James Gunn Clears Up Timeline Issue Related to Fran Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr.

HBO Max’s Peacemaker series debuted as James Gunn’s spin-off sequel to The Suicide Squad and it introduced a lot of comic book characters to the larger DCEU canon (Kite Man, Judomaster, Vigilante, etc.). It ultimately became a hit, and we know that we are going to see the show’s second season very, very soon.

Seeing how the story of Peacemaker season 2 is set within the DCU, Peacemaker’s killing of Rick Flag Jr. in Gunn’s The Suicide Squad is considered canon, and it appears that this will be a significant topic in the upcoming season.

We have already reported that Fran Grillo will appear as Flag’s father, Rick Flag Sr., which is related to this event.

In an earlier report, we confirmed that Grillo challenged Cena for killing his “son,” and it seems that the feud between them is going to be very important in the second season. But, with the recently released teaser and the fact that Flag Sr. is also going to be in Creature Commandos, the fans were confused by the character’s appearance, which created a possible timeline problem.

Before we continue, there are two videos that we’d like you to see, as a form of preparation for understanding the whole confusion. The first is the Creature Commandos trailer which shows Rick Flag with white hair:

Now, here is the short teaser for Peacemaker Season 2 released by James Gunn, which shows Rick Flag with dark hair:

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As you can imagine, this caused a lot of confusion among the fans, as it seems that Rick Flag Sr. looks different in roughly the same time period. The series aren’t concurring, but they are set in the same timeline, and as we can understand, they aren’t far apart in that aspect.

The exact timeline has not been confirmed, but they are part of the same narrative unit.

So, you can, naturally, understand what the fans are concerned about – how is it that the same character looks so vastly different at the same time?

Well, it seems that there is a very logical explanation that has absolutely nothing to do with the timeline of the series. Namely, one fan asked Gunn the following: “Some are linking Rick flag senior hair with the timeline” (okay, technically not a question, but you get what we’re saying):

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This is, actually, related to an earlier question about the timeline of the series, as James Gunn – as you can see – confirmed that the show was set after Superman, which is an important detail to keep in mind. So, how did James Gunn clear this up? Well, he said: “Link it more with Grillo simultaneously shooting Tulsa King. PM2 is after SM which is after CC.”

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So, Gunn has properly explained the timeline now. We have Creature Commandos first, after which comes Superman, and after that, Peacemaker Season 2. This makes the timeline clear, but as said, the fans were confused because it seemed like Grillo’s character became younger as time passed, and that made absolutely no sense.

But, as Gunn explained it, this did not have to do anything with the timeline but rather with Grillo’s real-life obligations, similar to how the Cavill mustache played a major role in Justice League back then.

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