You can’t see him, but you can hear his rant on Peacemaker, episode five. Steve Agee, who plays Ecomonos in the DC Extended Universe, let Screen Rant know a little tidbit about Steve’s improv skills.
In the opening scene of this episode, the original script had Cena’s character quoting Ariana Grande. But Agee says director James Gunn encouraged him to take it as far as he wanted.
“That was all improvised. I think in the original script, he’s mad at me for framing his father – rightfully so, that was stupid – but in the script, it was just like, ‘Why couldn’t you have framed somebody like Ariana Grande?’ And there was one other name, like Tom Hanks or something, and I was like, ‘You want me to frame Ariana Grande for murder? Are you insane?’ But James was like, ‘Just keep going. Start naming names. Just name people.’ I mean, we shot it for like 20 minutes of John just shouting random names – sports figures, celebrities, singers, politicians – and I would start to say something and he’s just like, ‘Let me finish!’ He just kept going and it was phenomenal. I haven’t seen the end credits scene yet, but I think there’s more of it in the end credits, seeing him just spouting names.”
The entire scene was a hit the moment Cena went off. With this reaction from fans, we can assume that Gunn will further encourage Cena to improvise.
Cena’s amazing performance on the show is one of the reasons it has been so successful. According to The Wrap, “HBO Max’s “Peacemaker” jumped into the ranking as the third most in-demand new series with 31.7 times the average series demand.”
If you feel a John Cena-sized hole in your heart while waiting for next Thursday, catch him on Wipeout. Catch it every Tuesday on Hulu, Sling TV, or TBS.
