ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdown - DC Multiverse Easter Eggs You Missed!

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

ScreenCrush The Podcast tackles all the movie and TV hot topics, offering reviews and analysis of Marvel, Star Wars, and everything you care about right now. Hosted by Ryan Arey, and featuring a panel of industry professionals.

This episode of Peacemaker proves that Chris Smith is destined for a great purpose in the DCU. And I think he could end up being one of the most important characters in this universe, and it's all because of a huge hint from that kick-ass eagle scene. Welcome back Screencrush, I'm Ryan Erie, and this is all of the Easter eggs references and little things you might have missed in season two, episode 5 of Peacemaker. Don't forget before we get rolling that we are doing a live show at City Winery on October 10th and New York for Comic Con weekend. Ticket links are below. So this was a great character episode where the 11th Street Kids

finally come together, and we actually know where everybody stands. So right out the gate, we get some important connective tissue between this series and the Suicide Squad. We open up on the American flag draped on Rick Flagg Jr's coffin, and that is a symbol of duty and sacrifice. And in this episode, characters all have to perform some sort of sacrifice in order to come together. John and Harcourt step up to save Chris's life, and Chris puts himself in danger to see if he has any shot of happiness in this reality. Even judo master has to take a step into the unknown, for his country. Remember, a couple of episodes ago, we saw that Harcourt and Flag were friends with benefits, and she even called him. The only friend I have. Now, of course, we know how that

turned out in the Suicide Squad, and here we see Amelia just before she was transferred to Evergreen for Peacemaker Season 1. She even drops the codename of the operation from last season. Project Butterfly. Rick Flagg, Sr. sits behind her, out of focus, and then slowly creeps up on her like a devil on her shoulder. So I got a nitpick something here, okay? So in Creature Commandos, flag had gray hair and a beard. But in Superman, Frank Grillo apparently had a scheduling conflict where he couldn't dye his hair. Gun covered this up by saying that Flag was a vain person who would dye his hair. But here, his hair is back to being brown set before the events of creature commandos. So I guess this means that the only period where he stopped using just for men where he

was in his vein was this week or so when he led the creature commandos. Hell, maybe he was so depressed about his son, he couldn't be bothered to die his hair. He recounts the events of the suicide squad. They sent him overseas in the back for VW. Bug with a thousand And he mentions that they ride around in a VW bus, but that is not quite true. It was actually a Toyota coaster bus with only one costume clown. Then again, he hasn't actually had access to any of the files yet because this was before he was inaugurated as director. Flagg appeals to her heartstrings when he says, He loved you, you know.

And again, he says, Rick, call me Rick. Now, when he told her to call him Rick last season, it seemed like it was because he regarded her as a kind of daughter. the star buck to his Adama. But later in the episode, he says the same thing to Bordeaux. Impressive, sir. Rick. Which, okay, that could mean that he's hitting on her.

After all, he did get it on with Princess Alana and Creature Commandos. Maybe you should just give him 30 seconds. Or he does this to manipulate emotions and control people. If Flag is used to working with superpowered people, then emotional control would be a rare skill that he would have had to have cultivated. Harcourt says, You saw a lot of women, Rick. Now, in the first Suicide Squad movie,

he was madly in love with June, aka The Enchantress. I have the witch's heart, and Dr. Moon has his. Now, The Enchantress is an insanely powerful magic user with the soul of a goddess that almost destroyed the world. She was stripped of her powers

in the original Suicide Squad movie, which is no longer canon to this universe. And then it seemed like they were living happily ever after at the end of that film. I thought I killed you. I thought I killed you. But a couple episodes ago, we heard that their relationship was on the rocks,

and Flagg felt more like a babysitter. And I'm afraid if I break up with her, she's just going to burrow a hole through the planet. And case in point, she's not even at the funeral. At least she's not lingering by the casket. Jeez, I hope she doesn't rip a hole in the earth. Me too, buddy. I live here. Now, remember, we heard about this funeral in Harcourt's final line last episode when Rick Sr. visited at her apartment.

