The Peacemaker Season 2 finale included a touching tribute to a now-dead DCEU hero. While James Gunn's latest super-powered effort firmly planted its flag in the newly launched DCU, retconning key events from the first season so that they make sense within the new comic book continuity, several holdover characters and storylines from the franchise's previous iteration remain.
Fans got another taste of these DCEU connections during Peacemaker Season 2's final episode, as the series harkened back to Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag Jr. in one last commendation to the dearly departed DC hero.
During Season 2, Episode 8's final moments—as the 11th Street kids set up the new superhero team, Checkmate—Jennifer Holland's Emilia Harcourt places a brow-raising curio on her desk.
Emilia's last touch to her workspace is a rabbit-shaped figure, modelled after the in-universe hero, Ultra Bunny. This is a subtle nod to Kinnaman's former DCEU character (who was recently made DCU canon).
Kinnaman's Rick Flag wore a yellow Ultra Bunny shirt during the entirety of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. The character also appeared on a similar piece of in-universe merchandise worn by Frankenstein in Creature Commandos, but this seems to be a specific reference to the former Task Force X leader on Harcourt's part.
Earlier in the season, it was revealed that Holland's DCU character once had a relationship with Rick Flag Jr., leading right up to his untimely death at the hands of John Cena's Peacemaker (as seen in The Suicide Squad).
While Harcourt has turned the corner when it comes to wanting revenge against Cena's chrome-domed supe, it seems she still harbors some feelings for her late friend, including Ultra Bunny as a reminder of Flag.
Ultra Bunny is an original in-universe cartoon character and fictional hero within James Gunn's DC universe, with no past precedence in the comics themselves.
Peacemaker Season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max, in its entirety. Said to lay the path forward for the rest of the DCU, the hit R-rated superhero comedy stars John Cena as Christopher Smith/Peacemaker as he discovers another universe where everything he has ever wanted has become reality. While Cena leads the cast, he is backed up by names like Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt, Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, and Steve Agee as John Economos.
How Will Rick Flag Jr. Play Into the Future of the DCU?
Not only was it a surprise to see Joel Kinnaman reprise his DCEU hero role in the new Peacemaker season, but to see more than one of him, as the series explored multiple realities (including one where Kinnaman's Rick Flag lived).
However, it does not mean Kinnaman is guaranteed to return beyond his cameo in Peacemaker Season 2. It does seem as though James Gunn has plans for the Earth X reality, where Rick Flag Jr. is still alive, seemingly teasing in a recent interview that David Denman's Captain Triumph will return. If we do head back there, perhaps Kinnaman could pop up.
What seems more likely, though, is that Kinnaman's character remains on the bench, impacting the overall DCU story in a more metaphorical sense.
The death of Rick Flag Jr. will continue to make waves across the DCU. As seen in Peacemaker's second season, Rick Flag Sr. (played by Frank Grillo) is on a quest for revenge, hunting down Metahuman threats, all thanks to Peacemaker killing his son years prior (read more about Rick Flag Sr.'s Metahuman plan here).
Also, Flag's death will linger in people like Emilia Harcourt, who (as evident by the Ultra Bunny appearance on her desk) will never forget the late DCEU hero.
