One death in Superman had a bigger knock-on effect than expected as James Gunn reveals Rick Flag's motivations behind his Salvation plan

Hawkgirl giving the Boravian president a one-way ticket to Splatsville in Superman may have been played for laughs in the DC movie, but it appears that politically-charged death is going to have a far-reaching impact on the DCU-at-large.

As ever, James Gunn was on hand to clear up any confusion over his projects on social media – and it's here where the Hawkgirl connection comes in.

One fan on Threads asked the director why Rick Flag's 'hatred' for metahumans grew exponentially despite being part of a team filled with them in Creature Commandos. Gunn replied: "Rick doesn't hate metahumans. He's afraid of the power some metahumans have dictating world politics (as started by Superman and the Justice Gang - especially Hawkgirl) and mostly afraid of how difficult it is to contain metahuman criminals."

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So, why put forward the plan of Salvation, the Earth-like alternate dimension that acts as a dumping ground for the world's metahumans?

Gunn wrote, "But Flag just wants a way to protect Americans and goes about it in a callous fashion. Oh, and obviously he hates Peacemaker for killing his son."

Reading between the lines, it appears Man of Tomorrow will deal with the metahuman conundrum and the ripple effects of both Hawkgirl's actions and the emergence of Salvation.

Gunn has also been vocal on social media, most recently saying it's completely fine if you didn't vibe with the Peacemaker season 2 finale – even though he loved it. That's surely nothing to do with the director making a cameo in the episode, we're guessing.

Peacemaker season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max. For more, join us as we break down the Peacemaker season 2 ending in full.