Peacemaker: DC Comics Teases A Fan-Favorite Character's Return From The Dead

For the most part, comic books influence the movies that are adapted from them. Filmmakers translate the characters and storylines to the big screen hoping for a giant cash grab. What is less common is when the films influence the comics and create an opportunity to capitalize on the big-screen popularity of a character. Sure, the Avengers made Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk more popular than ever, but DC looks to be taking the success of "The Suicide Squad" and "Peacemaker" into account and bringing back fan favorite Emilia Harcourt. It won't be just any old return either; they might be bringing her back from the dead.

In a teaser for the October 23 release of "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" #6, DC dropped some information about their new upcoming anthology installment but throws in a very curious line that gives fans some good news about their favorite NSA agent. "What secret has Director Bones been withholding from the team all this time?!," the teaser reads. "Emilia Harcourt returns...from the dead?!" Of course, we don't know anything beyond that information, and we can only guess how and why she is returning, but our money is on capitalizing on the recent popularity of the character.

Jennifer Holland ("Brightburn," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3") brought the character to life in "The Suicide Squad" and then reprised the role in "Peacemaker" and "Black Adam." And while there is no word on whether she will factor into James Gunn's new DC Universe, the comics look to reintroduce a now-familiar face.

Emilia Harcourt started out as an NSA agent sent by the agency to keep an eye on Amanda Waller while she put together and led her unstable Suicide Squad. During her short stint in the comics, from her first appearance in "Suicide Squad" Vol 5 #2, "The Black Vault, Part Two: Blitzkrieg Bop," until 15 issues later, she was revealed to have been a double agent who was stealing all of Waller's files on the superpowered beings and even convinced Captain Boomerang to work with her.

In "Suicide Squad" Vol 5 #17, "Blowing Up," the Suicide Squad is in Belle Reve Prison and going toe-to-toe with General Zod. During the commotion, Harcourt makes her way to the server room, where she kills all four guards and initiates the self-destruct process for the prison, ready to kill everyone in the building. Waller finds her there, and when Harcourt attempts to shoot her, she discovers that Waller emptied her gun of all but the bullets needed to kill the guards. Before Harcourt can then beat her with the butt of her pistol, she is hit in the back with a boomerang. She dies on the floor as Captain Boomerang and Waller watch.

While her appearances in the DCEU had the potential to go the same way, with her starring in "The Suicide Squad" alongside Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), the latter was the one who met his demise while she continued on. She did, however, betray Waller (Viola Davis), and she could have an opportunity to do even more from the comics in the future.

With the box office failure of "The Flash," the DCEU is all but dead as the speedster's solo outing seems to be the final dagger in the heart of Zack Snyder's brainchild. Of course, a good franchise won't stay down for long, as James Gunn gears up to take the place of the failed DCEU with his rebooted DCU. While we can imagine that he will eventually introduce the Justice League with characters like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, he is best known for taking unique and largely unknown characters and making them mainstream, something he could feasibly do with Stormwatch. 

Emilia Harcourt's resurrection in the "No More Kings" section of the "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" anthology brings attention to a storyline that could be mirrored in the DCU as a viable replacement for the Justice League. Led by Director Bones, Stormwatch is a relatively obscure team originally brought together in the Middle Ages and had some prominent DC characters such as Etrigan, Jason Blood, and Vandal Savage. While they were initially Earth's go-to defense against alien threats, they have stepped in with others to pick up the slack, with the events of "Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths" destroying the Justice League.

While Jennifer Holland's version of Harcourt never died on-screen, the franchise she is involved with has. Harcourt's resurrection in the pages of the comics alongside the rise in popularity for Stormwatch could make for an excellent storyline for James Gunn to bring another obscure team to prominence in the same way he did the Guardians of the Galaxy.