One of the DCU's first villains was confirmed as gay in Peacemaker Season 2, Episode 7, "Like a Keith in the Night." The DCU reboot began in December 2024's Creature Commandos, featuring Wonder Woman villain Circe and Polkistan royalty Princess Ilana Rostovic as its main antagonists. This summer, Superman followed, with Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor and Man of Steel clone Ultraman. But, more recently, Peacemaker Season 2 arrived with no outright villain to defeat.
The HBO Max series' main antagonist, for the most part, has been Frank Grillo's Rick Flag Sr., as he utilizes his new influence as ARGUS director for a revenge mission against Peacemaker for killing his son in The Suicide Squad. Meanwhile, Peacemaker introduced an alternate Earth, which seemed too good to be true before being exposed as the Nazi-ruled Earth X. Presumably, this leaves this Earth and all its racist inhabitants as the season's other villains, including Peacemaker's brother, Keith Smith, aka Captain Triumph.
During a bonding session with Danielle Brooks' Leota Adebayo about the evils of Earth-X (an alternate dimension where the Nazis won World War ll), Nhut Le's Judomaster revealed new details about himself, including that he is gay.
Having discovered Earth X's historic origins, Judomaster noted that, in this world, "You don't wanna be a minority here, or gay, or Buddhist" before indicating these are all things that he is, making him the DCU's first gay villain:
"Nazis won World War 2 here. I've been reading all the history books on the bookshelf. You don't wanna be a minority here, or gay, or Buddhist, or anything I am really."
The DCU's Judomaster, Hadley "Rip" Jagger, is not gay in DC Comics, as he is now confirmed to be in live-action. That said, his son, Tommy Jagger, who also carried the Judomaster, is openly gay on the page.
After allying with the Butterflies' cause in Peacemaker Season 1, expert martial artist Judomaster returned in Season 2 as ARGUS and Rick Flag Sr. recruited him in their mission to take down Peacemaker. This led to him pursuing Peacemaker into Earth-X, where he saved Adabeyo from a swarm of pursuing Nazis and escaped to the DCU with the 11th Street Kids.
Despite performing an act of goodness and developing a friendship with Adabeyo, Judomaster remains a villain for now. Upon crossing back through the portal, he stood by Flag Sr. and ARGUS, rejoining their side before the finale.
Judomaster Might Be Heading for Redemption in the DCU
Having backed the group's false narrative about the 11th Street Kids by convincing Peacemaker to hand over the dimensional portal to ARGUS and saving Adabeyo, Judomaster may be heading for a heroic turn.
Notably, Judomaster is usually portrayed as a superhero in DC Comics, making a redemption arc fitting for the DCU villain ahead of potential future appearances.
The DCU's Judomaster looks to be an amalgam of the character's comic incarnations, along with a few James Gunnifications. One incarnation, Tommy, also openly gay in DC Comics, was an agent of Checkmate, which made its live-action debut in Peacemaker Season 2's finale.
In the comics, Waller formed Checkmate as a government spy organization that operates worldwide and recruits only the best agents. Part of Checkmate's mission involves controlling and monitoring metahumans, which James Gunn already teased will be part of the DCU's larger Chapter 1 storyline.
