Peacemaker’s new season is here, which means one important thing above all else: we have a brand new infectious musical intro. Living up to the unskippable “Do You Wanna Taste It” from the first season would have been a challenge for anyone, but somehow they managed to pull it off. This season’s title sequence—set to the foul-mouthed, but undeniably catchy “Oh Lord” by Foxy Shazam—is a thoroughly unhinged delight. But really, we shouldn’t be surprised. That’s because while the DC Universe was born on paper and ink, it’s never been without a song in its heart. To illustrate, we’ve put together a list of ten of the greatest musical performances in the history of DC media. That’s right, ten! Here they are, presented in chronological order. We apologize in advance if any of them wind up stuck in your head…
 

“Say That We’re Sweethearts Again”

Seen In: Batman: The Animated Series, “Harlequinade” (1994)

This caustic, comic romance number from 1944’s Meet the People was one of Harley Quinn originator Arleen Sorkin’s favorite songs, and one she shared with her close friend and Batman: The Animated Series writer Paul Dini. When it came time to script the very first episode focused squarely on Harley, no better song defined her hopeless romance for a man who only loves chaos and violence than “Sweethearts.” Sorkin’s tremulous performance suggested much about the nature of the toxic love she was drowning in.

“Life used to be so placid…won’t you please put down that acid?”
 

“Am I Blue?”

Seen In: Justice League Unlimited, “This Little Piggy” (2004)

No performer has ever given more soul to the Dark Knight than Kevin Conroy, who gave us the quintessential Batman, Bruce Wayne and all the flavors in between for a career-spanning thirty years. It was a rare and precious thing whenever Conroy’s Batman expressed any emotional vulnerability—a gift that the witch Circe would demand of him in “This Little Piggy” in exchange for reversing the transformation of Wonder Woman into a pig. Batman obliged by exquisitely performing this mournful jazz standard popularized by Ethel Waters in 1929 and covered by countless icons since. The Dark Knight’s performance moves Circe and Zatanna alike to tears, exposing the pain he feels every night in song.

“Am I blue? You’d be too, if each plan that you had done fell through…”
 

“Drives Us Bats”

Seen In: Batman: The Brave and the Bold, “Mayhem of the Music Meister!” (2009)

Picking just one musical number from the many featured throughout the ebullient Batman: The Brave and the Bold was no easy task. (We can already hear some of you starting to riot for snubbing “the one and only Birds of Prey.” Maybe next year.) But if we only get one, it has to be the showstopper from the tour-de-force all-singing “Mayhem of the Music Meister!”, featuring Neil Patrick Harris as Batman’s most melodic villain. Through the center of the episode’s big chase sequence, Music Meister and his hypnotized crew of heroes and villains alike take us through all the frustrating elements of being in Batman’s long shadow. It’s a toe-tapping breakneck number that still has us singing along all these years later.

“The Batmobile is super fast, there is no car that is surpassed! It’s a good thing we’ve got Arkham, ’cause he really drives us bats!”
 

“Untitled Self Portrait”

Seen In: The Lego Movie (2014)

Batman is many things. He can be a figure of drama, of action, and of comedy. On one end of the spectrum, you have painful, revealing displays of his soul like “Am I Blue?” On the other, you have…this. In The Lego Movie, Batman performs an original song for his girlfriend Wyldstyle about the pain he feels inside. Since then, it’s gone on to become a widely beloved anthem for Batman’s inner turmoil.

“Darkness! No parents! Super rich! Kind of makes it better!”
 

“Runnin’ Home to You”

Seen In: The Flash, “Duet” (2017)

In 2017, fans of DCTV’s CW era hotly anticipated the Flash and Supergirl crossover that promised to reunite former Glee stars Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist in a musical event, featuring fellow former costar Darren Criss as the Music Meister. Many fun musical numbers were had, but arguably none were more affecting than Gustin’s original solo at the event’s conclusion, serenading the love of his life, Iris West, for a long-awaited marriage proposal. Written specifically for the show and reprised by Benoist herself at their wedding ceremony later, the song expresses the central theme of the entire series: that speed is all about where you’re running to.

“Can’t say how the days will unfold, can’t change what the future may hold, but I want you in it… every hour, every minute…”
 

“GO!”