You remember what you told me after the funeral? And now we get to see how that scene played out. The person who did this, that person, they'll pay. which also does a great job of making us question Harcourt's loyalty later on. And this episode also gives us a lot more insight into Flagg's motives. During the after-show podcast with James Gunn, Frank Grillo talked about how Flagg was a character with one sole prerogative for joining Argus, finding out who killed his son and bringing them to justice.

I'm not really quiet about it. No, you kind of do what you want. You're kind of shameless about things, but it's like in the same way that you don't really care about having this job. So his pseudo-face turn at the end of the episode is pretty interesting, and I wonder if he was actually telling Sasha the truth or covering his ass for beating up Chris. And after the opening titles, we go to this wicked drone shot across the park, which is actually the exact path that Chris will later take to get to Harcourt, through the dog park, saying hi to people, kicking this ball, and then ending up on the bench.

It's also a neat continuation of the last episode, where Red St. Weil was pulling a Doctor Strange to project his astral form over the forest to look down at the cabin. Now, this opening is filmed like a tribute to Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, the conversation. The beginning of that film follows a professional surveillance tech listening in on various conversations from a high vantage point, just like judo master as he scans the crowd. Now notice they all have color code names, which could be a nod to reservoir dogs. Mr. Pink. Why am I Mr. Pink? Why can't we pick our own colors? But Flurry still can't resist giving out a nickname calling this one Agent Adorable, which of course is a step up from this.

Okay, now it's Cupidow. So this meeting between Hardcore and Chris is a mirror of Chris and Alt Universe Hardcore in episode two. Here, Hardcourt shuts down everything Chris ever wanted. Did I mean... No! No. Okay? I was drunk.

I told you I wish it never fucking happened. While on Earth X, Harcourt said everything that Chris wants to hear. The last thing I need is getting my heart broken again because you're curious. It's exactly like he said to Otabio last episode. So I end up in the dark dimension where I can't get your fucking break. But Chris is only... seeing the surface here. In reality, Harcourt warned him not to show up. She showed him that she cares about him, even if she says that she doesn't. Whereas the Harcourt on Earth X does not

actually behave like the woman Chris loves. She behaves like his ideal of Harcourt. Harcourt mentions that Audubio saved him from Waller by exposing her activities. Add saved you and then you keep some sort of dimensional portable bullshit in your house. And this is interesting because last episode, Harcourt swore that she did not agree with ads's choices. Now I'm wondering, well, she's a spy, So was she lying to Rick Flagg about this? Did she support Outing Waller and then tried to claim deniability to save her career? Now, she's also angry at Chris for squandering this second chance by hanging onto the portal. But that portal also has become a symbolic thing. It's a sign of his emotional weakness and his feelings for her. So, no wonder she hates him for it. This scene also

showed us exactly why Chris is considered a superhero and not just a guy in a silly helmet. He expertly marked his exit strategy and he probably could have escaped. He even had the foresight to use pony boy is a human shield. Man, I love Tim Meadows. And so does Chris. He gives the King of Nicknames one of the coolest nicknames ever. Take a step closer, Shaft. A Shaft, of course, is the badass black exploitation series from the 1970s about a private eye. It was actually a 2000 reboot with Samuel L. Jackson that deserved a sequel, but never got one. And then we get my favorite reveal of the episode that Sasha Bordeaux is a cyborg. And get this. We actually got to talk to the actor Sol Rodriguez for our crossover universe podcast. That episode is going up on

