Peacemaker's Second Season Cliffhanger Sneakily Introduces Superman's Upcoming Major Antagonist

This ending of the series the second season ends on a huge unresolved moment that could have major consequences for the direction of the DCU. While it's still unclear if the series will return for a season 3, the showrunner has stated that the storyline will closely connect to the upcoming Superman film. Considering this, one particular detail from the Peacemaker finale might be crucial to understanding the secretive antagonist of the Superman movie.

Intrigued? Let's explore further.

Full spoilers below for the conclusion of Peacemaker season 2.

The Show's Second Season Ending Explained

The last episode of the series season 2, ARGUS, under Rick Flag, explores the multiversal doorway that Chris Smith surrendered in the previous episode. It's unknown what they're seeking, before they discover it: a habitable planet where Flag can banish all of Earth's metahumans. He calls this planet the new prison, with plans to use it as a massive, secure jail.

In the final moments of the episode, the team captures Chris and shoves him through the portal into Salvation. Rick reveals that Chris will be his test subject to ensure Salvation is actually habitable and the doorway disappears behind him, trapping the hero all alone on an foreign world in another dimension. Then, we hear a cacophony of noises that seem like a bunch of unseen dinosaurs about to devour him. Roll credits.

What exactly does it mean? To grasp it, it's helpful looking into the lore of DC Comics, in particular, the story of Salvation Run.

The Comic and the Series

Released in 2007-2008 during the crossover event, the series was a seven-issue comic inspired by an idea from George R.R. Martin. It was written by Bill Willingham and his co-writer, with art by Sean Chen, Walden Wong, another artist, and the team.

The core idea of the comic was that the task force (led by its commander) apprehended a group of supervillains and banished them to a distant planet called Salvation. The list of imprisoned villains featured Lex Luthor, the Joker, the mutant, Bane, the marksman, Gorilla Grodd, the doctor, Clayface, the cryogenic, the botanist, the wildcard, and many others. Waller also added some gray-area figures, like Catwoman, for good measure.

The idea was to let the villains fight it out and die, but there was a twist. It was revealed that the planet was in fact a "proving ground" for the deities of the hellworld, also known as, the nightmarish planet governed by the tyrant. To make matters worse, Salvation was under the control of one of Darkseid's most terrifying followers: DeSaad.

DeSaad and the Man of Tomorrow

In the comics, DeSaad serves a very specific role: he's the lord's torture guy. The character is also a brilliant who loves creating new ways to inflict suffering on his victims, and is pretty much immortal. In some versions, he's super strong, too, and has other powers like mind-reading and the ability to control others' emotions. Simply put, he's terrifying.

If the showrunner is adapting the Salvation Run plotline (and this seems very likely based on the world's name in Peacemaker), then it seems logical that he could be setting up this villain as the DCU's next primary antagonist. This would definitely be a scary enough menace to get Superman and the genius cooperating on the same side against a greater threat — especially if Luthor feels bad for devising the idea of a interdimensional jail in the beginning.

Admittedly, we're making educated guesses here, but given the conclusion of Peacemaker season 2, DeSaad just rose significantly in the list for Man of Tomorrow's main villain. And as an added bonus, he could serve as an appetizer for the ruler himself once the filmmaker gets around to making his own team-up movie.

Thankfully, we don't need to wait too much longer to find out for sure. The Superman movie is scheduled to begin production in the spring of 2026.

Michael Price
Michael Price

A passionate esports journalist and streamer with a focus on competitive gaming trends and community engagement.