James Gunn Addresses Timeline Confusion Surrounding Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr.

HBO Max’s Peacemaker series, a spin-off sequel to James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, introduced several new comic book characters to the larger DCU, such as Kite Man, Judomaster, and Vigilante.

The show became an instant hit, and fans are eagerly anticipating its upcoming second season.

Since Peacemaker season 2 is set within the DCU, the killing of Rick Flag Jr. by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad is considered canon, and this event is expected to play a major role in the upcoming season. It’s already been confirmed that Frank Grillo will appear as Rick Flag Sr., tying into this storyline.

Previously, we reported that Grillo’s Flag Sr. will confront John Cena’s Peacemaker over the death of his “son,” and this father-son conflict looks set to be a key plot point in season two.

However, with the release of a new teaser and Flag Sr. also appearing in Creature Commandos, fans are puzzled by the potential timeline inconsistency surrounding the character.

Before we dive deeper, we recommend watching two videos to help clarify the confusion. The first is the Creature Commandos trailer, which features Rick Flag with white hair:

Next, here’s the brief 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 sparked a lot of confusion among fans, as Rick Flag Sr. appears to look quite different in what seems to be roughly the same time period.

While the two series aren’t directly overlapping, they are set within the same timeline, and the events aren’t far apart. Although the exact timeline hasn’t been confirmed, they exist within the same narrative framework.

Naturally, fans are concerned—how can the same character look so drastically different at the same time?

Well, it turns out there’s a perfectly logical explanation that has nothing to do with the series’ timeline. One fan even asked James Gunn, “Some are linking Rick Flag Sr.’s hair to the timeline” (not exactly a question, but you get the idea):

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This ties back to an earlier question about the series timeline. As James Gunn confirmed, Peacemaker is set after Superman, which is an important detail to note.

So, how did Gunn address the confusion? He explained: “Link it more with Grillo simultaneously shooting Tulsa King. Peacemaker Season 2 is after Superman, which is after Creature Commandos.”

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Gunn has now cleared up the timeline. First comes Creature Commandos, followed by Superman, and then Peacemaker Season 2.

While this makes the timeline clearer, fans were initially confused because it appeared that Grillo’s character looked younger as time went on, which didn’t make sense. However, as Gunn explained, this wasn’t a timeline issue but rather a result of Grillo’s real-life commitments, much like how Henry Cavill’s mustache affected Justice League.

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