Sunday. We talked to her about Peacemaker, her role in Star Trek, and just all around had a great conversation. Well, he's completely and totally using her to his advantage and to try to get as close as peacemaker and seek that revenge that he's after so badly. You can find the crossover universe on all platforms. Now, Bordeaux is also a cyborg in the comics, but it's slightly different. She is a type of cyborg called an omac or observational metahuman activity construct. Long story short, This was originally a virus that turned humans into living machines, which was created by Brainiac 13's Nanotech and LexCore. During the OMAC project book by Greg Rucker,

the cyborgs wreak havoc across the world while being controlled by Brother I. But they are stopped by Batman and Wonder Woman. So in this comic, Bordeaux manages to resist the activation in her OMAQ programming and creates a virus to shut down Brother I and the other OMAX while also getting to retain her Cyborg properties. Now, the song playing after Chris is captured as Ain't That Kind of Girl by The Diamonds, and I think this relates more to Harcourt in this moment than Chris. The song is about someone who is not fitting into the role that the world expects them to fill.

This season, we've seen Harcourt lash out at Chris every time he insists that they are similar or have some sort of connection. And while we're not sure this season is headed towards necessarily them having a relationship, she is definitely not the type of girl that Chris thinks she is. She has a past and a whole life that started before they ever met. She's also in this moment proving to Chris that the other Harcourt is better for him, because she is that kind of a kind of a past, that kind of girl. And then Ads takes a call from her ad in the magazine and her self-delusion is to a point where she can't even detect when a guy is being a creep. The silhouette in the ad is based upon myself, sir. Now, Adrian then uses this as a chance to point out that he has a code. I never kill prostitutes. Her lives are hard enough. Only John's. So he's the opposite of every dude

who ever played Grand Theft Auto. At HQ, Chris is not surprised at all to see John. So, John. But he still doesn't know that John was surveilling his house for six months. Now, in the interrogation room, Chris tells Rick... If there's not a deal that goes by that I don't regret it. And we saw a lot of that in season one when he had a breakdown over his murder of Flagg.

He killed Rick Flagg! Flag was right. Now, of course, for Chris, this is because it triggered memories of his childhood when he accidentally killed his brother Keith. He also speaks to Flag very highly, calling him, sir, all the way throughout this, the same way that he showed Rick Jr. great respect before their fight in Cordo Maltese.

Keeping the peace is worth any price. Including the life of a hero like yours. And then Rick speaks highly of his son. Better man I can have a dream of being. And he also shared this same sentiment with Princess Rostovic back in Creature Commandos episode one. Boy, was an improvement on me in every way. And guys, real quick, I am so excited to show you these new Peacemaker shirts we made for

our merch store, a biker eagley with text that reads, do you really want to taste it? And then this thoughtful bird blindness PSA, give a hoot about bird blindness. And check out this brand new, I absolutely love this shirt. It is the peace cycle of play on the iconic poster for Akira. And if you're an animal lover, we have Eagley and Peacemaker as Charlie Brown and Woodstock, and also Crypto with text that reads, Where's the Dog? Links for all of these are below.

And also, I am so excited to meet you guys at our live show next month, October 10th at City Winery in New York City for Comic-Con weekend. Our live shows are so much fun. We have exclusive breakdowns. We get to meet you guys face-to-face. And this one tells part of an ongoing story that went through all of our live shows. last one. This is your last chance to see this version of the live show, and I don't know when we're going to do them again. Ticket links are below. You won't regret it. It's a lot of fun. Now,

outside, Economos says that he used Sasha's mangled body as a screensaver on his phone, which really should place him on some sort of watch list. But remember, he has changed this background to this shot of him looking cool on a motorcycle. Good for you, Dibeard. We also see these Argos-branded mugs and Argos branding on the phone on his desk. And then Harcourt gets a great idea of how to rig the system and keep John's job. They book Chris for a crime. So this is interesting because it does show that Argus does not operate like a deep state conspiracy organization like Shield in the MCU. They actually have transparency and obey the rules, at least when there's a paper trail. And so this is intercut with Flag going Ham on Chris, letting John Cena show off his stage

fighting skills from the WWE. What do you mean stage fighting? It's not real. At least the way it makes you feel is real and that's enough. So for instance, he holds Flagg's arm when he bashes his head into the wall to control the force the blow. And here, the camera even whip pans with the punch, a trick they use all the time in wrestling broadcasts. And check out this moment when Flagg knees Chris. Chris stands perfectly still until impact. Now, this could be because John Cena is just that seasoned of a fighter that he doesn't flinch, or maybe they used a digital double in this scene. Or heck, maybe they made a real double of John Cena, like the double of Chris Pratt that James Gunn had created for this shot in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. And then Rick tries to choke Chris out exactly how Rick Flagg Jr.

