The Suicide Squad was a movie about some of the DC's worst, weirdest, bad guys, but while some proved more sympathetic than others, Peacemaker wasn't exactly among them. His desire for peace meant killing anyone and everyone who got in his way, hence why Christopher Smith ultimately delivered that life-ending blow to the heroic Colonel Rick Flag.
Moments later, Peacemaker looked set to gun down Ratcatcher 2 before Bloodspot arrived and seemingly shot and killed the villain. A post-credits scene would reveal that Smith has survived, and we find him fully recovered in the hospital when HBO Max's Peacemaker TV series begins.
No one seems to really care that he's unguarded, and Peacemaker soon manages to flee the hospital to what he believes is freedom (the rest of Task Force X managed to blackmail Amanda Waller to earn their freedom, remember). However, one of the nurses makes a call and by the time Smith returns home, Waller's team has apprehended him and made it clear he's needed for another mission.
Oh, and that bomb is confirmed to still be in his neck, so he has no choice but to comply.
Over the course of these opening three episodes, it's established that Peacemaker is not a racist who only kills ethnic minorities, and we soon learn that there's more to him than meets the eye. His quest for peace no longer seems to be as important as it once was, while Rick Flag's death has hit him hard (we witness him break down in tears and learn that Smith agrees with Flag: he is a joke).
The stage is clearly being set to deliver a far more sympathetic take on Peacemaker, and we're beginning to learn that the events of The Suicide Squad have had a lasting impact on him. Clearly, he's not all bad, and these compelling opening episodes make returning next week an absolute must.
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