James Gunn explains Peacemaker’s obsession with hair metal

If you’ve seen the first five episodes of Peacemaker, then you’ll be fully aware that creator James Gunn and the characters who inhabit his corner of the DCEU are fond of some classic hair metal.

The filmmaker has become famed for his needle-drops across Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad and latterly his HBO Max spinoff series, but there’s a reason behind the constant bombardment of hard-rocking glam tunes, as he revealed during a round table interview via ComicBook.

“I think that is the music that speaks to Peacemaker’s spirit. He loves hair metal. But I also think that it speaks to a lot of the things that his dad is not. It’s androgynous. I think of Peacemaker bringing home a Hanoi Rocks album with all the guys in the makeup, and the fishnet stockings, and everything else.” 

I think of him bringing a Motley Crue album with the satanic symbol on the front. And those are direct affronts to who his father is. So I feel like music is something that belongs to Peacemaker, and as the series goes on we see some of the reasons for why that’s the case.”

Currently one of the most popular TV shows in the world, Peacemaker picks up months after the title hero’s Task Force X mission on Corto Maltese, and we’d be selling it short to say that Christopher Smith has some serious daddy issues. Emilia Harcourt might not care for his taste in music, but fans have been loving the deep dive into the hair metal back catalogue thus far.