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The premiere of Peacemaker Season 2 is here on HBO Max, and it’s got some wild, big swings in store, including – spoilers past this point – a move to the DCU from the DCEU, a shocking death by the end, and some huge implications for the lore of James Gunn’s new superhero universe. It’s also packed to the brim with Easter eggs.

To be clear, when we’re talking about Easter eggs in Season 2, Episode 1, 'The Ties That Grind,' we’re not talking about characters like Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) reprising their roles from Superman. Those aren’t even cameos, they’re full-on roles as they demean and dismiss Peacemaker (John Cena) during his audition for the Justice Gang.

Nope, we’re talking the classic blink-and-you-miss-it references to DC Comics lore, surprise characters, and even some tweaks on real-world references, as well. With that in mind, let’s break down every Easter egg and reference we caught in Peacemaker Season 2, Episode 1 – though we are going to start with something that is decidedly not an Easter egg.

The Kyphotic Alien

Played by Dorian Kingi, the Kyphotic Alien shows up about four minutes into the episode when Peacemaker takes his sidekick Eagly into a pocket dimension through a portal door to stretch his wings. There, Peacemaker, aka Chris Smith, sees a weird, gnarly-looking dude taking a weird, gnarly-looking rat thing from one of the other doors and incinerating it.

Despite Chris saying good morning to the alien, it ignores him, prompting a “fuck you then, you Cryptkeeper-looking bitch,” from Chris.

Anyway, if you’re wondering if this is one of the many alien races from DC Comics, the answer is: nope. “Kyphosis” is defined as “an excessive forward curve of your spine.” It’s possible this could be revealed to be a DC Comics canonical alien race later, but that’s not how he’s credited, and looks-wise, he doesn’t match up with any other alien species. Like Mr. Handsome in Superman, this seems to be a James Gunn original.

The Trophy Room

Soon after getting snubbed by the Kyphotic Alien, Eagly discovers a strange door in the portal room that leads to what we soon discover is another parallel universe to the DCU. And it is packed with Easter eggs. Alongside the key to the Town of Evergreen, various trophies, and masks for The Top Trio – a team made up of that dimension’s Peacemaker, his father, White Dragon (Robert Patrick), and his brother, Keith (David Denman) – there are also various newspaper clippings touting the team’s big wins.

Most of these are seen later in the episode after a depressed Peacemaker returns to the alternate dimension while an orgy rages back at his house.

The first headline we see is from The Evergreen Sentinel, reading, “The Top Trio Defeats The Rainbow Creature.” In case you’re curious what this rainbow creature is, it’s… The Rainbow Creature. Created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff in 1960’s Batman #134, not much is known about it other than it came from a South American volcano, and each of its colored stripes has a different power. Blue creates a freeze ray, Yellow can make things into mist, Green turns people into two-dimensions, and Red burns through objects. After it uses a power, the stripe turns white, and it takes time to build the power back up again.

Next up? “Top Trio Saves Gotham From Ultra-Humanite.” Ultra-Humanite was created by Joe Siegel and Jerry Shuster in 1939’s Action Comics #13, and is a mad scientist who put his brain into the body of an enormous white gorilla. That’s pretty much it!

Adebayo Security Consulting

As of this writing, the phone number for Adebayo’s (Danielle Brooks) security firm - 509-142-7223 - cannot be completed as dialed, so another sort of non-Easter egg. But hey, maybe keep trying, and you can hire Adebayo for all your security needs!

Krank Toys

The auditions for the Justice Gang take place at an abandoned Krank Toys. You might think this is a reference to the DC villain The Toyman… It is not! It is, however, a reference to Cosmo Krank, the CEO of a dangerous toy company from the 2004 animated series The Batman, who became known as The Toymaker. Similar, but different. Krank Co. Toys also made appearances as a location in the video games Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight in 2011 and 2015, respectively. Cosmo Krank also appeared in Gotham in Season 4, Episode 12, played by Chris Perfetti. Interestingly, Cosmo Krank has never appeared in the comics.

White Rabbit

Running out of Krank Toys, crying right before Peacemaker’s audition is White Rabbit, played by Brey Noelle. There have been multiple versions of the character in DC Comics, but given the costume she’s wearing on Peacemaker, this is likely Jaina Hudson, created by David Finch and Paul Jenkins in Batman: The Dark Knight #1 from 2011.

White Rabbit’s bizarre power is that she can split into two people: one a normal person, the other the criminal known as White Rabbit. That’s pretty much it!

Ms. Godfrey

This is likely not an Easter egg, but we’re being as completist as possible here… Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) gets a psychological evaluation that labels her with “toxic masculinity,” and is escorted out by a secretary named Ms. Godfrey, played by Angela Ray. Glorious Godfrey is a character created by Jack Kirby and is one of the main lieutenants of the big bad of the DC universe, Darkseid. There’s nothing in the scene that indicates Ms. Godfrey is Glorious Godfrey in disguise, but when you get a specific last name like that, you note it down!

