John Cena might’ve only been an actor for a few years while following in The Rock’s footsteps after retiring from wrestling, but he’s taken on the superhero genre a little earlier than DJ. Not by much, but anyway. You get the idea. Cena takes on the antihero, Christopher Smith, also known as Peacemaker, who was introduced in James Gunn’s 2021 film, The Suicide Squad, a follow-up to David Ayers’ Suicide Squad.
Just a note before we start this post, we haven’t seen The Suicide Squad, but the first episode has a recap of how Peacemaker ended up with the injuries he received using clips from the film to catch people up who haven’t seen it.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
Peacemaker Has A Best Friend Who Is A Literal Eagle
So, the first point we wanted to touch on is Smith has a best friend in the form of a bald eagle called Eagly. Yes, literally. He adores his pet, and he [Eagly] likes being hugged. While Peacemaker is in prison, the bird lives with his father, the racist Auggie Smith.
The bird is only affectionate towards Peacemaker, who claims the bird’s friendliness to his new colleagues. Eagly then proceeds to bite the others. We covered some of the goss surrounding Eagley during DC Fandome. Anyway, it is cute to see that such a violent antihero would have a sidekick equivalent to TippyToe in Marvel Comics or Ace the Bathound in DC Comics.
Potty Mouths, Nudity And Sexpot Peacemaker
Peacemaker has a LOT of swearing from all the characters at some point. There’s also a sex scene between Peacemaker and some woman who ends up being an evil butterfly. There are also boobs galore from the butterfly lady and some married woman Smith has a threesome with Vigilante. However, the threesome isn’t seen but is alluded to during one scene where the three of them are laying in bed together smoking pot.
Despite the minimal notice, these scenes fit in with the narrative that Cena and James Gunn have put into the character. Also, there’s small setups that these scenes were coming without making a big fuss out of it. What’s more, is this is not like Doom Patrol, where the first scene of the entire series was Brendan Fraser’s Cliff Steele having sex with his mistress and the first shot being his ass. We still have nightmares about that.
There’s also a photo of Leota’s wife’s pubic region, which is only on screen for a second.
Family Secret And Unexpected Friendship
Speaking of Leota, she was created specifically for the show and is on a mission for her mother, who is the badass Amanda Waller, who fans will know, doesn’t care if Taskforce X dies or not. However, not many people know this, and it appears only her wife, Keeya is aware of Leota’s connection to Waller.
Leota also befriends Peacemaker relevantly quickly when she also befriends Eagly, who doesn’t appear to bite her as hard as the others. We found this probably the most interesting of all of Smith’s relationships that have been shown so far. They don’t criticise each other and appear to have mutual respect. What’s more, is Peacemaker has more respect for her than his racist father would.
Whole Team Dynamics
The whole team is unique and has designated skills. While they might not be the first or second Suicide Squads, Project Butterfly is under the control of Waller without her having to physically be there. Clemson Murn is the second-in-charge of a smaller group which still includes Peacemaker but includes Waller as their superior and Vigilante.
Harcourt, Leota, and John are supporters of the group.
Peacemaker loves bullying John, and Vigilante is in awe of Peacemaker all the time. In his eyes, he’s a god. Emilia Harcourt worked for the DEO and various other agencies before she joined ARGUS. She’s also Peacemaker’s sorta, sorta-not love interest.
The first three episodes don’t show Harcourt and Peacemaker’s relationship that much other than there is an attraction. We’ve still got a few episodes to go to explore the dynamic further.
