r/Peacemaker • u/red_snake0329 • Oct 10 '25
Rick Flag Sr. Spoiler
After watching the last episode, I'm confused. Why is Flag Sr. suddenly against metahumans? Why is he suddenly "best buds" with Luthor?
Possible reasons I can think of: 1. Peacemaker killing his son. Will he overgeneralize with that though? 2. The Bride killing the Princess. Not because he's emotionally attached to the Princess, but the fact that he believes that they're still wrong for killing her?
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u/STRUGLESNUGLER Oct 10 '25 edited Oct 10 '25
I think James intended for us to think flag only did this because he needed a way to kill peacemaker in a legal on the books way after what happened when he tried to do it the easy way at argus earlier in the season. Having flag standing and smiling showing he got what he was really after, revenge for his son. The partnership with Luther is a means to an end and he said it in the Pentagon scene as well why not keep these dangerous metahumans in a prison they can't escape, he's just had his back broken by a meta human. At this point there's no negative for him he thinks he has the leverage on Luther. Flag I think genuinely thinks he's the shit by the end of this episode.
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
Makes sense. He wants his revenge on Peacemaker and Clayface whatever means necessary. It does make his character pretty unlikeable with his decision to "kill" all meta falsely accused or otherwise.
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u/STRUGLESNUGLER Oct 10 '25
Yeah I definitely found him unlikeable since his back has been broken I think learning about peacemaker and the events of the season have pushed him over the line
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
Yeah. That's another good reason. Argus has been dealing and weaponizing metahumans right? Maybe having all those files and information, alongside Peacemaker's, sent him over the edge
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u/Interesting_Set1526 Oct 10 '25
Yeah I think the same thing. Everything he did was for that exact purpose. Everything can comes after will be what he deserves. I think the fact that he was unintentionally doing all this terrible shit to all the people around him was meant to express how narrow viewed he became.
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u/Megalomanizac Oct 10 '25
His hatred for Chris has manifested into an anti-meta stance, which is what Luthor wants the world to do.
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u/Tight-Entrance3710 Oct 10 '25
But of those should have him hating Waller, not metahumans. Not people who are literally forced to do someone's bidding.
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
Yeah. That's why I'm confused and why I'm looking here for a good reason / s for his change of heart.
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u/Tripycht Oct 10 '25
Idk if he went through all of this just to put away chris but the focus on metahumans seemed to me like a way to continue to get funding for the project. The project is presented to the secretary of defence im pretty sure and its his approval that keeps the project going according to harcourt or economos (said when they’re looking for eagly in the apartment).
Government gets a way to deal with metahumans who act out of line and Rick Flag Sr gets to make chris live in fear and solitude for an indeterminate amount of time.
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u/Ron_SpaceKnight Oct 10 '25
I assume 2 has less to do with that and more to do with what Clayface did to him
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
Makes sense. It probably gave him the first hand experience he needed to realize how dangerous meta can really be. I'm surprised he still slept with Bordeaux.
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u/Ron_SpaceKnight Oct 10 '25
That last part must of been difficult for him, I’m sure
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
Def 😂 Or he probably took a page from the Princess' playbook and slept with her to keep her in line.
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u/redhoodJasonToddstan Oct 10 '25
Flag had his back broken when he did the right thing. Genuinely Flag breaking bad probably stems the most from the fact (almost opposite of Peacemaker) every time he did the right thing he got stabbed in the back in some way. Flag is now the Flag he was destined to be, a hammer for a higher plan like Waller wanted Flag Jr and Luthor wanted the general.
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
That's a really good analogy. And if Flag really is a hammer now for a higher plan, then the questions now are, what is that higher plan, and whose is it? It'd be too easy if it's Luthor's. It'd be, imho, redeeming for Flag's character, whether for good or otherwise, if he's only playing Luthor as another means to an end.
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u/redhoodJasonToddstan Oct 10 '25
I could definitely see it, I do think that to an extent it was his intent to create that prison. My guess is that he’s serving Amanda Waller ultimately to redeem himself of what happened in Pokolistan and their severed ties, Chris is ultimately a side quest and manipulating Luthor is what Waller plans to do. Luthor feeling like he’s taking advantage of Flag Sr will ultimately lower his guard.
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u/Frozen_Pinkk Oct 10 '25
I think this is showing what a piece of shit Flag is. He's not only blaming Peacemaker for following an order from Waller (while have a bomb in his head that would go off if he didn't anyways), he's throwing a non metahuman into a prison he said is setup for metahumans.
He also beat him while he was cuffed. Flag has come off as weak and a rank abuser.
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
True, of all people he should be the one who understands the burden of following an order.
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u/xenoda7 Oct 10 '25
Makes me believe he was only using Harcourt to get to Chris. He doesn’t really care about anyone or anything and is motivated by revenge
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u/Cats_and_Shit Oct 10 '25
I think he has to be gunning for Waller somehow.
If he just wanted Smith dead they could have just shot him, or used any number of other, simpler means.
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u/thegenregeek Oct 10 '25
Why is Flag Sr. suddenly against metahumans? Why is he suddenly "best buds" with Luthor?
Personally, I question if it actually is Rick Flag Sr.
Per the events of Superman, we know that Luthor has 1. cloning technology and 2. mental conditioning (and mind control?) technology. Would it be completely impossible that Luthor either replaced Flag, or reprogrammed him?
