James Gunn Clears the Air on PEACEMAKER Season 2’s Earth-X and Real-Life Politics
Spoilers ahead for those who aren’t caught up on Peacemaker.
In Peacemaker Season 2, Chris Smith finds out that the so-called “best dimension ever” is actually Earth-X, a twisted alternate reality where Nazis are in power and even the American flag carries a swastika instead of stars. That shocking reveal has had fans wondering if James Gunn wrote this storyline with today’s political climate in mind.
Given Gunn’s history of speaking his mind, most notably in 2018 when his tweets critical of then-President Donald Trump resurfaced and led to him being fired by Disney, it’s no surprise some assumed Earth-X might be a direct commentary on modern politics. But according to Gunn, that’s not the case.
When Variety sat down with him, the interviewer noted that Gunn wrote Peacemaker Season 2 before the outcome of the U.S. Presidential Election was known. They asked him what it’s been like “watching the real world edge closer to Earth X.” Gunn paused before answering.
"I think I don’t know how to answer the question. Obviously, there are many things in the world I’m not happy with. I’m not so narcissistic as to think of the world in relationship to my TV show. I mean, there’s weird things with this show. There were weird things with Superman."
He went on to bring up Superman as an example.
"Absolutely 100% of that movie was written and done before anything ever happened between Israel and Palestine, and everyone continues to refuse to believe that that’s not what it’s about. It’s not. It just isn’t. You can take whatever you want from that, to mean what you want, but I didn’t write it to be a stand in for Israel and Palestine."
When asked if the same was true of Peacemaker Season 2, Gunn explained that while some parallels are inevitable, his real focus is on human connection and kindness.
"I mean, you’ll see some things next episode where, of course, there’s parallels. We’ve seen more racism lately, right? Is that because there’s more racism or because it’s more OK to be out in the open? It’s probably the latter.
“That’s obviously f***ing discouraging. And if my stupid TV show has anything to do with people being like, 'Oh, maybe I should be more aware of my prejudices,' great."
"But that isn’t what I write the show for. I write the show for the emotional angle, just like I wrote Superman to be about kindness. If there was a sociopolitical aspect of Superman, it’s that there has been an absence of kindness and understanding and loving a human being, no matter what their thoughts or feelings are."
He also doubled down on the kind of storytelling he wants to bring to the DCU.
"Everybody’s a fing antihero. Everybody’s too fing cool. What about not being cool? What about being a nice human being to someone? Why is that considered old-fashioned and Pollyanna? I want to be Pollyanna. I love that aspect of myself. I believe in the goodness of the human spirit.
“I think a lot of the people that are doing things I don’t like, I think that they are essentially good people. They just have weird ideas about things, and I think that we can communicate with those people. Maybe I’m naive, I don’t know, but that’s who I am."
Next week’s Peacemaker episode will dive deeper into Earth-X, which means we’re bound to see more uncomfortable reflections of our own world.
Still, Gunn has made it clear that he isn’t setting out to make a political statement. His goal is something much simpler: to tell stories about kindness in a time when the world desperately needs it.