The DCU Will Set Up ‘Man of Tomorrow’ In A Surprising Way, Very Soon

Peacemaker has gone from James Gunn’s strange grandfathered-in passion project to possibly the most important property in the new DCU. It’s been a rough start for the series, as the changeover in universes meant some scenes of Season 1 had to be completely retconned, but in Season 2, the story just kept becoming bigger and bigger. Now, it’s beginning to look like the end of Peacemaker Season 2 will be so big that it will introduce the main villain of the upcoming Superman sequel film, Man of Tomorrow.

It’s still just speculation for now, but the case for Peacemaker’s final moments is just becoming stronger and stronger. Examine the evidence and decide for yourself.

The Case For Peacemaker

The first sign that Peacemaker Season 2 will contain the Man of Tomorrow villain lies in the simple fact that Gunn is keeping the final three episodes incredibly close to his chest. They weren’t sent to press for review, won’t be sent ahead of the episodes at all, and Gunn told entertainment journalist Brandon Davis he won’t even let his publicist see them. “People who want to search can be spoiled on purpose, but I really don’t want what’s in those last three episodes to be spoiled,” he said. “I will also say, six and eight may be my favorite things I’ve done, like, of all time. It’s like some of my favorite stuff ever.”

So just what could these final episodes contain that’s so important? For that, we have to look at two more crucial Gunn quotes. In August, he told ExtraTV that Peacemaker will reveal the direction of the franchise as a whole. “We kind of see where the DC Universe is going and we find out about where it’s heading from here,” he said. By the end of the season, there’s a lot of surprises.”

Then, just last week, after Gunn announced the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, he referred to Peacemaker on Instagram as a “Man of Tomorrow prequel” and doubled down by saying Peacemaker will “directly” tie into the sequel.

The Plot of Man of Tomorrow

So now James Gunn has all but confirmed that we’ll learn more about the direction of the DCU, just what could that direction be? A new quote has given us our first inkling. When Gunn announced Man of Tomorrow, he revealed that the sequel will follow Clark Kent and Lex Luthor yet again. But apparently, it won’t just be a rematch.

“It is a story about Lex Luthor and Superman having to work together to a certain degree against a much, much bigger threat,” Gunn said during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show. “And it’s more complicated than that, but that’s a big part of it. It’s as much a Lex movie as it is a Superman movie.”

In that case, every piece of evidence gathered so far points to Man of Tomorrow’s Big Bad appearing in these elusive final three episodes of Peacemaker. The only remaining question is who it could be. The leading theory currently is Brainiac, the cybernetic alien who would serve as an extraterrestrial threat to the entire planet, meaning Luthor would have his shiny bald skin in the game. There’s also the wild card theory: considering Peacemaker is dealing with an alternate dimension that seems a little too idyllic to be true, an evil variant of Superman may appear, too.

No matter who the villain of Man of Tomorrow really is, teaming Superman and Lex Luthor together will completely change the dynamics we saw in Superman. That is more than enough information to get excited for the movie’s 2027 release.

Peacemaker is now streaming on HBO Max.