Peacemaker Is The Perfect Setup For One Of DC’s Goofiest Villains

Warning: Contains spoilers for Peacemaker

Peacemaker is a bombastic and over-the-top TV series, and its use of the Butterflies could lead to the introduction of one of DC’s craziest villains: Killer Moth. Killer Moth is recognized as one of the universe’s zaniest supervillains, holding the same reputation among fans as Kite-Man. However, intentionally or not, Peacemaker has perfectly set up a way in which one of Batman’s goofiest villains can finally be set up in the DCEU.

The comic book origin of the original Killer Moth is fairly simple. While locked in prison, Drury Walker reads an article about Batman and, inspired by the Caped Crusader’s elaborate hideout and bat theme, decides to become his antithesis and terrorize Gotham. Walker dawns the name Killer Moth, arming himself with a Mothcave hideout, a Moth-Signal, a Mothmobile, and even a fake billionaire alter-ego to match. Out of all of Batman’s villains from Gotham City, Killer Moth is one of the lamest, mostly being used as a joke in recent stories. Although he is not the best villain around, some fans still love the character, being drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

With the DCEU mostly consisting of more serious characters, fans have not really expected to see Killer Moth make his live-action debut anytime soon. This may all change, though, as Peacemaker can easily be used as a jumping-off point for his story. It is not yet known what Peacemaker season 2 will consist of, but it seems that it will need another crazy villain for the crew to face off against, and Killer Moth may be the ideal candidate. With only a few tweaks to his origin story, Killer Moth can work with Peacemaker‘s storyline, seamlessly fitting the show’s plot and tone. Although some have theorized that Killer Moth may be Peacemaker’s true villain, that theory has seemingly not panned out. However, Peacemaker‘s hilarious yet dangerous Butterfly antagonists are Lepidoptera-inspired characters who live in caves and use their winged bodies to try and take over the world – all things that fit Killer Moth to a tee. The writers could simply switch Drury Walker’s motivation from being inspired by Batman to being inspired by the Butterflies, something that might make even more sense than his original story.

It could be the case that one of the prisoners that the Butterflies took over survived, and the sight of all of those around him having their brains hollowed out by these parasites drives him mad. Following Peacemaker’s success in stopping their conquest, being one of the only regular humans to know about the Butterflies could take a mental toll on Walker. The Butterflies’ cow in Peacemaker even looks incredibly similar to Silkie, the Teen Titans’ pet which has a direct link to one of Killer Moth’s most famous schemes. The ridiculous plan involves him creating mutant moths to take over Jump City, with a non-metamorphized specimen becoming Silkie.  It is possible that the insane prisoner could take the invasion as a divine calling for him to recreate the attack, setting up this story. Connections like this are so strong that it feels impossible for it not to hint at the future of the DCEU.

While this may all be a coincidence, it would be a sin for the show not to take advantage of it. Killer Moth is one of the few zany supervillains Peacemaker hasn’t already referenced, meaning that (hopefully) he will appear in the future. Characters like Killer Moth don’t match the tone that the recent Batman films have been going for, so if he appears anywhere, it will likely be in something like Peacemaker. While this copycat crusader’s start might stray away from his Batman origin, fans should keep their fingers crossed that this perfect opportunity to introduce Killer Moth in Peacemaker season 2 is taken advantage of.

Peacemaker is now available on HBO Max.

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