him in the suicide squad. And Flagg probably chose this position intentionally to avenge his son. Now, at the cabin, St. Wilde injects a mouse with poison, but Eagley plays with the food to pretend that it's alive. Oh yeah, you know, snakes in captivity do the same thing. They're going to nudging mouse before they eat it. How do you know that? I have lived through a dark times, person, dark times. So after the fox is poisoned, the bile from its mouth is similar to the guts that were spewing out of the alien last episode. After all, they are both innocent victims of a hunter. And then St. Wild unloads this huge elephant gun, which symbolically calls to mind English colonizers trophy hunting on the safari. Now, James Gunn is a major animal rights activist, and I'm sure that he loved inserting this villain into the show just for the purpose of giving him his comeuppance.

And while we're on the subject, this fake out completely worked on me. At first, I thought there is no way James Gunn is going to kill Eagley. You know, the music starts off all bright and plucky. But then, music gets dark. And I really did think that they were going to kill off Eagley, and that would help drive Chris into the arms of EarthX. Now, Judah Master mentions that he learned his moves from... I'm a white monk in the Himalayas.

Which is different from his origin in the comics. See, he first appeared in Special War Series issue four way back in 1965. He was introduced as a World War II soldier who was trained by an unnamed sensei in the Pacific Islands. But scene has now Rip Jagger as Vietnamese. It seems like they've gone with an updated version of the character. So, just with this out there. It's weird that Argus has a guy in a costume tail them, right? Like the goal for somebody telling you is to blend in and they send this little green dude.

Like he could at least take the costume off. Now, Flagg mentions that they want to avoid another dimensional incident like a Metropolis, referring, of course, to the rift that opened up in Superman. But then he adds, But for greater purpose. And a couple of weeks ago, we speculated that Argus was going to invade the QUC and start seizing that tech. And this was going to lead into Superman Man of Tomorrow. James Gunn even said that this show is a prequel to the Superman sequel.

So maybe Argus does unlock some interdimensional threat like Brainiac or even Darkside. Sorry, I don't know what that was. Now, after Flag is caught trying to kill Chris, he tries to make it seem like this was all strategy. I can't say I didn't enjoy pounding on that punk, but thrills were not my motivation. Which, look, I don't buy for a second. He had no way to know that John Economos was going to book Peacemaker, but he's smart enough to keep Sasha close. Very impressive, sir.

Rick. Rick. Rick Flagg turns out to be a really manipulative guy, and he's good at creating these kind of emotional connections. On the right home, Adrian shows just how much he starved for attention and requires acknowledgement. Well, you just said her name twice and not mine is all, even though I'm sitting right here. By the way, this is typical sociopath behavior. He is a textbook narcissist who latches onto others for his own illusions of grandeur. He says,

If anyone want to lighten the mood by quizzing me on some Manta Ray facts? And man, does he love his facts this season? First, it was owls, then crows, then spiders, and now, Manta Rays. I guess he just doesn't like puppies then. So at the woods, the music gets really downbeat, leading into what I thought was going to be Eagley's death. But instead, Red St. Wilde gets ambushed from behind, exactly like the lie that Econimo said last episode.

I came up behind you when you were about to shoot Eagull, that eagle. And then, Eagley summons these other eagles and reveals that, yes, he is indeed the prime eagle. He even manifests the same blue fire symbol that St. Wilde summoned in his vision quest. And his death is right out of his. Hitchcock's the birds, with the eagles pecking at every single inch of his body. And for my money, by the way, that is the scariest movie ever made. So the only sign of Eagley's side adventure is that he presents Chris with a finger like a cat bringing its owner a mouse. You know, cats actually do that to show you how to hunt. They're trying to teach you. I did not know that. Thank you.

