One of the big reveals in the Peacemaker Season 2 premiere, and spoilers past this point, is that The Office star David Denman is playing Peacemaker’s (John Cena) brother, Keith Smith, from an alternate dimension, which everyone, and not just us, is calling DC2. Anyway, now, thanks to a new interview with Denman, we also know what comic book superhero Denman is playing as part of the Top Trio team in the alternate dimension: Captain Triumph.
…Huh? Who? I’ll fully admit I’ve been reading comics all my life, but this is a deep cut even for me (queue up various commenters talking about how they’ve always loved Captain Triumph, their favorite character, and how embarrassing it is not to know Captain Triumph, one of the most popular and beloved characters in the world, you absolute loser, how dare you). But James Gunn does love his deep cuts, from dropping The Rainbow Creature as an Easter egg in the premiere, to really, most of the non-original characters on Peacemaker.
So who is Captain Triumph? And what can his inclusion tell us about the plot of Peacemaker Season 2?
Who Is Captain Triumph From The Comics?
Captain Triumph first appeared in Crack Comics #27 from 1943, a comic book that did not come packaged with crack cocaine, despite what you might think. Created by Alfred Andriola, the character was part of Quality Comics, and later purchased by DC Comics — hence his inclusion on Peacemaker.
In the books, twin brothers Michael and Lance Gallant were born in 1919, identical down to a “T” shaped birthmark on their wrists. Michael later dies in World War II, but returns as a ghost and informs Lance that if he presses the birthmark, they will gain powers thanks to a boon from The Fates. Each Fate grants one power to the “duo” which includes flight, invisibility, and makes them nearly invulnerable. In addition, they can influence people’s actions if they concentrate hard enough. And when they separate, Michael has ghost powers (can walk through walls, go “boo,” etc).
While all jokes aside, Captain Triumph hasn’t been the most popular character, he has popped up a bunch of times throughout the years. He was on the All-Star Squadron, a classic team of superheroes. He also appeared in Animal Man, Titans, and briefly in Harley Quinn. In addition, a female version of the character was introduced in the team Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, though with very different powers.
Oh, and unlike the on-screen version, the comic book version of Captain Triumph wears a red t-shirt, pants, and boots, versus some sort of Iron Man-esque armor.
What Might Captain Triumph Mean For Peacemaker Season 2?
Given that David Denman’s version doesn’t have the same name, suit, or seemingly powers as the comic book version of Captain Triumph, it’s likely that this is Gunn unearthing a fun name and using it however he wants.
HOWEVER. There are a few points of interest here. First of all, there’s the whole brother thing, with one dead and a ghost, and the other alive. That’s pretty close to Peacemaker being haunted (metaphorically) by accidentally killing Keith back when they were kids in a white supremacist child fight club (as seen in Season 1). While neither seems to have a T-shaped birthmark on their wrist and their powers aren’t tied together as they don’t have any superhuman powers, it’s clear their destinies are tied together by their father, Auggie (Robert Patrick), aka The White Dragon.
Which brings us to the second interesting potential point of connection. As mentioned above, Captain Triumph’s origin is heavily tied to World War II, where he fought against Nazis. That was sort of par for the course for heroes of the day (see: Captain America punching Hitler in the face), but this could tee up a pretty big, completely speculative theory for Season 2 of Peacemaker: That DC2 is really Earth-X, aka an alternate version of the DC Universe where Hitler won World War II (essentially, it’s a little more complicated than that).
While we’re only one episode into the new season, DC2 seems to be an idyllic paradise for Peacemaker where he’s part of a beloved superhero team, his brother and father are alive and love him, and surely more to come. Thanks to the trailer for Season 2, we’ve seen him cheered on by fans as he rides his motorcycle, and he seems to be in an on-again, off-again relationship with Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), whom he’s pining after in the main DCU.
…But come on, things can’t be that easy. And the elephant in the room is that Auggie was a white supremacist leader in the main DCU. So is he the same in DC2? And if so, did he raise Keith and his version of Peacemaker to be the same? Adding to the scant evidence, again, based on the trailers, there only seem to be white people in the DC2 dimension. And this is the scantest of evidence, but versus in Creature Commandos, where the city of Blüdhaven was pronounced “blood-haven,” Keith pronounced it “blued-haven,” the traditional German pronunciation. It would certainly create a significant conflict for Peacemaker if he had to choose between the DCU where he sucks and everyone hates him, and the DC2 where his father and brother are alive and everyone loves him, but they’re all Nazis.
To loop this back to Captain Triumph, taking a character I will liberally say is “known” for killing Nazis in World War II and turning him into a Nazi would be exactly the sort of Earth-X, alternate dimension flip you would expect from James Gunn. And not for nothing, but Captain Triumph certainly calls to mind Triumph of the Will, the infamous Nazi propaganda film from Leni Riefenstahl.
So will Keith turn out to be a full-on Nazi? We’ve got seven more episodes to find out.
Peacemaker Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
Peacemaker season 2 will officially premiere on HBO Max on Thursday, August 21. The season will be eight episodes long, with one episode premiering per week.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Peacemaker Season 2, with premiere dates:
- Thursday, August 21, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 1
- Thursday, August 28, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 2
- Thursday, September 4, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 3
- Thursday, September 11, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 4
- Thursday, September 18, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 5
- Thursday, September 25, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 6
- Thursday, October 2, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 7
- Thursday, October 9, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 8 *Season Finale*
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