WARNING: The following contains constantly updated spoilers for Peacemaker, now streaming on HBO Max.
Peacemaker, the much-anticipated spin-off to James Gunn’s film The Suicide Squad, has finally hit HBO Max. The show picks up five months after the post-credits scene where Peacemaker/Christopher Smith (John Cena) was recovering in the hospital after being shot by Bloodsport and having a building collapse on top of him. Peacemaker follows the titular character and his handling team as they eliminate “butterflies” in the days following Peacemaker’s tenuous release from Belle Reve.
The show debuted Jan. 3 with a three-episode premiere; a new episode arrives each Thursday through Feb. 17. Peacemaker is an upbeat, raunchy and ridiculous spin-off that gives audiences a deeper look into Peacemaker’s character and code, delivered in Gunn’s trademark style. Any fan of The Suicide Squad is bound to love Peacemaker and all of its new and returning characters. To keep up to date with the latest news, reviews, Easter eggs, theories and rumors involving Peacemaker, here’s a guide to the new DC series.
Peacemaker’s Cast and Crew
What makes Peacemaker already so great is that it brings back familiar faces from The Suicide Squad and kept writer and director Gunn for the entire series. Of course, Cena returns to play Peacemaker. Robert Patrick plays Auggie Smith, Peacemaker’s racist and demeaning father. ARGUS employees John Economos (Steve Agee), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and newcomers Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) and Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) make up Peacemaker’s handling team. Peacemaker’s fanboy Vigilante/Adrian Chase is played by Freddie Stroma.
Both the new and returning cast members gel together in their roles as they explore the next chapter of Peacemaker’s post-Belle Reve life as a hired gun. They don’t just deliver great one-liners and talk business, though — they get to show off their dance moves in the opening credits of the show. The same ridiculous, dead-serious tone of the opening credits is carried by each actor throughout the series as they navigate Project Butterfly and their interpersonal lives. Peacemaker’s relationship with Leota is being called the main “love story” of the series, and the pair have already had some great early interactions — which might be complicated by Leota planting a fake diary in Peacemaker’s trailer.
Peacemaker’s Story
Peacemaker spent the first three episodes adjusting to his new role as a hired gun for the U.S. government on Project Butterfly. Though he was able to get back to his home in Evergreen after being discharged from the hospital, it appears as though Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) isn’t about to let him off the hook so easily; he still has the explosive device in the back of his head. Peacemaker himself is struggling to be the peace-making “hero” he once was, with Colonel Rick Flag’s last words — “Peacemaker, what a fucking joke” — weighing heavy on his mind. In the third episode, he struggled to follow his code of killing whoever it takes to keep peace, showing some feelings of guilt in his career. Peacemaker himself is discovering more about the mysterious butterflies, and it’s become apparent that the entire team knows Murn’s secret butterfly identity. The last two episodes will hopefully reveal the butterflies’ intents with Earth.
Leota hides from the rest of the team that she is Waller’s daughter and is there to keep an eye on Peacemaker for her, which might cause tension in the group in later episodes. She acts as a kind of co-lead for the series, and her marriage to Keeya (Elizabeth Ludlow) is shown at a moment of distress because of Leota’s move to Evergreen to keep an eye on Peacemaker. Despite the show being so violent, sexy, and wild, it finds moments to breathe when it delves into the emotional lives of its characters. Vigilante even agrees to get locked up in prison for the team to try and eliminate Peacemaker’s father, a departure from his very self-centered personality. Recent episodes have delved further into Peacemaker’s traumatic childhood, the abuse he received from his father, and the death of his brother in a powerful emotional scene. Peacemaker succeeds because it balances the comedic and violent with the dramatic and emotional.
Peacemaker’s Easter Eggs and References
Despite Peacemaker being a spin-off of The Suicide Squad, Gunn claims that viewers don’t need to have seen The Suicide Squad before to enjoy or understand the show. The choice to make Peacemaker so self-contained is in stark contrast to the Marvel Cinematic Universe shows like Loki and WandaVision on Disney+, which connect to the movies in significant ways. References and name-drops to other DCEU heroes and villains — including obscure ones from the comics — is where the show finds a lot of its humor and levity. These Easter eggs and references may not make total sense to newcomers to the DCEU, but for seasoned fans they place Peacemaker in the larger DC universe.
Peacemaker’s Theories and Rumors
Since Peacemaker has been such a hit with fans and critics, rumors about what Gunn will do next for DC and where Peacemaker will go have only just begun. The show is already half-over, but there’s still more to Peacemaker’s character and the crew to learn, so keep checking in for theories and rumors.
Created by James Gunn, Peacemaker stars John Cena. The first four episodes are available to stream on HBO Max, with new episodes every Thursday.
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