Now, my favorite kind of humor is when there's like a big, ongoing story that actually has nothing to do with what's actually happening. For my money, I think the gag in life of Brian where he's rescued by a spaceship that's part of an interstellar war, and that goes nowhere. I think that's the funniest thing ever. So I would like to think that this entire C plot with Eagli being a magic eagle is just a gag. But I actually don't think that's what Gunn is doing here. See, the QUC started off as a joke. How is it so big in this place?

It's a quantum unfolding storage area. And now we think that the QUC is going to be crucial to setting up the big bat of the DCU. Dark side! So I have a theory that I'll talk about later on that Eagley is actually giving a sign that Chris is a very important character in this universe. He may even be the equivalent of a Nexus being for the MCU. Also, did you catch that John Cena rights left-handed, but in the suicide squad and in this show, Chris Smith shoots right-handed?

That is some and-or-level attention to detail. Favors right, but shoots left. Although he is an expert marksman, so I'm sure he's ambidextrous when he shoots. Now, when Fleury calls judo master Duncan Munchkin, he says, Munchkin means child, not little person, asshole. And I did not know that. I literally thought it was just the people who lived in Munchkin land,

and that Frank Elbaum coined the word. So Chris sends ads a message from his Lord Tech phone, the company owned by Justice Gang sponsor, Max Lord, and notice her lockscreen is her dog Emery, the poochie who liked to dress up in costumes. Yeah, I think that's kind of a played technique. As Chris enters the door, Judo Master follows, and I think he left this Cheeto fingerprint on purpose,

like as a signature, because he didn't have time to sign his name. And something tells me, this Vietnamese man is not going to be accepted in that other dimension. Like we pointed out a few weeks ago, everybody in that universe appeared to be white, and their greatest hero is a clan leader in the other universe. The reason we keep calling this other dimension EarthX is because, in the comics, EarthX was a universe where the Nazis won World War II. So, even though Chris thinks that this other hardcore is the perfect woman,

in reality, she's probably a racist. Now, when out of bio reads this note, we hear the song November Rained by Guns and Roses, one of Chris's favorite bands. Guns and roses! Greatest albums of all time. And this song, unintentionally, is a symbol of duality. Axel Rose wanted the music video to tell a story about a wedding and unrequited love, but Slash wanted to make just a straight-up music video. And that's why his long guitar solo is outside of the church away from the other music video that Axel was filming. And that duality is represented in this scene. There are two universes, two halves of a whole, which have irreconcilable differences between them. Now, the team stays together, but Chris is out there on his own playing a guitar solo. But the lyrics could also foreshadow the relationship between Chris and the EarthX hard court. Nothing lasts forever.

Every bird, no hearts can change. Oh, yeah. So this thing that Chris is committed to on EarthX won't last forever. And whether it's the 11th Street kids breaking him out of there or the eventual will reveal that this is actually a pretty sinister universe, his heart will change. And this honeymoon period he has with Alt-Emilia is going to fizzle out really quick. Not to mention that his love for Earth 1 hard court is unrequited,

just like the unrequited love and the lyrics of the song. So maybe they won't end up together, or then again, maybe they will. Because when out of bio reads that Chris is going to be with this other hardcore, she has this look of regret on her face, like she missed her chance with Chris. So then Adrian sobs, probably because Chris wrote the note to out of bio instead of to him. Now, in the other reality, we get a better look at the alternate metal posters that we've talked about before, cruel interventions and borderline sane, instead of cruel intentions in their song, Borderline Crazy. Hanaway rocks a spell with two Xs, deaf leopards pour some

honey on me instead of sugar and the scorpions with a Z instead of scorpions with an S. And also hardcore megastar instead of hardcore superstar. And Keith pops in and says, I've got a kaiju downtown. And even though we don't get to see the fight, we do see the top trio with their jet packs, which Peacemaker has been wanting since season one. Can I get a jetpack? No. And we should also note that he does have a jetpack in the comic book Kingdom Come. And the Kaiju they defeat looks a lot like the one the Justice Gang defeated in Superman, except the press have a much more detailed headline than MetaHuman's Kill Thule.

