DC Studios impresario James Gunn has been pretty open about how the new DCU has a major, running plot point… And that plot point is “portals.” From Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) ripping a tear in Metropolis in Superman, to Peacemaker’s (John Cena) Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC) in Peacemaker, it’s clear that traveling to different dimensions, universes, whatever is part and parcel with where this is all going. Well, now we know a lot more about what’s going on behind the scenes in the DCU, thanks to the latest episode of Peacemaker… But only in one, blink-and-you-miss-it scene.
Spoilers for Peacemaker Season 2, Episode 5 “Back to the Suture” past this point.
In the episode, Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) finally manages to capture Peacemaker, thanks to a seeming betrayal by Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland). Don’t worry, she’s still on the good guy’s side… Turns out, Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodríguez) is a cyborg — just like she is in DC Comics — and was going to kill Peacemaker, until Harcourt knocked him out.
Bringing him back to ARGUS, Rick naturally locks himself in a room with Peacemaker and beats the crap out of him, seemingly for killing Rick Flag, Jr. (Joel Kinnaman) back in The Suicide Squad. Harcourt and John Economos (Steve Agee) manage to stop him merely by booking Peacemaker into the system, and even get thanked by Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows) for doing so. He may be bird blind, but he’s not blind to justice.
Anyway, with Peacemaker released, Bordeaux enters Flag’s office and is about to express concern when he cuts her off.
“Perhaps you want to say I’m too close to the situation because Peacemaker killed my son,” Flag says. “I should consider recusing myself. Well, despite how it may seem, my priority is protecting the people of the United States. I need to find that dimensional rift. Not only so we can avoid another incident like the one in Metropolis, but for a greater purpose, benefit us all. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy pounding on that punk, but thrills were not my motivation.”
So, what was Rick’s motivation? Here’s the thing: it’s right in front of you.
ARGUS Is Working On Their Own Dimensional Portal
Right before Bordeaux enters the office, Flag is looking at some files on his computer screen. And while they’re super tiny and blurry, they actually lay out almost exactly what Rick has planned… Specifically, ARGUS is attempting to build their own dimensional rift.
Don’t believe me? Here, read it for yourself:
…Okay, fine, maybe it’s too tiny. I’m not going to transcribe the whole thing because I value what remains of my eyesight (and sanity). But here are the important points:
- In the report, whoever is filing this has “introduced the Recursive Spatial Looping (RSL) method for Dimension Relocation.”
- This is different, the report notes, from the “Quantum Resonance Stabilizer (QRS)-based process,” and instead “exploits naturally occurring spacetime folds.”
- How does it do that? Easy enough: “By inducing controlled micro-distortions in local spacetime through the Oscillating Graviton Field (OGF), an object can be relocated within the same dimension or across adjacent ones, bypassing the need for direct quantum resonance tuning.”
Wow! Cool? Huh? Look, this is obviously some made-up science here, but the simple version is that ARGUS has figured out two versions of dimensional travel. The first, using QRS — which I’ll take a stab may be something similar to the little silver purse Peacemaker’s dad Auggie (Robert Patrick) stole from an alien years earlier — uses already existing portals between dimensions, and lets you sneak through that way. The second, RSL, creates its own portals and allows one to travel to different locations in one’s own dimension and into other dimensions.
There’s a bit of a potential problem, though, that’s detailed immediately afterwards. When ARGUS tested an object by putting it in the RSL, it exhibited “a simultaneous presence in both the origin dimension and Adjacent Reality Beta-12 (ARB12). That means it, for a brief time, existed in two places simultaneously. But even worse, the scientists noticed a 92.3% cohesion rate… Basically, putting the object through the RSL destabilized its atomic bonds.
And the even worse news? Bringing the object back caused “molecular decay rates of 7.7%.” So every time they try to use the portal, you have a greater chance of literally falling apart.
Basically, the science ARGUS is using is not ready for prime time yet. So, what’s a government agency to do? Steal, of course.
…And Rick Needs Peacemaker’s Little Silver Suitcase To Make It Work
In Superman, we discovered that Luthor had created portals, much to the chagrin of Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), because they weren’t stable. On the other hand? Peacemaker’s dimensional portal is extremely stable. While Rick Flag Sr. may or may not know the extent of what Peacemaker has on his hands (literally), he does know that he’s using a dimensional portal with some regularity. And he also likely knows that if ARGUS can take control of the QRS and QUC, they can make their own portals work… Or at least stop melting everything they send through.
So this flips the script quite a bit. We’ve thought since the Season 2 premiere that ARGUS wants to shut down Peacemaker’s portal generator… But it’s quite the opposite: they need it to make their project work.
To take this a step further, unless it is destroyed at the end of the season, we’ve been teased that there is another very big project coming to the DCU that Grillo’s Flag is front and center for. It’s entirely possible that this secret TV series ties into exactly what we’re seeing here, and rather than Task Force X (the Suicide Squad) or Task Force M (Creature Commandos), we’ll see some sort of dimension-hopping task force led by Rick Flag. Task Force D, perhaps?
Obviously, this is a lot of speculation, and connecting clues that may or may not connect. But we do know that Flag is interested in Peacemaker for a lot more than revenge. We’ve got three more episodes left, so boot up your QRS so we can portal over to next week, already.
Peacemaker Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
Peacemaker season 2 premiered 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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