Seen In: Teen Titans GO! To the Movies (2018)

Perhaps even more so than The Brave and the Bold, a key element of the transgressive fun of Teen Titans Go! is its frequent musical numbers highlighting the silliness of the core cast. So, when the Teen Titans went(!) to the movies, there really was no choice but to make it a musical. “GO!”, the full crew rap song that introduces each member of this zaniest incarnation of the Titans on their own terms is the perfect mood setter for the movie and delineates exactly what TTG fans love in the series’ sheer, feckless joy.

“The star! The fire! The live! The wire! The alien princess in the alien attire! The energy blasts! The supersonic speed!”

“IS SHE DOWN WITH THE TITANS?”

“OH THE YES INDEED!”
 

“People Like Us”

Seen In: Doom Patrol, “Danny Patrol” (2019)

The magic of the Doom Patrol TV series has always been its ability to surprise us—like using a delightful karaoke performance of a Kelly Clarkson song to reveal some deep and emotional inner truths about its characters. Doom Patrol is about the weird, the unexpected, the misfits and monsters who find humanity in embracing the unlikeliness of it all. In “Danny Patrol,” Negative Man finds his inner positivity by embracing his queerness, performing this theme of perseverance and community with the embodification of a sentient gayborhood. A moment of sublime beauty in a truly ludicrous venue…but that’s really what makes it so sublime, isn’t it?

“We are all misfits living in a world on fire, singing for the people like us, the people like us…”
 

“When You’re Mine”

Seen In: DC Super Hero Girls, “#LeagueOfShadows” (2020)

What’s a musical without a great villain solo? A sinister song that delights in its antagonist’s darkness is an absolute must for any great soundtrack. And the best one we have in the DC multiverse comes from a source you may not expect—Ra’s al Ghul, in Lauren Faust’s DC Super Hero Girls. With a singing voice by rock vocalist Jason C. Miller, Ra’s al Ghul and his rock band, the League of Shadows, hypnotizes Supergirl with a Red Kryptonite guitar pick to do their evil bidding in a musical sequence packed with an artful, foreboding style that makes it perhaps the single standout sequence of the series. Ra’s al Ghul was originally inspired by James Bond villains. It’s fitting, then, that this entire number feels like a tribute to the opening of a 007 film.

“All I ask of you, is possession of your soul…that will do just fine.”
 

“The Joker”

Seen In: Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

We’d be remiss not to give some flowers for the first ever live action DC musical film, last year’s sequel to the notorious Joker. The film’s many musical sequences are framed as breaks from reality shared by Arthur Fleck and his new partner in crime, Lee Quinzel—getting more fantastic the further and more desperately they fall away from reality. None hit the mark quite so spot on as Joaquin Phoenix’s performance of Shirley Bassey’s “The Joker.” As Fleck’s world falls apart around him standing trial in a court room, as even the things he likes most about himself are stripped away, Phoenix’s rendition captures the pain and the fury he feels at having been cast as the butt of the entire world’s joke.

“They don't care as long as there is a jester, just a fool, as foolish as he can be…there's always a joker—that's the rule!—but fate deals the hand and I see…the Joker is me.”
 

Hitore De (All Alone)

Seen In: Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League (2025)

It almost feels like underselling Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League to call it just a movie. It really can’t be labeled as anything but an “experience.” Just like its predecessor in Batman Ninja, every ninety seconds of its runtime presents you with another thing you never in your life thought you’d see in a DC project. So, by the time Princess Diana is expressing the deep sorrow she feels in her duty to confront her childhood friend Aquaman in mortal combat at sunrise through the power of karaoke, it feels only natural to the course of what’s been happening. Why wouldn’t we have an entirely Japanese song break in the movie right now? It only makes sense. It’s not even in the top five wildest things to happen. And yet, on its own merit, it’s still one of the most delightful uses of the musical break we’ve seen in the DC cinematic multiverse to date.

“Always I—”
 

Peacemaker Season Two is now streaming on HBO Max. Look for new episodes every Thursday.

Alex Jaffe is the author of our monthly "Ask the Question" column and writes about TV, movies, comics and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @AlexJaffe and find him in the DC Official Discord server as HubCityQuestion.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Alex Jaffe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.