Skip to main content

The Suicide Squad’s John Cena returns in the first Peacemaker teaser

If you have no idea who Peacemaker is supposed to be, don’t worry. Even among dedicated DC Comics fans, Peacemaker wasn’t exactly an A-list comic book character before writer and director James Gunn placed him in The Suicide Squad earlier this year. Gunn cast former WWE wrestler John Cena as Peacemaker, and he must have liked what he saw in Cena’s performance because out of every surviving member of Task Force X, Peacemaker is the only one who is getting a spinoff series on HBO Max.

As part of this morning’s HBO Max Europe preview, fans got their first look at the new Peacemaker series. It’s worth mentioning that Peacemaker’s real name is Christopher Smith, but there’s never a moment when he isn’t Peacemaker. The concept of a secret identity is foreign to Christopher, and he can’t resist wearing his new Peacemaker costume out to a casual dinner with his co-workers. Fair warning: There’s a lot of NSFW language in the following clip.

Peacemaker | Exclusive Clip | HBO Max

In case you haven’t seen The Suicide Squad, there’s a very good reason why Peacemaker’s colleagues hate him so much. He was the lone member of Task Force X who was willing to kill his teammates just to protect the dirty secrets of the U.S. government. Peacemaker is also demonstrably unbalanced, with a single-minded devotion to an insane notion of “peace” no matter how many people he has to kill to achieve it. Regardless of his shortcomings, Peacemaker is a very efficient killer. He’s just not very good at anything else, including social situations.

Recommended Videos

The post-credits scene of The Suicide Squad set up the events of this series, as Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) forced John Economos (Steve Agee) and Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) to work with Peacemaker. Both of them suspected that this was Waller’s revenge for preventing her from killing members of Task Force X when they disobeyed her orders. Now, they’re stuck with a very undesirable assignment.

John Cena in Peacemaker.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Perhaps that’s why John and Emilia have some particularly brutal verbal takedowns for Peacemaker in this clip. Even the newcomers, Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) and Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), get in on the act and berate Peacemaker’s ludicrous choices. The surprising thing here is that Peacemaker actually seems to be affected by their words. Yet true to his nature, Peacemaker completely misinterprets why they’re being mean to him.

Robert Patrick will also star in this series as Peacemaker’s father, Auggie Smith. And Freddie Stroma will portray Adrian Chase, a district attorney who moonlights as a vigilante called Vigilante. We’re guessing that creativity wasn’t Adrian’s strong suit, although that is also the code name he has in the comics.

Peacemaker will debut on HBO Max in January 2022.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
Best DCEU fights, ranked

The DC Extended Universe, love it or hate it, has given audiences some of the most memorable and mind-blowing fight scenes ever seen in live-action. Viewers have seen the members of the Justice League and many other heroes engage in some dazzling and inventive brawls unlike anything the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done.

Since the DCEU seems to be near its end, here's a look back at some of the best fights from DC's greatest heroes.
12. Battling the Trench (Aquaman)

Read more
Creature Commandos: Who are these DC heroes James Gunn will bring to HBO Max?
The Creature Commandos in "DC Nation Shorts."

DC Studios co-head James Gunn announced that he is writing and producing an HBO Max animated series about the superhero team, the Creature Commandos. This show is one of the many projects that Gunn revealed will be part of the first chapter of his reboot of the DC Universe. When speaking about the series, Gunn said that DC would "have characters move into animation, out of animation, usually having the same actor play their voice as who plays them in live-action," meaning audiences could see these heroes crossover into live-action in the future.

The Creature Commandos are an unusual choice for a superhero series, given their less-than-notable status in the comics world. Despite this, Gunn has surprised audiences before by taking D-list characters Peacemaker and the Guardians of the Galaxy and making them stars overnight. The team also fits with the theme of the DCU's first chapter, which is aptly titled "Gods and Monsters." Even so, it wouldn't hurt to know more about this odd batch of heroes before they roll out onto HBO Max.
Comic book origins

Read more
The Sandman and Peacemaker were 2022’s best comic book adaptations
The titular Endless surrounded by his supporting cast in The Sandman.

The comic book medium and superhero genre have undoubtedly maintained their places in the highest tiers of pop culture thanks to their efforts in film and television, and there certainly have been plenty of great shows competing for audience subscription dollars in the TV streaming space. Disney and Marvel Studios' MCU has taken the genre to new heights in live-action TV -- for better and worse -- by pumping Disney+ with several original shows in the last couple of years.

However, even though Marvel had the occasional standout production, it was arguably Netflix and HBO Max that had the best comic book adaptations of the year with The Sandman and Peacemaker, respectively. While wildly different in tone and subject matter, both shows shared the same refreshing dose of creative ingenuity that made them wildly entertaining.
The Sandman: successfully adapting the "unadaptable"

Read more