Superhero movies have conditioned audiences to expect cameo appearances in every single title that comes out. At their best, cameos and guest appearances from other heroes and villains serve to expand the superhero universe and show it to be a place full of different heroes that come and go in and out of each other’s stories. And yet, they can also feel forced, shoehorned in just for the sake of having a cameo or for the sake of reminding consumers of the next product coming down the line.
Then we have “Peacemaker.” Like “Gen V,” this DC series finds the right balance of telling its own standalone story while being a great transition show in between the new chapters of the main series (between “Superman” movies in the case of “Peacemaker”). When we have big gratuitous cameos, like the Justice League (later the Justice Gang), it fits because it was treated as a big joke. Otherwise, whenever the show has shown or name-dropped other DC heroes and villains, it’s helped to make the world of “Pacemaker” feel larger, the story more connected and consequential to the future of the DC Universe — just look at how clearly the season sets up “Superman: Man of Tomorrow.”
Indeed, “Peacemaker” season 2 has a unique place in the DC Universe so far in that it is a continuation of the themes of the first season that works as a standalone story separated from the rest of the franchise, all while being a crucial story with big repercussions for the future of the DC Universe. All this is to say, it shouldn’t be surprising that James Gunn snuck in some unexpected cameos in the “Peacemaker” season 2 finale. No, it wasn’t Superman, or Batman, but rather James Gunn himself — and also the members of Nelson.
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James Gunn is just a big music fan
Foxy Shazam doing a concert ona a boat in Peacemaker – HBO
In the season 2 finale of “Peacemaker,” we see the 11th Street Kids assemble once again, gain new allies, and decide to fully leave A.R.G.U.S. behind and start their own intelligence agency, named Checkmate — an organization with an important history in DC history. To celebrate, Christopher Smith (John Cena) and Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) go see a rock concert on a “rock cruise,” where none other than Foxy Shazam is playing a familiar tune.
That tune, of course, is “Oh, Lord,” the song used for the opening theme song of “Peacemaker” season 2. As Chris and Harcourt sing their hearts out, eagle-eyed fans have noticed that hidden in the background is one James Gunn, just enjoying the music like the background actors. Not just that, but also present is Steve Agee, who plays Economos, and even Matthew and Gunnar Nelson of the band Nelson.
“The whole crew came out there,” Gunn said during the official “Peacemaker” podcast. “A lot of our PAs and everybody went out there, and we all just were dancing around.”
So there you have it. The smallest and most meta cameo in “Peacemaker” is simply James Gunn geeking out about music and inviting the crew to join for a cool concert. This recontextualizes the entire season and paints it in a new light. It makes it clear Gunn is using “Peacemaker” as an avenue to just geek out about music, share it with the world, and now to get to see concerts for his favorite bands during work hours.
Peacemaker season 2 continues a great tradition from season 1
The members of Checkmate walking side by side laughing and smiling in Peacemaker – HBO
Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord” doesn’t just play diegetically during the live concert scene; it starts playing earlier. Specifically, the song starts playing when Chris asks Harcourt to tell him if the moment they shared on the boat the night they saw Nelson play meant something. When she says it did, Chris goes inside the motel room he’d been hiding in and starts dancing in celebration, absolutely giddy with a happiness we haven’t seen him experience since he thought the nazi universe was the “best dimension ever.” The scene cuts between the aforementioned Foxy Shazam that Chris and Harcourt go to (as well as Gunn and the crew), and scenes of the 11th Street Kids founding Checkmate, gaining new allies, and finally finding their happy place.
This echoes back to one of the best scenes in season one, when Chris, Harcourt, and Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) head into battle to kill the “cow” that will allow for an alien invasion of Earth, just as that season’s opening theme song “Do Ya Wanna Taste It” by Wig Wam starts playing. This is a long and proud tradition in anime wherein the opening theme song starts playing during a climactic moment to add nostalgia to the hype of the moment.
One of the best examples is when “One Piece” does this after 1015 episodes (which is nowhere near the end of the series, to be fair), when Luffy punches Kaido so hard that the music for the show’s very first opening theme song starts playing 22 years after it was replaced as the opening theme song. Likewise, “Pokémon” turned nostalgia to the maximum when the 1999 classic “Gotta catch ’em all!” plays during the climax of Ash’s fight against Leon, right on time for him to become a Pokémon Master after 25 long years.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
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