James Gunn says 'Peacemaker' character will factor into upcoming DC movie — so who could it be?

Don't expect the events of Peacemaker to stay relegated to James Gunn's chaotic little corner of the DC Extended Universe. Appearing on a recent episode of the TV's Top 5 podcast (run by The Hollywood Reporter), the writer, director, and executive producer teased that one of the show's characters will appear in an upcoming film project. Moreover, some fans have already figured out who it is.

“One of these characters, which people have kind of figured out, is used in a future big DC movie that’s from here," he said. "So we are connected to all of this, but who knows what role these characters are gonna play in the future? Listen, nobody knew who the Guardians of the Galaxy were and then all the sudden, they’re massive players in Infinity War and Endgame, so who knows what’s going to happen with Peacemaker in five years or 10 years or whatever?"

So who's going to show up on the big screen? Across its first three episodes, Peacemaker has already introduced a number of key players beyond the titular antihero like Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), the White Dragon (Robert Patrick), and Judomaster (Nhut Le).

However, the most widespread bit of speculation centers around Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), who's rumored to make an appearance in Black Adam this summer. Others — like ScreenRant — posit that Gunn was referring to Peacemaker himself. Given that the character has interacted with Blue Beetle in the comics, it is possible that Christopher Smith is headed for director Angel Manuel Soto's Blue Beetle movie.

With all of that said, Gunn “doesn’t really have a big interest” in bending over backwards to achieve comic book interconnectedness. “I don’t ever want my story to suffer for the sake of a larger story,” he explained. “I want my story to be the prime thing and anyway the larger story can help enhance the story that I’m telling today, that’s great. But if it can’t, then I just ignore it."

Gunn added that there is a precedent for looser continuity within the context of DC's publishing side. "Marvel comic books were always more one connected series and DC always had more offshoots of things like Watchmen and The Dark Knight [Returns] and all these things that were not necessarily connected to the DC comics," he said. "So there is something a little bit innate about that. Some disconnected stories within the DC Universe."

The first three episodes of Peacemaker are now streaming on HBO Max. Episode 4 premieres on the platform this Thursday (Jan. 20).

In terms of what the next five episodes have in store, Gunn admitted that the sixth chapter contain a moment that HBO Max tried to cut. “There’s one moment that they were afraid of showing that comes in Episode 6 that I pretty much insisted on keeping in. I thought it was important, so that was the only time they balked at that."

A second season has yet to be ordered, but even if it doesn't return for a sophomore outing, Gunn has a few related bowling pins up in the air. In fact, it sounds as though that secret DC television project we heard about last week is indeed connected to the world of Peacemaker.

“I would love to do a second season," he continued. "John and I were just talking about that literally fifteen minutes ago … John and I are not signed up for a second season right now, but the rest of the cast is, so I think that I would love to do that if that opportunity presented itself. I’m also playing with a couple of other things that are somewhat connected to Peacemaker.”