Is Peacemaker's Alternate World All That It’s Cracked Up To Be?
There’s something slightly off about this new world.
It’s no secret that Chris Smith doesn’t have everything going for him in his life. So far in Peacemaker, he’s lost his brother, his dad, his girl, and A.R.G.U.S. is dead set on finding him for the murder of Rick Flag, Jr., a murder he’s already torturing himself over. So when he discovers a door to an alternate dimension in his extra-dimensional lair, it seems like the perfect escape.
In this world, he’s part of a loving family, A.R.G.U.S. seems to be an office as chill as Dunder Mifflin’s, he’s got a sick motorcycle, and Rick Flag, Jr. is still alive. As Chris puts it, it’s the “best dimension ever,” but is everything really as idyllic as it seems? Some fans have noticed a glaring difference between the main dimension and this one. If it’s true, then this dimension could be one of the worst in existence.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 3!
Even the background extras in the alt-world are all white.
Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 3 is the first episode where we got a good look at what’s going on in the alt-world, and it all seems pretty great. Chris takes his bike down to A.R.G.U.S., meets some adoring fans, takes Emilia Harcourt out for a hot dog, and saves the city from a terror attack. That’s a pretty great day for a superhero, but as many fans have noticed, there was one thing missing: diversity.
So far, literally every character we’ve seen in the alt-world, even the background extras, have been caucasian, even the faces of band posters and billboards. DC is usually pretty good at making the superhero world reflect the diversity of our world, but this isn’t the standard dimension. Some fans are theorizing that this isn’t just an oversight — instead, this is a white supremacist fantasy of a world.
The evidence is pretty hard to deny. One of the highlights of this alt-world is that Chris’ dad Auggie seems to be on good terms with him, something that could never happen in the other world. Auggie was a homophobic white supremacist who abused his son in the regular world, but in this one, he’s apparently changed. However, if this theory is true, it’s not Auggie that changed, but the entire world.
White Dragon’s past affiliations certainly cast doubt on a world where he’s lauded as a hero.
The events of Episode 3 also specifically point to this theory being true: Chris defends against an attack from the Sons of Liberty, but we curiously don’t get any clue what they stand for, we just know they attacked a Housing and Development office previously and they’ll keep attacking until “their demands are met.” Considering the real-life Sons of Liberty were the similarly revolutionary group that founded this very country, it’s likely they may not be the villains they appear to be.
There’s a comics parallel too. A leading theory suggests this dimension is actually Earth X, the alternate world that’s pretty much the same except for one big difference: the Nazis won WWII, plunging the world into a white supremacist hellscape that, to the outside observer on a normal day, might look a lot like Peacemaker’s new home. If that’s true, we could even get a cameo from a Nazi variant of a classic DC hero like Superman.
This would be a huge secret to hide from the audience, but once you notice the strange lack of diversity in the characters, you can’t stop. Maybe this is the reason James Gunn is being so secretive about the final three episodes of Season 2: that’s when the rose colored glasses will come off and Chris will see the world for what it is — a place that’s great for him because of a privilege he isn’t even aware of.
