Season 2 of Peacemaker has been a step up from the already fantastic first season. Our favorite violent, jingoistic meathead is now a far cry from the callous, unforgiving killer he once was. Once a loner, he’s since accrued a found family to make up for the broken one he came from.
And that’s given him a great fear in the new season’s “Like a Keith in the Night”. Smith, hoping to escape the consequences he’s bumped into, falls into the façade of a seemingly perfect world. A universe where he can be a hero and everything goes his way. This was "Earth-2".
That same utopia quickly removed its seemingly beautiful mask to reveal a nasty truth. This was only a perfect world to a strapping, straight white man like Smith. He only found more success there because of its alternate history catered to people like him.
Why? Because this is a universe where the Axis powers won World War II and Adolf Hitler became a sanitized image for the red, white, and blue. This was Earth-X.
Setting the scene
Leota Adebayo (portrayed by Danielle Brooks) found out the hard way about the universe’s dangers. Caucasian residents of an ideal neighborhood yelled and chased her, upset that “she got out.” Her subsequent rescue from the mob by Judomaster cast a light on how very unwelcome both were in this universe for who they are as non-Christian and queer people of color. They even ruminated on how they still faced these same persecutions back on Earth-1.
Based on the shape of homes, parks, and the city, it’s a visually catching sight. Unfortunately, this would have been the natural progression of the world, reminiscent of the white picket fences and “economic prosperity” of the decades of segregated society. It looks perfect, but only for self-proclaimed “perfect” people.
Psychologically, Chris's prompt rejection and rebellion of Earth-X's ways is an act of love, deeply unconscious. Through Chris's relationships with Leota, Emilia Harcourt, Vigilante, Eagly, and John Economos (to an extent), his actions are born from lessons learned. Regret may have turned him to Earth-X, but it was the connections that woke him up from the intoxicating feeling of having his world catered to him to the disturbing new reality he found himself in.
There were other signs, such as Earth-X’s Emilia wearing only skirts, whereas her badass version from the original Earth wore pants. Or the fact that Helloween was on par with The Beatles in terms of legacy and popularity.
So where’s the horror?
Chris’s realization stemmed from his being so complicit and indulging in the luxuries of Earth-X. Missing the fact that his coworkers at A.R.G.U.S. had copies of Hitler’s Mein Kampf on their desks and the glaringly obvious mural of Hitler in the office, he instantly turned against all of this seemingly beneficial universe and its hateful society and fled with his Earth’s Emilia. Combined with Chris’s Earth-X father, Auggie, who disagrees with the Nazism present yet has done little to combat it, it speaks to the complicity of reaping the benefits of an unjust world when it’s not enough to disagree.
It’s how the Holocaust came to happen. It’s how American aspects like slavery, Jim Crow laws, and the book, The Passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant inspired the likes of Hitler to convince Europe to adopt his vile views. It’s how the Nazi ideology persisted, be it their integration of 1,600 members of the Nazi Party into the U.S. government in Operation Paperclip or the rise of skinhead communities following World War II.
Chris could have lost his friends to Earth-X if he weren’t careful. The woes of white privilege blinded him to what could have robbed him of the people he loved, who loved him back. But most importantly, the fear in Adebayo's eyes as she experienced the worst-case scenario, as she actively experienced the hate this world bore against her. Her sprint felt like it was out of a horror film.
Peacemaker’s swift abandonment of his personal paradise demonstrates his growth. There would be no real justice nor peace in such a place. In a world where hatred, fear, and faith were weaponized to warp the public consciousness, he made the active choice knowing it’d make him public enemy number one. Following the death of Earth-2 Auggie, Peacemaker and friends have not escaped the woods yet.
Just because they escaped this universe doesn't mean the gang has evaded its wrath wholesale. Earth-X Keith survived the assault by Eagly and was spared in the nick of time by a rushed Earth-1 Emilia. He’s becoming Captain Triumph and is likely to become a bigger threat.
Why this twist worked
James Gunn and his creative team cultivated this twist carefully. The all-white cast of Earth-X served as an all-too quiet yet telling implication of things to come. On a blind watch of Season 2, this would’ve seemed like a world where either slavery or segregation still existed. However, one tiny detail raised some eyebrows: Bludhaven.
In most instances of Gunn’s DC Universe, Bludhaven was pronounced bluhd-haven, whereas Earth-X’s was blue’d-haven. That’s telling for a world impacted by a still-alive Nazi regime. Twisting a facet of the traditional DC Universe and altering the lore to suit the revelations of this misadventure.
To me, this is an effective way to show how white privilege can terrorize those who benefit from it. That complicity in perpetuating toxic propaganda and belief can further inflict harm on loved ones. That doing nothing will maintain the status quo of a world meant to benefit few and subjugate the many.
Auggie may have been complacent in life, but his final act of attempting to return Peacemaker and friends to their Earth was an act of defiance. Old enough to remember what the United States was before the Axis won World War II, he finally put something in motion to stab it in its screaming face. Smith didn’t save Earth-X from the regime, but he saved his fellow universe-hoppers.
In this, I find two messages by James Gunn and his team: Act in the face of oppression. It can be something grand like a protest or lawmaking. Or, it can be a small act of kindness and spreading the word of the truth.
Most importantly, if one can do only so much, then they simply do what they can.