Steer clear of the quantum unfolding storage area: This article contains spoilers for "Peacemaker" season 2, episode 1, "The Ties That Grind."
"Peacemaker" season 1 introduced a lot of strange gadgets and alien equipment, but the horrible Auggie "White Dragon" Smith's (Robert Patrick) quantum unfolding storage area takes the cake. Uncanny even by the show's generous standards of weirdness, this extra-dimensional pocket space acts as Auggie's secret lair and workshop, and in best "Doctor Who" tradition,
it's vastly bigger on the inside than you'd expect. After killing his father in season 1, Christopher "Peacemaker" Smith (John Cena) starts "Peacemaker" season 2 as the new owner of Auggie's house and the storage area. True to form, though, he mostly uses it to let his pet eagle Eagly fly around when he doesn't feel like taking them outdoors.
When Eagly locates a door that leads our protagonist to a different (and far more successful) Peacemaker's mansion, things take a steep turn for the strange. Soon, Christopher finds himself in the company of a weirdly friendly alternate-universe version of his dad, as well as his older brother, Keith (David Denman) -- who, in Peacemaker's own universe, is long dead. After the events lead to Peacemaker fighting and killing his own alternate-universe counterpart, the stage is set for whatever series of disastrous but entertaining misunderstandings James Gunn plans to throw at viewers.
We don't know just how Gunn intends to handle the show's alternate-dimension elements just yet, but we do know that at least one DC Universe dimension contains strange and powerful things. In fact, the "Peacemaker" season 2 premiere teases a threat that may well become the DCU's most urgent matter a few projects down the line: The reality-bending menace known as Mister Mxyzptlk and other members of his puckish but powerful race.
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Auggie And Keith Smith's Dimensional Imp Story May Herald The Arrival Of Superman's Most Unpredictable Enemy
The thing to remember here is that Mister Mxyzptlk and his ilk are imps from another plane of existence known as the Fifth Dimension. Their magical "super-science" abilities translate to reality manipulation on an absurd scale -- think Q (John de Lancie) from the "Star Trek" franchise with a penchant for Looney Tunes -- especially when they visit the Prime Earth universe. While the first episode of "Peacemaker" season 2 keeps things mysterious and doesn't name-drop any members of this race, the scene where the alternate-universe Auggie and Keith reminisce about Peacemaker rummaging around the quantum storage area when he was 12 evolves into a story of a door that Auggie says leads to a "Munchkin dimension." Keith quickly notes that the creatures were actually imps. It's strongly implied that the Smiths were involved in an altercation with these creatures, as Keith later found a dead one inside his truck's engine block.
The dialogue frames the incident as a joke, with its references to giant peppermint sticks and general shenanigans. However, the mention of dimensional imps is still a pretty clear reference to the Fifth Dimension.
The fact that "Peacemaker" season 2 even hints at the existence of the outlandish and massively overpowered imps is a wild tease this early in the DCU game. Though the Smiths seem to view the imps as little more than zany cannon fodder, they're no pushovers. Mister Mxyzptlk alone is effectively a deity who can easily run laps around Superman, and only his mischievous nature and self-imposed weaknesses (such as exiling himself back to his own dimension for 90 days if someone tricks him into spelling his name backwards) keep him from being a universal threat.
Peacemaker Has Already Introduced The Strangest Imp From The Fifth Dimension
Interestingly enough, the "Peacemaker" season 2 premiere isn't the first time the show has brought dimensional imps into play. In season 1, episode 2 (titled "Best Friends, For Never"), John Economos (Steve Agee) is still on very bad terms with Peacemaker and tries to come up with the most absurd person he'd much rather hang out with. Economos lands on Bat-Mite, whom he specifically describes as a small imp from the Fifth Dimension that just happens to be a Batman mega-fan. He also takes extra time to confirm to Peacemaker (and the viewer) that yes, the Bat-Mite is a character who very much exists in the show's universe.
Economos' description is an accurate account of the Bat-Mite from the comics. The character is an even sillier (but just as powerful) version of Mister Mxyzptlk and likes to hassle Batman, to the point that the imp generally wears an ill-fitting Batman costume. Even among the many ridiculous characters "Peacemaker" season 1 made canon in the DC Extended Universe, Bat-Mite stands out as particularly ludicrous. Still, the confirmation of his existence in season 1 supports the possibility that the season 2 imps Keith and Auggie are talking about are indeed Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk's people.
Granted, there's the matter of "Peacemaker" season 1 technically taking place in the DCEU and season 2 in the DCU. Even so, both seasons make such a noticeable point of addressing the existence of imps from another dimension that it's probably safe to assume James Gunn has plans for the Fifth Dimension.
New episodes of "Peacemaker" season 2 premiere Thursdays on HBO Max.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
