Yardbarker
x
Is PEACEMAKER’S ‘Perfect’ Alt-Universe Secretly Anything But?
Peacemaker drives his motorcycle in the alternate universe. HBO Max

So far in PeacemakerOpens in a new tab season two, the alternate universe Christopher Smith (John Cena) stumbled into has seemed like a perfect world. His racist and abusive father, Auggie (Robert Patrick), is a loving dad that he fights crime with. His brother KeithOpens in a new tab (David Denman) is alive and well, and also his superhero partner. And although things fell apart with his Emelia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), it seems she’s more than willing to try to make things work. The cherry on top is that Peacemaker is a beloved superhero in this world, famous as part of the crime-fighting Top Trio, along with his dad and brother.

But one Instagram user by the name of isuperbbaOpens in a new tab believes the alt-world is very much the opposite of perfect, and in fact is a world ruled by white supremacists. Perhaps even a world where the Nazis won World War II. He presents his case below, and he’s definitely got us convinced.

After watching the third episode of Peacemaker season two, and spending a good amount of time in the alt-world, we think this theory is almost certainly true. So far, every background character in town we see, as well as every single A.R.G.U.S. agent, is Caucasian. Peacemaker’s father isn’t angry and abusive because why would he be in this world? On this Earth, having hateful views is the norm, and he wouldn’t be a pariah; he’d be a hero. Even the rock music posters on Chris’s wall in the alt-world are only bands fronted by white artists. The circumstantial evidence is fairly overwhelming.


Is PEACEMAKER’S ‘Perfect’ Alt-Universe Secretly Anything But?_2 HBO Max/DC Comics

Then there’s the newspaper clipping that shows the Top Trio defeating the Rainbow Creature. This is a very obscure Batman villain  from the Silver Age. It comes from an era when Batman fought more aliens and monsters than costumed criminals. But James Gunn doesn’t drop even seemingly silly Easter eggs like that without a deeper meaning. The “Rainbow” being something that needs defeating could symbolize a multicultural world. It could also be a reference to the LGBTQ Pride rainbow. After all, Nazis don’t much like queer folks either.


Is PEACEMAKER’S ‘Perfect’ Alt-Universe Secretly Anything But?_3 HBO Max

The pronunciation of the city of Blüdhaven is also very telling. Yes, it’s supposed to be a German name, because of the umlaut on the letter u. But most German names in America have become anglicized in their pronunciation. And as the original poster pointed out, we have already heard Blüdhaven pronounced BLOOD-haven in Creature Commandos. A world where the Germans won WWII would enforce German norms on the whole world. This little detail might be the most telling about how this white supremacist world came to be.

Another hint is this world’s version of Emelia Harcourt. Yes, she still works at A.R.G.U.S., but she doesn’t seem nearly as bada--, and wears dresses and more feminine attire. From the look of things, she has some kind of desk job. That’s not a bad thing, but the Nazis enforced very strict gender roles. In a world like this, Emelia probably would likely not work in anything that was “a man’s job” like our version of the character. Of all of the clues, this one might be the one that’s “reaching” the most, but we stand by it.


The Earth-X version of Superman by Jim Lee. DC Comics

DC lore actually has precedent for an Earth where the Nazis won World War II. This was “Earth X,” and it was home to heroic Freedom Fighters who fought against the Nazis well into the ’80s. A version of this world has popped up in the DC Multiverse several times. In the CW Arrowverse, there was even a crossover event that introduced us to this world, “Crisis on Earth-X.” We may not get that name on Peacemaker, but our hunch says it will be Earth-X in everything but name. Does this mean there are Nazi versions of DCU heroes here? We’ll have to wait and find out. But we think this seemingly perfect world is anything but.

This article first appeared on Nerdist and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads:

Customize Your Newsletter

Yardbarker +

Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!