I have been comparing way too much superhero media to "The Venture Brothers" recently, but "Peacemaker" is one of the most obvious successors to that show yet. It's about a costumed crime-fighter trying to get out of the shadow and influence of his terrible father, is constantly taking potshots at beloved genre media, and stars a group of damaged oddballs who bond by engaging in gratuitous violence together. And don't get me started on the reverence for obscure rock music or the sinister butterflies.
James Gunn spun off "Peacemaker" from last year's "The Suicide Squad," where the character of Christopher "Peacemaker" Smith (John Cena) was introduced as a trigger-happy supervillain willing to kill anybody in the name of peace. The series, which is entirely written and directed by Gunn, is a direct sequel that sees Peacemaker recruited for a new black ops mission lead by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji). The team includes no nonsense Agent Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), tech guy Economos (John Agee) and newbie Leota (Danielle Brooks). Eventually Peacemaker's self-appointed bestie Adrian "Vigilante" Chase (Freddie Stroma), and his actual bestie, an eagle named Eagly, join the fight. They're pitted against various opponents, but the biggest villain may well be Auggie Smith (Robert Patrick), Peacemaker's racist, misogynist, conspiracy theorist father.
Similar to DC's "Harley Quinn" animated series, "Peacemaker" takes an irreverent approach to superhero-dom, existing in the same universe where Superman and Wonder Woman exist, but focusing on the jerks and the losers who populate the crime-fighting D-list. All the characters in this show are some degree of scummy, and most of the heroes act like middle school kids who never stopped trying to one-up or trash talk each other. The difference between this and something like "The Boys" is that characters like Peacemaker and Vigilante are very redeemable in spite of their aggressively puerile behavior. Peacemaker's arc in this series is realizing that he has been a terrible person, and the ultra-masculine persona that he's so committed to is masking a lot of unprocessed trauma. He can be an actual hero if he wants to be, and it turns out that he wants to be. There's also the same "The Suicide Squad" theme of found family and redemptive friendships triumphing over cynicism and apathy.
I feel I should warn that this show is even more R-rated than "The Suicide Squad," featuring sex and nudity, constant cursing, plentiful gore, and offensive terms being thrown around. "Peacemaker" might be mistaken for something more family friendly because of the brightly colored costumes and high-quality CGI, and honestly it's got a pretty typical superhero structure underneath everything requiring content warnings, but it's emphatically adult from the opening scene. However, I appreciate that the dudebro humor is very smartly written and self-aware. Gunn never misses a chance to dunk on the hate-spewers, and positions characters like Leota, a happily married black lesbian, and a policewoman named Sophie Song (Annie Chang) as the voices of reason. He's also not afraid of riling up the DC fanbase, regularly mocking more famous superheroes.
The lynchpin of "Peacemaker," however, is absolutely John Cena, who has become a major comedic force over the past decade, and has clearly found his signature role. His ability to rattle off obscure pop-culture references, share a genuinely sweet relationship with a CGI eagle, and stay straight faced while wearing a ridiculous superhero getup is a joy to behold. A major highlight of the show is the opening sequence, which features the cast doing a fabulous dance number set to a Norwegian glam metal song, with Cena front and center. The rest of the cast is similarly strong, but I want to highlight the work of Freddie Stroma as the weirdly sweet psycho, Vigilante, and Danielle Brooks rocking the normcore energy as Leota in particular. It's been a while since I've seen a genre show where I really was rooting for everybody to survive in a universe that wasn't afraid of killing people off.
Gunn is growing on me, though I still think his sensibilities aren't a good fit for the Marvel universe. He's clearly way more comfortable on the DC side, which has been willing to let him get as nasty and filthy as he wants. I never expected Warners to go all in on adult-oriented superhero media, but here we are, and it's pretty cool.
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