John Cena’s Peacemaker was the break-out star of The Suicide Squad. For most of the movie, he was an amusingly psychotic antihero devoted to his mission of achieving peace, no matter how many men, women, and children he needed to kill to achieve it. This was played as dark comedy, though things took a more sinister turn when it was revealed he had secret orders to cover up the American war crimes and everyone else was expendable.
The resulting brouhaha with Idris Elba’s Bloodsport left him hospitalized, but he’s bouncing back in upcoming HBO Max show Peacemaker, which airs early next year. The show was conceived by Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad‘s James Gunn, who wrote the entire season and directed five of the eight episodes.
Hype for the show is building and yesterday John Cena surprised the crowd at the San Diego Comic-Con Special with an unannounced appearance in full costume. Check it out on YouTube:
I’m excited. Cena was excellent in The Suicide Squad and it’ll be great to delve deeper into his extremely twisted (and hilarious) mindset.
Footage seen so far indicates we’ll also be unpacking a softer side to the character in his relationships with the team around him and his pet eagle, while also exploring his relationship with his father, who’s a powerful and cunning small-town racist. He’s played by Terminator 2, The X-Files, and The Sopranos star Robert Patrick and from the looks of it, we’re getting a typically intense and disturbing performance.
Peacemaker premieres on HBO Max on Jan. 13, 2022.
