WARNING: Spoilers for Peacemaker below.
During the penultimate episode of Peacemaker, which has been a breakout hit for HBO Max, John Cena’s title character squares off against his own father, the villainous and super racist, White Dragon (Robert Patrick). As the family drama that has been ratcheting up through the first season comes to a head, it’s revealed that Peacemaker — real name: Christopher Smith — is bisexual, much to the revulsion of his bigoted father. It was a surprising piece of character development given Peacemaker has aggressively portrayed himself as a straight white all-American male. Of course, that outward persona comes from years of being under his father’s thumb.
In a new interview with Empire magazine, Peacemaker creator James Gunn reveals that it was Cena who pushed for the complicated anti-hero to be sexually open. Via /Film:
Peacemaker is an interesting character because he’s so f*****-up in so many ways, and then in other ways, he is kind of weirdly forward-thinking. John does improv all the time, and he just turned Christopher Smith into this hyper-sexualized dude that is open to anything sexually. I was surprised by that. But I thought, ‘I guess it makes sense that this guy isn’t one-dimensional.’
According to Gunn, as long as it doesn’t involve animals, Peacemaker is into it. “He’s pretty open. And yet other things he’s completely close-minded on.”
Peacemaker is currently streaming on HBO Max.
(Via /Film)