Did The Peacemaker Finale Just Set Up Checkmate?
We might not get a Peacemaker Season 3. But clearly, Checkmate is returning to the DCU.
The Peacemaker Season 2 finale seemingly ended without a true resolution. Clearly, fans of the newly expanding DCU will be expecting more from these characters, but will the future of Chris Smith and the 11th Street Kids be told in hypothetical Peacemaker Season 3? Probably not. And that’s because one DC Comics Easter egg in the Peacemaker finale seems to suggest that another DC title could pick up the story where Peacemaker left off.
Spoilers ahead for Peacemaker Season 2, Episode 8, “Full Nelson.”
Peacemaker Seems To Set Up Checkmate
The 11th Street Kids become Checkmate in the Peacemaker finale.
After the other 11th Street Kids convince Chris (John Cena) to come back and work with them again, it’s revealed that all the characters who are not aligned with Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) have created a new independent agency called Checkmate. Notably, this includes all the characters in this season who didn’t meet some horrible fate, which, oddly enough, includes all the main characters. So, as of the ending of Peacemaker Season 2, the newly formed independent agency Checkmate includes:
- Judo Master (Nhut Le)
- Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows)
- Vigilante (Freddi Stroma)
- Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks)
- Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland)
- John Economos (Steve Agee)
- Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodriguez)
Because Peacemaker himself is kidnapped by ARGUS in the final moments of the episode — and sent to an alternate dimension called Salvation — we really count him as a full member of Checkmate right now. But, interestingly, Bordeaux’s presence here very much makes this a legit new version of an underrated DC team.
Checkmate In DC Comics
Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux, a member of Checkmate in DC Comics.
Starting in 2000, Sasha Bordeaux appeared in various Batman titles, initially as a bodyguard for Bruce Wayne, and later, as a major player in the agency known as Checkmate. As in Peacemaker, Bordeaux has cybernetic enhancements and believes in justice, even when it means working outside of the established rules.
In the comics, Bordeaux also has connections with Maxwell Lord, which is interesting, since Lord’s “Justice Gang” is such a big part of the burgeoning new DCU. Like all things with this new shared canon, James Gunn isn’t taking anything straight from the comics, but rather, remixing various stories together. That said, at various times, both Peacemaker and Vigilante have been agents of Checkmate.
So, if the story of Peacemaker returns in a new series or a new movie, it will almost certainly be under the Checkmate team name. In fact, you could argue that everything in Peacemaker Season 2 was leading to the moment that this team fully came together.