Cleavis Thornwaite Returns

Michael Ian Black is back in a quick appearance as TV host Cleavis Thornwaite, as first seen in Superman. Here, as Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) watches on the DCU’s version of YouTube, he’s reporting on Metahuman breakouts, and even drops a few more mentions, noting that there have been three breakouts from Belle Reeve and Arkham in “the past two months.”

The metahuman prison Belle Reeve has been seen frequently in James Gunn’s movies and shows already, including The Suicide Squad and Creature Commandos. Arkham is the famous asylum from Gotham City, and has not been seen yet in the DCU, though at one time Matt Reeves and company were reportedly developing an Arkham TV series set in the DCU.

Cleavis is an original character for the DCU, who, in Superman, interviewed both Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and Peacemaker for his show, The Sphere News. Not to make too many connections here, but Glorious Godfrey often masquerades as a reactionary TV host (see above for more on him), and there’s also a character called Jack Ryder, who turns into the vigilante known as The Creeper, who is also a TV host. Is Cleavis a fake name, and will Black turn out to be more important than we think? Maybe!

The Luthor Incident

Right after Thornwaite’s report, ARGUS agent Sacha Bordeaux (Sol Rodríguez) enters and flags for, er, Flag, that Peacemaker’s portal usage is “similar to what we picked up this summer in Metropolis.” “The Luthor Incident?” asks Flag, referencing the events of Superman, where Luthor opened a portal that ripped Metropolis in half.

This also gives us a rough timeline here, that Superman happens during the Summer, and Peacemaker Season 2 is taking place in the same year. Like we said: rough timeline, not exact timeline.

PZM 569

While Peacemaker wanders around his alternate universe double’s house, his brother Keith pulls up in a truck with the license plate PZM 569. You’d think it would be a reference to Peacemaker – PZM, right? – except it’s actually direct from an entirely different James Gunn-directed property: Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. Specifically, PZM 569 was the license plate number for Ego’s (Kurt Russell) car at the beginning of the Marvel movie. Gunn later used the same plate for the Vigilante-mobile, aka Adrian Chase’s (Freddie Stroma) car in Peacemaker Season 1, so whether this is something personal to Gunn, or just a license plate he keeps using? TBD.

Blüdhaven

As Keith exits the truck, he asks Chris, “What are you doing out here? I thought you were in Blüdhaven.” Traditionally, this is the city where Nightwing operates when he’s not in Gotham City, though a lot of other events in DC Comics have happened there (one time it got blown up!).

Chased By Imps

After Keith and Chris head back inside to have a drink with dear old dad, the latter tells a story of Peacemaker getting chased by “imps” as a kid. We discover that there’s a “munchkin dimension eight doors down,” which establishes what one of the other doors leads to. But the important point here is that this is the second mention of imps in the DCU.

The first time? In Superman, when Lois (Rachel Brosnahan) and Superman (David Corenswet) are discussing their relationship, there’s a fight between the Justice Gang and a glowing, tentacled sphere in the background. Lois asks if Superman should go fight with them, and he dismisses it, saying, “Oh, no, that's just uh, just some dimensional imp. They've got that handled."

While this is likely a reference to Mr. Mxyzptlk, a fifth-dimensional imp who has plagued Superman repeatedly in the comics, it is interesting that they’ve come up twice in two different properties so far.

Gabriel’s Horn

In a bad way, Harcourt heads to a biker bar to get her fight club on and beat up a few dudes. The bar she heads to is called Gabriel’s Horn. There’s one of two things this can be a reference to, though likely it’s both, mixed together.

The first is the Gabriel Horn, a magical item in DC Comics that allows one to pass between dimensions, so you can see why the nod was included here.

The second, which is much more direct, is Gabriel’s Horn, a disco club on Long Island introduced in 1977’s Teen Titans #47. It’s appeared multiple times in Teen Titans and Batman books, and is a hangout for superheroes that eventually opened a branch in San Francisco, as well.

Bands From A Different Earth

After drinks with the fam, Peacemaker stumbles into his bedroom on the alternate Earth, and there are posters for bands everywhere… Just not the bands and/or songs we’re used to here on regular Earth. Here’s a list of what we can see:

• Scorpionz, “Scalawag,” instead of the band Scorpions – and the art looks like the cover to “Savage Amusement.”

• The Cruel Interventions, “Sane,” which is likely a riff on “Borderline Crazy” by The Cruel Intentions.

• Hanoi Roxx instead of Hanoi Rocks.

• “Hardcore Megastars” - we only see a bit of this poster, so unclear what this is a reference to.

• Def Leopard, “Pour Some Honey On Me,” which not only has “leopard” spelled the right way in Def Leppard, but the original song is “Pour Some Sugar On Me.”

There you go! That’s all the Easter eggs we caught in the first episode, but you can 4K that junk and zoom around the Trophy Room for further clues, if you want.

Enjoy our guides to how to watch the recent DCEU, the Arrowverse, and James Gunn's upcoming DCU.