When last we saw John Cena’s Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, during the end credits of The Suicide Squad, he was back from the dead. Not even a bullet to the throat, fired by no less than Idris Elba, could get the latent psychopath and probable fascist down. James Gunn killed a lot of antiheroes in his gory sequel, but he had other plans for the trigger-happy oddball. Specifically he had a TV show waiting for him, which, based on the new teaser that bowed at DC FanDome, shows him struggling — and maybe failing — actually be good.
Of course, Peacemaker already thinks he’s one of the good guys. He’s just so committed to keeping the peace that he will violently kill if he feels it’s necessary, which it too often is. The teaser finds him awakening in a hospital bed, only to be recruited by underlings of Viola Davis’ Amanda Walker (who will likely not be seen in the show). His mission. To “kill people.” Or as one of them adds by way of correction, “bad people.”
As in The Suicide Squad, Cena is pompous, hypocritical, generally just “off.” At one point he launches into a bizarre monologue about “butt babies” that only someone who has deep problems would spout off about in public. But while Gunn loves misfits like the Guardians of the Galaxy, he also loves damaged weirdos, like Rainn Wilson in his dark comic book movie deconstruction Super. Gunn wrote all eight episodes and directed five. And you can see how he did starting Jan. 13.
You can watch the Peacemaker teaser in the video above.