In “Crisis on Earth-X,” the Arrowverse event that crossed Arrow and The Flash over with Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Earth-X was established right away. A rainy, dour world with a washed-out color palette, the first scene of the crossover depicted James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) dressed as Guardian, squaring off against the Earth-X version of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell). Olsen wore a version of the American flag and insisted that while the Nazis had won World War II, the flag still meant something to people. For taking that principled stand, James is murdered.
Meanwhile, in last week’s episode of Peacemaker, Christopher Smith (John Cena) learned that the “Earth-2” he had been visiting was, in fact, Earth-X. They don’t call it that in-story, but that’s what it is: an Earth where the Germans won the war and the U.S. is under Nazi control even decades later.
The Earth-X twist was something a lot of fans saw coming, but narratively, it was treated as a big surprise. That’s because, in the world of Peacemaker, the alternate Earth was built up as an idyllic place where Chris and his cohorts were hailed as great heroes. Now that the secret is out, it’s likely audiences will see it differently — but at least in the first six episodes of the season, Peacemaker frames Earth-X as a utopia.
This is actually somewhat precedented in the comics: in a 1995 issue of Swamp Thing, the title character visits a world where the Nazis won the war, and now live in peace and harmony with nature. There, again, things went bad pretty quickly.
All of that said, the Arrowverse not only created a version of Earth-X that is more in line with its traditional comic book portrayal – but it’s one that is actually less dystopian than the one seen on Peacemaker.
That’s because all of the blue skies and picket fences reflect something deeply disturbing: average white Americans traded the safety of their friends and neighbors for the comforts afforded to those who support the Nazi regime.
Certainly, that has always been part of the story of Earth-X, both in the comics and in the TV adaptation. Still, the Freedom Fighters and other heroes have typically been there to stand up to the regime. The reason the Arrowverse’s Earth-X looks so shabby is because fascism is a failure that needs constant maintenance (and the help of metahumans) to keep it viable. Theirs is a world constantly besieged by pro-democracy radicals and freedom fighters, reflecting an undying spirit that refuses to roll over and let the absolute worst people in history take control of their lives.
The result? Even after decades of Nazi rule, James Olsen and other Black, queer, and Jewish characters are able to exist in the U.S. Whether or not they’re able to do so in the open is not discussed – when we see Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), she is in a concentration camp – but the bottom line is: people haven’t given up. They’re still fighting for a better world. In Peacemaker, that isn’t the case — other than the revolutionary group, the Sons of Liberty, though they don’t seem to be making much of an impact.
Sinclair Lewis is often quoted as saying that when fascism comes to America, it won’t be in jackboots, but “wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” That’s something that has been borne out by the rise of far-right extremism in the West in recent years, and it’s that kind of creeping, insidious “normalcy” that Peacemaker presents. The Earth-X of the comics (and the Arrowverse) is unmistakably a hellhole that cries out for intervention. Peacemaker‘s version is, at least on the surface, the idyllic, 1950s version of America that modern bigots want. It’s a sanitized version of that past that never really existed, and the notion that you could create a simulacrum of it just by removing minorities and dissent is horrifying.
Speaking with Comic Book Club recently, Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow co-creator Marc Guggenheim noted that it makes a lot of sense that Peacemaker would revisit the idea.
“We’re living on Earth-X now,” Guggenheim told us, adding, “I think that…either the rise or fall of fascism, depending upon what my mood is, is very resonant right now. It’s probably more resonant than at any point in my life, in all of our lives. I think that’s why it’s reentered the zeitgeist.”
This week and next, the odds are good the true nature of Peacemaker‘s Earth-X will be revealed; obviously, the notion that this is an idyllic paradise isn’t James Gunn’s unironic narrative intent. Still, the lack of any meaningful resistance seen in the first six weeks served the purpose of preserving the surprise… And making the Stepford Wives-like nature of the reality all the more unsettling.
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