This Thursday January 13, HBO Max released the limited series Peacemaker, technically based on an obscure DC Comics super-vigilante, but really based on the version of the character played by John Cena in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, carried over into this streaming project that is also produced, written and directed by James Gunn. The show is rated TV-MA (the MA stands for ‘Motherfuckin’ Asshole’).
After barely surviving a duel with Idris Elba’s Bloodsport, Peacemaker is released from the hospital and is under the impression that he is not going to be sent back to police custody, mainly because nobody knows who his ass is. So he takes a cab wearing his bloody and dirty costume because he didn’t have any other clothes, gets home and is then immediately confronted by Amanda Waller’s team, who point out that he’s still got a cortex bomb in his head. This team includes Harcourt and Economos from The Suicide Squad movie as well as Waller’s main liason, ice-in-his-veins merc Clemson Murn, and the new girl, Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) who seems to be just an ordinary clerical worker but turns out to have a deeper connection to Waller than any of them. Peacemaker also has to get re-equipped, and goes to see his Dad, played by Robert Patrick, which is perfect casting right there. Patrick’s character is an archetypical right-wing bigot who still says stuff like “fag” and “nancy boy” and belittles his son apparently because he’s not invulnerable. Which explains both why Peacemaker is as fucked up as he is and why he’s still not that fucked up.
There are two complications in this, however: One is Vigilante, a sorta-friend of Peacemaker’s who is based on another gun-toting dark “hero” from the late 80s-early 90s who’s that much more embarrassing than Peacemaker. The other is the team’s involvement in Project Butterfly, which among other things is meant to take out paranormals. Except that Peacemaker sleeps with this one girl over their shared taste in ’80s metal and hair, and at her place she almost kills him with her super-strength and speed. He gets knocked into the parking lot and grabs his helmet from his car and activates the “sonic boom” feature, which toasts most of the parking lot and turns the girl into a Jackson Pollock painting. At which point, Peacemaker just stares and goes “What the fuck??”
You will also be saying that if you watch Peacemaker. A lot.
Peacemaker starts off by making it clear what everybody else thinks of John Cena’s character: “What a douchebag.” The thing is, John Cena is just SO GOOD at playing a douche. In his supreme oblivious entitlement, Cena’s character is only now starting to ponder matters like “Maybe killing people isn’t always the best way to solve problems” or “Maybe my Dad is an even bigger racist than I thought”. As a result, Peacemaker the series is like a giant recurring meme of “Am I The Asshole?” in which the answer is always “YES!”
Peacemaker: You will believe an eagle can fly.