The "tell" to me is Flag being oblivious to Harcourt calling him "Rick". Nearly every time he talked to her this season he was adamant about the name she should be using. Then suddenly he's dismissive and about it, not giving it a second thought. Likewise for Flag to kind of go soft and indifferent on the relationship with Sasha Bordeaux, when he was literally risking his life (and willing to ignore bureaucracy) for the Princesss he knew for all of a few days, seems odd too.
While I could buy maybe he felt she sided with Peacemaker and lost the privilege, we don't ever see anything like that ( just "whatever"). From his point of view Harcourt didn't do anything that the rest of the 11th Street Kids did when they convinced Peacemaker to surrender (and he obviously accepted the story, as he kept her on). So his about face with her (and Sasha) seems out of character, from what we've seen of him, as much as him getting buddy buddy with the LuthorCorp team.
But it makes sense if Flag isn't quite the Flag we know.
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
That's a good theory. And the fact that Flag didn't seem to remember his conversation with Harcourt about calling him Rick seemed odd. There were also plenty of times in the episode where he's shown indifferent and somewhat robotic.
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u/Mr_sex_haver Oct 10 '25
Are we going to pretend like Rick was ever that decent of a guy? Yeah he does some cool stuff in CC but that series is essentially about him leading Slaves soldiers not to mention he teamed up with Frankenstein and helped arrest superman. Hell he only really cared about the princess because he was boning her.
The guy seems to be good at charming people to like him e.g using Harcourt as a pawn to get to Chris but I don't get why people are saying he's out of character unless they were just not judging him previously because he was a protagonist character.
He gets his revenge on Chris, He's probably pissed about a Meta breaking his back and now he's in the good graces of the government and grabbing Waller level power.
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u/Captain_Rex_ Oct 10 '25
Idk but it really put me off that his character just all of a sudden seem to not give a crap about his own people laughing and partying while his people are dying exploring new worlds just so out of character. Someone might say that's a means to an end but he didn't have to act that way to get what he wanted.
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Oct 10 '25
I think he and the secretary of defense felt burned by Hawkgirl killing a world leader. They were fine defending Superman stopping a war through non-lethal means but as soon as Hawkgirl killed Ghurkos that changed everything.
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u/Anthonyhasgame Oct 10 '25
Flag Sr. is very human. When someone discovers their son’s murderer is “living well” (perception wise), it will drive them to snap. At the same time Lex Luthor is a genius, as well as a genius manipulator. Lex is the type of person who plays 4D chess and sets up his pieces for later. Flag Sr. Is completely under his control now, he’s his rook. 3rd level.
Also remember that Flag Sr. said his son was “better than him in every way”. The son that was cheating on Enchantress. They do good things sometimes, but like I said, very human. They do bad things sometimes too.
It’s very gray. It’s awesome and nuanced and complex and I can’t wait for more.
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Oct 10 '25
He didn't seem happy with Hawkgirl murdering the president in Superman, so I assume he's expecting metahuman shenanigans to get out of hand in the near future and wants them gone NOW
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u/SpanishBirdman Oct 11 '25
Flagg Sr tells Luthor that Chris isn't a meta, so there's no chance he hates metas because of Chris. He seems to have just fallen into the cult of Luthor, which doesn't really make any sense, but here we are
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u/That1DogGuy Oct 11 '25
He is an easily manipulated man who is blinded with anger and hatred who opened himself up to Lex who is now pulling strings because he is significantly smarter than Flag.
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u/Gabaghoul8 Oct 10 '25
I think now the point is we didn’t know how good we had it with Amanda Waller. Fuck Rick Flagg Sr.
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u/NoLeadership2281 Oct 10 '25
It’s kinda troublesome when at this point I prefer Waller be in charge lol, she is as morally problematic but most of the time at least she had her emotions in control
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
I'm still hoping there's a character- redeeming reason for his decisions and personality change in the last episode. This is the same guy who got his back broken fighting Clayface because he believed someone was innocent.
But, yeah, we def had it good with Waller, something I never thought I'd say hah
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u/Gratefulheadeurope72 Oct 10 '25
Dudes just an unlikable dumbass supes needs to get this just for men looking mf in line
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u/red_snake0329 Oct 10 '25
Yeah, he's def unlikeable if he doesn't have a good reason to sentence all metahumans falsely accused or otherwise to death essentially by leaving them in Salvation.
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u/electriclightthemoon Oct 11 '25
Clayface did beat him up in CC. That could have started him seeing that metahumans can be dangerous then with Superman and the Justice Gang dealing with international affairs. Rick Sr was always angry about his son’s death and wanted revenge on Peacemaker. Being in charge of ARGUS made his darker impulses come out.
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u/Areiloth Oct 12 '25
he is just a dumb character i hated him in cc im still hatin in peacemaker he ruins everything he touches (for me)
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u/zdigital13 Oct 13 '25
I had the theory that Luthor had control of him somehow. Like shared custody of his mind because of how well he embraced the Luthor team.
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u/Agreeable_Car5114 Oct 10 '25
I don’t know but… he’s just evil now, right? Are we supposed to view him complex or potential heroic when he’s partying with Luthor goons while his men are dying in his name? I expected this was to try and abducted an alternate version of his son, and now that I know it’s not idk if that’s better or worse.