With filming on Peacemaker drawing to a close in Vancouver this month, Empire has shared a first look image from James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad spinoff series which sees the filmmaker joined by his leading man John Cena in full (bloody) costume as the titular vigilante.
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“Peacemaker’s a piece of shit. He’s not a good guy. And he wears the goofiest costume you’ve ever seen in your life,” Gunn tells the outlet. “Peacemaker has a clear set of ideals that I find really interesting. You know: ‘I want peace no matter how many men, women and children I need to kill to get it.’ Sounds like nonsense, but it also makes a lot of sense. And you see in John’s performance how he does not feel good about it – something I thought was the seed of an entire eight-episode show.”
“He lives in the world of Superman, Batman and Aquaman, and that is not an easy thing for him to contend with,” Gunn continues. “He represents a part of the world populace that is problematic to say the least and puts him in a situation where he has to face the choices he’s made throughout his life and the extremity of his views.”
This guy is a loud, obnoxious, bro-ey douchebag,” adds Cena, who will make his Peacemaker debut this summer in The Suicide Squad. “That sucks. But why? At what point did he become such a douchebag and what does that mean? There’s a lot to dive into there.”
Peacemaker sees John Cena reprising his role from The Suicide Squad as Christopher Smith, the titular ‘Peacemaker’, alongside co-stars Steve Agee (John Economos) and Jennifer Holland (Emilia Harcourt). New additions include Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Chukwudi Iwuji (News of the World), Lochlyn Munro (Scary Movie), Annie Chang (Shades of Blue), Christopher Heyerdahl (Van Helsing), Elizabeth Ludlow (The Walking Dead), Rizwan Manji (Schitt’s Creek), Nhut Le (Raven’s Home), Alison Araya (Riverdale), Lenny Jacobson (For All Mankind), and Freddie Stroma (Bridgerton).
Peacemaker is slated to premiere on HBO Max in January 2022. The Suicide Squad meanwhile will open in the UK on July 30th and August 6th in the US.
