Why Amanda Waller Isn't Involved In Peacemaker

The TV series Justice League, so Warner Bros. made some changes to its plans and the overall tone for the subsequent movies in this universe has changed.

One of its biggest changes (and improvements) was The Suicide Squad, a standalone sequel to David Ayer’s The Suicide Squad followed a new Task Force X team formed by Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), and Peacemaker (John Cena), on a mission to Corto Maltese, where they came across the Thinker (Peter Capaldi) and Starro the Conqueror, a giant alien starfish. Unfortunately, not all of the team made it to the end of The Suicide Squad, but to everyone’s surprise, a post-credits scene revealed Peacemaker survived being shot by Bloodsport, making his return in his own TV show possible.

Simply titled Peacemaker, the series will stream on HBO Max and will be led by John Cena as the title character. Peacemaker is set after the events of The Suicide Squad, and it will follow the title vigilante on new missions while also exploring his origins. The series will bring a couple of characters from The Suicide Squad back, as are Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee), who worked with Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) in the movie and kept a close eye on both Task Force X teams. However, Waller is not coming back, and Peacemaker, Harcourt, and Economos will instead take part in a new team.

Amanda Waller’s absence in Peacemaker might seem odd to some, especially as Peacemaker was under the supervision of Harcourt and Economos in The Suicide Squad’s post-credits scene, and they were sent there by Waller. Economos even mentioned how this was a revenge move on her part after they betrayed her (and physically attacked her, as they knocked her out in order to save the team from execution), so Waller is still disgusted with Peacemaker’s failure during the Corto Maltese mission and that of her subordinates. Peacemaker’s new mission and team, then, are part of Waller’s punishment for them, and she surely wouldn’t want to get involved with them anytime soon, so it makes sense that she won’t be part of Peacemaker – but that doesn’t mean there can’t be any references to her and her work in the movies with all the Task Force X teams.

Of course, there’s also the fact that this is a Peacemaker TV show and not a Suicide Squad one, so there really is no need for Waller to show up, except maybe in flashbacks to explain how she and Peacemaker met. Like many other plans of hers, teaming Peacemaker, Harcourt, Economos, and others up for new missions with a different leader and purpose might not be the punishment she intended, and they will end up having the time of their (chaotic) lives.

Next: James Gunn's Best DCEU Future After Peacemaker (Not Suicide Squad 3)