WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Peacemaker Episode 6, “Murn After Reading,” streaming now on HBO Max.
There’s a lot about Project Butterfly that Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) has been kept in the dark about. At best, she knew working for her mother, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), would mean working with people of questionable character. She also knew that the work would entail making difficult decisions she wouldn’t feel comfortable making. What she didn’t anticipate, however, was accidentally learning the dark secret of her supervisor, Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji).
Throughout Peacemaker, Adebayo had been depending on Murn to keep her teammates in check and had complete trust in him. When Adebayo discovered to her horror that the Murn she’s been working for isn’t the infamous mercenary himself, but a Butterfly that took over his body, she feared for her life. If that wasn’t enough to shake Adebayo’s confidence in her team, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) revealing they were in on Murn’s secret all along made her want to quit Task Force X.
It isn’t known for how long Economos knew about the Butterfly in Murn’s head, but he appears to have discovered it before Harcourt did. Given his ability to hack computer systems and access classified information, it’s more than likely Economos figured out something was off about Murn, probably before joining Project Butterfly. Recognizing how dangerous Butterflies can be, Economos most likely continues pretending nothing is out of the ordinary as a survival mechanism. At best, he may have tried to find out when the Butterfly first infiltrated Murn’s head by asking him about his past as a mercenary in Episode 3. Either that, or he may have been trying to learn more about how the Butterflies’ nature.
In Episode 6, Harcourt revealed she wasn’t aware Murn was a Butterfly until a bomb exploded in his face in Episode 3 and walked away completely unscathed. The other detail that made Harcourt suspicious of Murn’s identity is the fact he knows more about the Butterflies than what’s in Task Force X’s case files. Since Harcourt is highly distrustful of Amanda Waller on top of that, part of her most likely suspected Waller was also in on Murn’s secret and decided to confront him for answers. The confrontation between Murn and Harcourt happened offscreen, but she continued to trust Murn even after learning his secret because nothing about his behavior indicated a likelihood of betrayal; he’s been more helpful in Project Butterfly than treacherous.
While Murn, Harcourt and Adebayo don’t believe Waller knows Murn’s secret, it can’t be ruled out that she does know. One thing that’s been consistent about Amanda Waller’s characterization since the first Suicide Squad film from 2016 is that she is not beyond recruiting anyone or anything dangerous that she believes will be helpful in accomplishing her goals. Since Waller easily disposes of people who are of no use to her, it can’t be an accident she made Murn in charge of Project Butterfly; she most likely has ulterior motives with him being on the team.
Since Murn is technically a liability for Waller, it’s more than likely Waller is looking to eliminate two threats with one stone: prevent an alien invasion of Earth and also get rid of the Butterfly that infiltrated A.R.G.U.S. to cover her own tracks. Since Murn is the kind of threat Waller would like to keep a closer eye on, it’s not unlikely she has him reporting directly to her as a way of keeping him on a leash. She also more than likely recruited her own daughter as a spy for her to ensure Murn doesn’t compromise the mission by eventually siding with his own Butterfly leader that occupied Senator Goff. To ensure Murn is killed once the Butterflies are defeated might be the real reason she wanted Peacemaker on the team.
Given Peacemaker’s profound distrust in people, Waller is probably counting on him learning Murn’s secret so that he can become the sledgehammer she needs to squash an insect. If that turns out to be the case, the joke may still be on Waller as Peacemaker is already starting to become more empathetic towards other people; he was even empathetic towards the Butterfly that occupied Goff. While Peacemaker may be tempted to kill Murn after learning the truth about him, it’s also highly unlikely he’ll pull the trigger as he no longer wants to kill people, not even Butterflies, if he doesn’t believe they deserve to die.
To find out if Amanda Waller knows Murn is a Butterfly, stream Peacemaker now on HBO Max.
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