The following article contains spoilers for Peacemaker's premiere episodes.
Peacemaker is finally here and if the series’ first three episodes are anything to go by, it looks like DC’s disgraced superhero will take viewers on a journey unlike no other as James Gunn appears to have given John Cena’s character the kind of bombastic personality that’s just too hard to look away from.
See, despite his C-lister status, Peacemaker comes to HBO Max with everything he had with a special premiere that featured not one or two but three full episodes so that audiences can get to know Christopher Smith a bit better. In that regard, Peacemaker outclasses its Marvel counterparts by serving a solid night’s worth of entertainment that even the almighty MCU hasn’t been able to match.
Marvel Studios opted for a similar play last year when WandaVision landed on Disney Plus, choosing to release its first two episodes due to a mixture of the show’s shorter runtime and its initial sitcom setting. That move was again used for Hawkeye’s premiere, which again came as a two-episode affair, possibly due to the fact that a wholly new protagonist was being introduced, as well as Clint Barton’s branding problems making him the least marketable Avenger, but there's more than a few reasons why that same strategy benefits Peacemaker way more than those two.
Everyone Loves An Underdog Story
While The Falcon and the Winter Soldier or Loki probably didn’t need the double-feature treatment, considering they both starred characters that were more developed during the Infinity Saga, poor old Peacemaker sure does. Nevertheless, what Gunn accomplishes with Peacemaker is far more about substance than style with Cena delivering a performance that suits the character just perfectly due to Chris Smith behaving almost like a wrestling caricature at times.
Perhaps it would be fairer to limit these comparisons between Marvel shows and Peacemaker to just the first episode of all five, which in the latter's case could work just as well as a solo pilot episode. Although he’s an integral member of The Suicide Squad’s Task Force X, Peacemaker works mostly as a shallow comic relief in the movie, whereas in his series the audience now gets to see the sad side of Chris’ life even if he were to get his freedom back; it's actually quite simple, Marvel sidekicks always appear to be more complex than they're shown to be in movies but Peacemaker seems so one-sided it's almost hard to believe there's any kind of depth to him.
Peacemaker is for all intents and purposes a NINJA, and not the Japanese mercenary type of ninja but rather a “no income, no job or assets” type of superhero that even lacks any sort of meaningful personal relationships he can fall back on. He desperately craves the approval of his racist father, he’s fundamentally flawed, lonely, never sees any kind of recognition for the few good deeds he’s done, and simply put is entirely powerless over his own life.
Cena has characterized Peacemaker as “douchey Captain America”, a statement that isn’t that far-fetched when one considers that Steve Rogers is a man who carries himself on a virtuous moral path that lights up others; meanwhile, Peacemaker introduces his surrounding world to the misery that is his life. As Leota Adebayo puts it, beneath that loud and obnoxious facade of a “superhero” lies a person that is ultimately suffering, and Peacemaker uses constant satire to depict all that.
Speaking of which, Peacemaker's supporting cast blends in quite well from the very start as each one helps the show display its idiosyncratic brand of humor, which is ultimately how “normal” people see this superhero misfit carry himself. Unlike Marvel’s very particular sense of comedy, no joke feels out of place in Peacemaker because the entire series and its protagonist are jokes themselves.
If Hawkeye’s post-credits scene is supposed to work as a wholesome musical number, then Peacemaker’s opening credits are the clearest sign that the series does not take itself seriously, thus making it a perfect reminder of its uniqueness. Peacemaker even makes the best out of its animal companion, because contrary to Alligator Loki and Lucky the Pizza Dog, a pet eagle is not a ridiculous concept within the rules of a plot that is always aiming over the top.
The Perks Of Being Peacemaker
If there’s one thing that separates Peacemaker from almost any other superhero it’s definitely Chris' detachment from the DCEU’s more famous heroes. In the MCU it’s not rare to be constantly reminded of how superhero X is, was, or will be tied to villain/superhero Y; on the other hand, being an outcast grants Peacemaker the freedom to exist as his own man since he's not even on the radar of regular folks in DC's world.
There are a couple of Batman and Aquaman references included in the first episode, but that’s about as far as it goes because Peacemaker is ultimately someone nobody wants to be associated with, not even his teammates from The Suicide Squad. By barely including lines that could even slip in a Marvel movie like Eternals, practically anyone can jump in and enjoy the crass adventures of Peacemaker without having to do any type of homework on the character.
This is a character that enters the world of television with perks that very few comic book heroes have access to, and that is possibly why Gunn picked Peacemaker as his personal project. This is a superhero that has no business existing at all, let alone having his own spinoff series, which is what makes Peacemaker worth watching; that it also happens to be adorned by Gunn’s vision and fine music taste is just icing on the cake.