Peacemaker Snubs Superman Star David Corenswet — No Cameo, And He's Not Happy
Snub sparks friction as David fumes while Nick lands the coveted spot on the show.
If you were hoping for a cape fluttering through Peacemaker season 2, James Gunn just shut that down. The show did sneak in a surprise Lex Luthor cameo this week, but Superman himself? Not happening. Here is what Gunn told Variety, why Lex is in the mix, and how this all tees up the next Superman movie.
So, is Superman popping into Peacemaker?
No. Gunn was asked point-blank after this week’s episode introduced Lex Luthor, and he kept it simple: Superman is sitting this one out.
'No. In fact, David was very upset that Nick got to be on the show, and he didn’t. It just didn’t work.'
Translation for anyone not tracking the new DCU lineup: David Corenswet is our new Clark Kent, and Nicholas Hoult is playing Lex Luthor. Hoult gets the Peacemaker cameo. Corenswet does not. Inside baseball, but kind of funny that Superman is jealous of Lex’s TV time.
Why Lex shows up instead
Gunn says he needed Lex in the show for a reason, not just for the shock factor. In this week’s episode, we meet an incarcerated Lex Luthor who ends up in the same room as Rick Flag Sr. — who is being played by Frank Grillo. That pairing is not random. It is setup.
According to Gunn, whatever Lex and Rick Flag Sr. are cooking up will ripple directly into 'Man of Tomorrow' — the Superman sequel he name-dropped. And yes, that is the one everyone keeps whispering might involve Brainiac. Gunn didn’t spill plot, but he did spell out the vibe: this alliance is bad news for Superman and basically every meta-human in the DCU.
- Lex Luthor appears in Peacemaker season 2 (Nicholas Hoult), but Superman (David Corenswet) does not.
- Gunn says he brought Lex in for a specific purpose tied to the broader DCU story.
- Lex and Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) are working on something that feeds directly into 'Man of Tomorrow', the next Superman movie.
- The Lex–Flag connection is potentially very bad for Superman and meta-humans across the board.
The bottom line
Gunn is threading TV and film together, and this Lex cameo isn’t a one-off. It is connective tissue. No cape now, but the moves being made in Peacemaker are setting the table for Superman’s big-screen future. If this is the start of a Lex–Rick Flag partnership, it is the kind of unholy alliance that could make life miserable for Clark and friends. Peacemaker season 2 rolls on next week, so we will see how deep this rabbit hole goes.