Peacemaker Fans Think Project Butterfly Will Lead To This DC Hero's Debut

Superhero TV movies and TV shows are based on decades of source material. Even thought it seems like there's no end to superhero content these days, there are still dozens of beloved characters who have yet to make their modern on-screen debuts. Whenever a new movie or show is available, inevitably there's speculation about which of these heroes and villains might finally make an appearance.

"Peacemaker" dropped its three-episode premiere on HBO Max on January 13, 2022. It's a spinoff series of James Gunn's 2021 dark superhero comedy "The Suicide Squad," which was about a team of not-very-heroic superheroes who get released from prison to save the world from a giant alien starfish.

The TV show follows a similar plot. Set months after the events of "The Suicide Squad," A.R.G.U.S. Director Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) recruits Christopher Smith/Peacemaker (John Cena), to join another team of renegades and save the world. This time, Peacemaker teams up with Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), John Economos (Steve Agee), and Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) to form a black ops squad, whose mission is to assassinate members of "Project Butterfly."

Three episodes in, all we know is that Butterflies are super-powered metahumans possessed by butterfly-like alien parasites. If you're familiar with DC Comics, that might sound familiar with another famous superhero from the canon, who hasn't yet appeared in the DCEU. If so, you're not alone.

On a "Peacemaker" discussion thread on Reddit, Redditor u/theSaltySolo noticed a similarity between Project Butterfly and the Scarabs in the Blue Beetle mythology. Blue Beetle is a DC Comics superhero embodied by three different people since 1939. Blue Beetle has several different superpowers like shapeshifting and armor, which are derived from a blue scarab attached to his spine.

"I'm going to speculate here," u/theSaltySolo wrote. "The 'butterflies' are like the 'scarabs' and the DCEU's version of The Reach. They look like they have alien origins, take over hosts and boosts their abilities. This then leads to our DCEU's Blue Beetle creation."

u/theSaltySolo is correct that the Butterflies and the Scarabs are both mind-controlling alien parasites sent to Earth to take over human hosts. Other Redditors pointed out that Blue Beetle and Peacemaker have a history together in DC Comics. u/Trevastation noted that the third Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes, ran into Peacemaker in his early days as Blue Beetle. Blue Beetle and Peacemaker are also both characters from Charlton Comics, a comic company whose characters DC purchased the rights to in 1983.

Finally, Blue Beetle is already set to join the DCEU – a Blue Beetle movie is in the works for 2023.

The one wrinkle in the theory is that it's difficult to imagine Blue Beetle on a show like "Peacemaker." "Blue Beetle is supposed to be an all ages character," wrote Redditor u/Stuckinthevortex. "It would be somewhat surprising that WB would introduce the character's mythos in a show as profane and un-family friendly as 'Peacemaker.'"

Fair point. With five more episodes in Season 1 left to go, anything can happen.