Peacekeeper Season 1 was made when the DC Extended Universe was still around. So, while Season 2 is set in the DC Universe and is just days away from premiering on the 2025 TV schedule, the HBO Max show’s placement in this new franchise means that aspects of Season 1 are no longer canon. The most notable example of this is the Justice League cameo in the Season 1 finale, and fresh off meeting Superman and Supergirl after the 2025 film schedule, Peacekeeper creator and DC Studios collaborator James Gunn has revealed one superhero who is not part of that continuity at all right now.
On the Peacemaker: The Official Broadcaster of James Gunn’s episode covering the Peacemaker season 1 finale, Gunn and actors Jennifer Holland (also his wife) and Steve Agee made a mention of Green Arrow… in a rather unflattering light. Whether or not this moment remains canon in the DCU is up in the air at this point, and Gunn said:
Is Green Arrow canon? I don’t know. I don’t want to say yet. We don’t really know. We don’t have Green Arrow as part of our system right now. So maybe Green Arrow exists, maybe he doesn’t, I’m not sure.
The DCU has also introduced characters like Creature Commander, Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Dreadful in the past nine months, and we know that Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Batman, Surprise Girl, Clayface, Lobo, and Booster Gold are all lined up to appear in upcoming DC movies and upcoming DC TV shows, among others. But as far as Green Arrow is concerned, he hasn’t yet been given a full rundown of James Gunn’s plans for the franchise. So whether or not this mention of Oliver Queen’s masked persona is canon will be up to individual viewers until Gunn makes an official decision on his DC status.
Which means it might be best if Green Arrow doesn’t exist in this world yet. In “It’s Cow or Never,” John Cena’s Christopher Smith claimed that the Emerald Arrow “goes to Brony conventions dressed like the backside of Twilight with a four-inch-wide pimple drilled into his costume.” It was one of many ridiculous statements Smith made about DC superheroes in Peacekeeper Season 1, though Steve Agee’s John Economos said he’s heard that rumor to be true, too. While there were certainly plenty of fans who laughed at the joke, Arrow star Stephen Amell “didn’t appreciate it at all.”
