Many viewers are trying to figure out what to watch before Peacemaker season 2 premieres on HBO Max on August 21, 2025. That’s actually complicated, now that the DCU has been reset by director James Gunn. Working out which TV shows or movies you should see so that the second season of Peacemaker makes sense will mainly depend on how much you’re willing to follow the new canon. Either way, you should know what counts and doesn’t count in the DCU timeline, so that you can follow the events in the next chapter of Peacemaker without a hitch.
What do you need to watch before Peacemaker season 2?
For those who have not seen Peacemaker at all should consider watching the following movies and TV shows in order before the second season begins:
- The Suicide Squad (2021)*
- Peacemaker Season 1*
- Creature Commandos
- Superman (2025)
We placed asterisks on the first two entries, since it’s not yet clear what is canon and what isn’t from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Season 1. That said, The Suicide Squad serves as the best introduction to John Cena’s Peacemaker, and Gunn has confirmed that most of what happens in Peacemaker Season 1 is canon with the major exception being the cameo from The Justice League. At any rate, if you do rewatch the first season, just take it with a tiny grain of salt.
We’ll reportedly find out what exactly is canon from the first season when Season 2 airs an official recap at the beginning of the first episode. As noted by insider MyTimetoShineH on X (formerly Twitter), this will come in the form of a “Previously in the DCU” montage that features footage from Season 1 with a couple of changes. In particular, “Danielle Brooks’ character now talks about calling in the Justice Gang, and they reshot the Justice League cameo from the finale.” Of course, whatever is in this montage will be officially canon, along with anything from the first season that the second season references.
As for Creature Commandos and Superman (2025), they are squarely in the new canon. Creature Commandos isn’t that high on the priority list here, but it does feature Amanda Waller who plays a significant role in Peacemaker’s life. That said, Peacemaker makes a brief cameo in the Superman movie and the events in Season 2 have been confirmed by Gunn to take place a month after the events of the film. Mister Terrific, Superman, Green Lantern, Supergirl, and Hawkgirl apparently make an appearance near the start of the season too, creating a bridge between the show and the movie. So it wouldn’t be surprise if the ending of Superman 2025 carries into Peacemaker Season 2 in some way.
That said, Gunn has made in clear in an interview that audiences won’t need to watch everything before an entry in the new DCU. He said, “I am really trying to be careful that anybody can dip in and see the story that is up next, and not feel like they’re missing information.”
The point is to make sure that audiences don’t need to watch anything as mandatory viewing, something that has been a bit of a struggle for the MCU between the numerous shows on Disney+ and the high number of Marvel movies. Specifically, Gunn says that “even though there’s a lot of stuff in Superman that leads to Peacemaker, you certainly don’t need to see it to see Peacemaker.” This intentional design will follow through many of the later projects from James Gunn including Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which is already slated to release on June 26, 2026 in the United States.
