Peacemaker Season 1 Ending Explained

Warning: this article contains full spoilers for the Peacemaker Season 1 finale!

The eighth and final Season 1 episode of HBO Max’s Peacemaker, titled “It’s Cow Or Never,” has come and gone, wrapping up Peacemaker (John Cena) and company’s mission to stop the Butterflies. We’re going to break down exactly how things ended, answer some lingering questions, tell whether there’s a post-credits scene, and share what we know about Peacemaker Season 2.

Be sure to check out IGN’s review of the Peacemaker Season 1 finale!

How Peacemaker Season 1 Ends

Peacemaker and his teammates Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and John Economos (Steve Agee) finally track down the location of the barn where the alien Butterflies are hiding the source of their syrupy food supply–a kaiju-sized alien slug nicknamed the “cow.” Their mission is to destroy the cow which will in effect cause the Butterflies to die from starvation and end their secret invasion of the planet.

After kicking off a battle with the Butterflies by activating Peacemaker’s sonic boom helmet, the team takes heavy losses, with Vigilante and Harcourt suffering severe gunshot wounds, and Economos going down with a much more superficial injury, leaving Peacemaker and Adebayo to venture into the cavern below the barn to deal with the cow.

The Butterfly leader known as Goff (Annie Chang) pleads with Peacemaker to spare the cow because, in a surprise twist, the Butterflies don’t want to conquer the world like your typical evil aliens, they want to help save the people of Earth from themselves so our planet doesn’t perish like the Butterflies’ planet did. Peacemaker has a strong emotional reaction to Goff’s request to spare the cow and help the Butterflies, and we see his traumatic memories of the experiences that shaped him into the murderous yet conflicted man he is today. It seems as though he may take Goff up on this offer to bring peace to the world.

However, Peacemaker ultimately rejects Goff’s offer, shooting its host body in the chest (sparing Goff’s life) and activates Adebayo’s human torpedo helmet to deliver an incredibly disgusting killing blow to the cow.

As for why Peacemaker made that fateful decision, Peacemaker show creator James Gunn explained the reasoning to Variety, saying, “[The series is] about a character who is trapped in his own ideals, who has lived a life like that because of the trauma that he experienced. And in the last episode, he’s a different guy than the guy who killed Rick Flag.” As convincing as Goff’s offer sounded, it was just another instance of someone trying to force Peacemaker to fight for their version of “peace,” so Peacemaker decided to break the cycle he had been trapped in since his brother died and instead do what he felt was right, despite the tragic cost to the Butterflies. 

The Justice League Arrives Too Late

Hilariously, once Peacemaker and the rest have already saved the day, four members of the Justice League show up–Superman, Aquaman, Flash and Wonder Woman. Earlier in the episode, Adebayo had called her mother Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) asking her to send the Justice League to help out, and it looks like she actually did! Only, the world’s greatest heroes were too late, prompting Peacemaker to mock Aquaman (Jason Momoa) for having sex with fish, something Flash (Ezra Miller) seemingly confirms is true. 

It’s notable that Batman (Ben Affleck) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) are missing from the Justice League lineup, something Gunn addressed in his interview with Variety.

Did Any of Peacemaker’s Allies Die?

Despite suffering grievous wounds, all of Peacemaker’s teammates made it out alive. 

Harcourt is seen doing physical rehabilitation in the hospital, and she even extends a hand to a visiting Chris Smith, finally opening up and having an emotional connection with him.

Vigilante collapsed in the hospital and was taken in for treatment, only for him to escape out the window the first chance he got. 

Economos has been reassigned to once again work at Belle Reve, only this time he’s kept company by the photo of him jamming out with his new friends Peacemaker and Vigilante.

Meanwhile, Adebayo kissed and made up with her wife, then made the shocking decision to publicly pull the curtain back on her mom’s entire operation.

What Happens to Task Force X aka The Suicide Squad Now?

With Adebayo holding a press conference to reveal her mother’s sins to the world, there will most certainly be huge ramifications across the DCEU. Amanda Waller’s Task Force X was an illegal operation and its inhumane nature will naturally have the general public and Earth’s superheroes up in arms. James Gunn is developing another The Suicide Squad spin-off show, the subject of which is currently unknown, but it’s possible this big development could be explored there, if not Peacemaker Season 2 (more on that in a moment).

What’s Up With Peacemaker’s Ghost Dad?

Despite Peacemaker killing his father, Auggie Smith aka KKK supervillain White Dragon (Robert Patrick), he sees a vision of him that taunts him and says he’ll never leave him be. Peacemaker “kills” the ghost with a poison blow dart, although Harcourt arrives and sees nothing, showing this is a hallucination taking place in Peacemaker’s head. The season ends with Peacemaker sitting on his porch drinking a beer, and he’s once again joined by the ghost of his father. Whereas before Peacemaker was startled by this vision of his father, this time he seemed at peace with it.

It’s made clear throughout the season that Auggie traumatized his son Chris at a young age by making him fight his brother, causing his accidental death, and he continued to use abusive tactics to mold him into the awful man he would become. Even though Peacemaker killed him, Auggie’s impact on him was so strong that Peacemaker can’t get him out of his head. This shows that even though Peacemaker got rid of his father in a physical sense, he’ll still be dealing with all of the psychological trauma he inflicted on him, and that has taken shape in the form of a ghostly vision of dear old dad. 

However, you’ll notice that Auggie’s ghost was loud and belligerent the first time we saw him but appeared quiet and calm after Peacemaker had saved the world. This seemingly reveals that Peacemaker’s emotional moment with Goff truly did change him, and finally his father’s influence on him has been broken–but that he’s still there in the closing moments of the episode shows that his father will always be a part of him.

What Will Happen to Goff the Butterfly?

Also sitting on the porch with Peacemaker is Goff the Butterfly, who feeds on the last remaining cow syrup Peacemaker previously used to feed it as a pet. Even though Goff has plenty of reason to be mad at Peacemaker, what with him destroying the Butterflies’ last chance at survival, he’s also the only person Goff knows who showed it kindness, so it goes to spend its last moments with its only friend in the universe. After all, it was made clear that with the cow dead and the syrup gone, Goff will soon die from starvation.

Does Peacemaker Have a Post-Credits Scene?

Peacemaker does have a post-credits scene, but it’s the usual extended scene from the episode and not one of the more exciting stinger scenes superhero shows and movies typically have.

This episode’s post-credits scene returns to the moment in the forest where Vigilante asks to be given a heads up whenever someone says something sarcastic, and this time we hear him give some examples to John Economos. Bless him.

Will There Be a Season 2 of Peacemaker?

Peacemaker has been renewed for Season 2 on HBO Max. It’s too early for any plot details to be revealed, with Gunn telling Variety that he’s “still playing with a lot of different things” at the moment.