that regard.”

Aquaman in a dark open field in Peacemaker

Because of how much the franchise has evolved over the years, there's been some questions over whether certain projects exist within the same DCEU continuity as others. DC has begun working on standalone projects like The Batman, so the canon debate is more pertinent than ever. By including the Justice League within the Peacemaker finale, Gunn has definitively declared where these characters stand in relation to each other. He might've also opened the door for more questions, particularly since the Flash and Aquaman are both set to have new movies later this year that could muddy up their place in this world. Nevertheless, regardless of the finer details, Peacemaker the character exists on the same plane as Aquaman, the Flash, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

He also exists alongside Batman and Cyborg, but their cameos were reportedly cut from the Peacemaker finale due to unknown behind the scenes reasons. Even without those two, though, the Justice League moment is by far the most-talked about TV scene of the year so far. Peacemaker as a whole has surpassed expectations to win over fans and critics alike, and Chris' world will continue to grow with the newly-ordered season 2. Perhaps then Batman and Cyborg will join the party? Only time will tell.

More: Peacemaker Ending Explained: What The DC Cameo & Twist Return Really Mean

Source: Fandom

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