The news station reporting on this is KWUE News, which we have seen several times this season and last season. Now, notice that Keith is really quick to accept Eagley. Make it fast. And this could be because the Nazis used an eagle as a symbol of the Third Reich. So if this is Earth X and America is being ruled by the Nazis, an eagle would still be considered a patriotic symbol. Most recently, reporting on Flag's inauguration as director of Argus. Now, the ending song is Take Me for a Ride by Bad City, another love ballad that relates to Chris, and his current situation with Alt-Harkort.

The lyrics delve into somebody's obsession with the woman, who, quote, knows where to go to leave the world behind, which is literally what Chris is doing. He has closed off his side of the portal and is leaving his world behind for the Alt-Universe Harcourt, who he actually realistically doesn't even know. Now, on the other side, Chris left him his portal so they could use it to get back in Argus's good graces.

And then Harcourt decides to throw all that away. Because we're going to get Chris back. And this is exactly what she admonished Chris for doing. Earlier in the episode, she told him that ads got him a deal that cleared his name, and he was an idiot for not giving that portal to Argus, but now she's doing the same thing. So the standout of this episode was Eagley, voiced by the great D. Bradley Baker, who also voices all the clones in the Clone Wars. But I was thinking, why would an all-powerful Eagle spirit hang out with Chris Smith, of all people?

Eagley doesn't like any other human. He always snaps at ads when she tries to pet him, but he submits to being Chris's pet. Why? I think it's because Eagley is tied to a deeper spiritual power. He attached himself to Chris because Igley knows that Chris has an important purpose and he's going to need Igley's help in the future. Like in the Aeraverse of the CW, each universe had something called a paragon, which were the heroes that were the most important during the Crisis on Infinite Earth Saga. And I think the peacemaker could be an equivalent to one of these paragons.

His discovery of the Boom Tube could be how this universe is eventually able to fight off Darkside! And he could finally bring the entire Justice League together in their movie. But guys, look, this is not just a wild theory. The symbol of the Prime Eagle is the big clue here. Now, this is a variant of the Native American Thunderbird symbol. It symbolizes power and protection, and the Thunderbird is said to be located in the Northwestern Mountains, and this show does take place in the Northwest in Washington State. So the story of the Thunderbird

is that it appears before a great chief and then transformed itself into a human to warn the chief about a flood, which then saved all of the villagers' lives. And Eagli is a protective spirit. He protected the portal from the Argus agents and he saved Chris's life more than once. But most importantly, this eagle is said to have had a connection to the Great Spirit, and it lives in both realms, the Earth and beyond. So I wonder if the beyond in question could be parallel universes or other planets. See, this makes me think that James Gunn is using this Native American iconography to create a greater connection to the lore of the DCU.

Maybe, Eagli has a connection to the new gods. He could be from the planet of New Genesis, and he's been protecting the Earth for thousands of years. And New Genesis, which is the ultimate opponent of Darkside, might see that Chris has an important part to play in this story moving forward. Chris could be one of those paragon beings like all of the main characters in the Aeroverse during CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Again, everything with Igley could just be a gag, but you know how much James Gunn likes to attach hidden importance to animals. So I think Eagley being a prime eagle is going to pay off in a big way for Superman, Man of Tomorrow, and Justice League. Shout out to Lee Mazio, who co-wrote this video. His links are below.

and I also want to give a shout out to a friend of the channel, Ja Ward, who is fighting really hard right now. We believe in you. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie.