When the new DC Universe was announced, James Gunn talked about the moniker of “Gods and Monsters” being the overarching theme and title of this stage, which has stuck with me. I think it’s exemplified best in Superman’s heart on the sleeve final confrontation in Superman with Lex Luthor where he says:
I wake up every morning and despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other and I try to make the best choices I can. I screw up all the time, but that is being human, and that’s my greatest strength.
Those words of self-assured strength and resilience in his own identity as a human being, despite his near godhood physiology, set the stage for the heroes of the DC Universe.
On the other hand, we have also seen the monsters in Creature Commandos, which also deals with them striving for self-actualization and self-worth. A team of monsters, freaks, and a robot sent to handle the government’s dirty work. We see a character like The Bride pushing against so many people who believe they have some level of ownership over who she is. At its core, we follow these monsters trying to take themselves back from the universe’s biggest monster: Amanda Waller. Waller’s shadow lingers large over the entire DC Universe so far because gods and monsters both kneel to the wall.
But what is in between Gods and Monsters in the DC Universe? Enter Peacemaker Season 2. Cue the music, dancers to places, and tissues at the ready. We are facing the absolute ego-death of the world’s greatest marksman through the brilliant performance of John Cena.
Those words of Superman are drowned out by a choir of voices singing the words of Rick Flagg’s dying words from The Suicide Squad, “Peacemaker, what a joke”. Even after so much time has passed, we find Peacemaker and the rest of the 11th Street Kids in the rubble of a world-saving adventure and hard choices to make the world a better place. Everyone is left with nothing to show for everything they did but shattered identities, stolen futures, and a world where the only things they are good at are being stripped away from them. Despite their best efforts to be heroes, everyone is left destroyed at the opening of Peacemaker Season 2.
While I will try to remain spoiler-free for Peacemaker Season 2, this is less of a review of the season itself and more of a focus on Peacemaker himself and Cena’s performance. While everyone gives incredible performances and the new cast additions are incredible, I was so moved by Peacemaker’s story that I needed to focus on that rather than a wide breadth review. Some major highlights of the season are the addition of Tim Meadows, a heightened focus on Eagly, and just how much Vigilante knows about stuff. Peacemaker Season 2 is a must-watch. But back to the chrome-domed helmeted hero…
When we first met Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad, he was the most arrogant and cocky asshole that has ever graced a spandex film. There was John Cena’s charm for sure but no one was rooting for Peacemaker because he dabbled in such cruelty for his beliefs in freedom with no limits on how far he would go for it. But everything changed when he killed Rick Flagg. That moment is when the match was struck that lit the fuse to cause the complete ego death of Peacemaker, which we see on full display in Season 2.
In season 1, we see a much more raw and vulnerable look at the man behind the mask of Peacemaker, Chris Smith. The tighty whitey jokes and sexual innuendos fade to the wayside as you get glimpses at the chinks in his armor to see the scared boy inside. Chris is just a boy who blames himself for the death of his brother with all of the burdens laid upon him by his nazi father. Throughout the season, the relationships he builds with Harcourt, Adebayo, Economos, and Vigilant start to show how insecure he is. But more importantly, we see how Peacemaker has been a shield from dealing with all of that trauma of who he is, or more importantly, who he can be.
In a world of Gods and Monsters, what do you do when you were raised by a monster to become a monster?
As the monsters of Creature Commandos do, Chris fights back against the one who controls him. Without his helmet or his tech, he fights the man who created him. Chris fights his father, who was truly at fault for the death of his brother, a trauma that has defined Chris his entire life. During the entire fight, his father slings the most horrific things imaginable at his son. Tearing him down for his sexuality, his choices, and everything he has done of his own free will. Chris admits he was a piece of shit because of what his father made him into. But when Chris finally makes the choice to point a gun at his father, he says that he knows Chris couldn’t do it because he controls him and he will never be able to get away from…
Gunshot.
In that moment, everything that is or was Christopher Smith/Peacemaker dies. The person he was died with that gunshot. When that hammer comes down, we see the ego death of what once was Peacemaker shatter into a billion pieces.
Those pieces are still scattered everywhere when we find him in Season 2. The holes left behind are being filled with vices of booze, drugs, and of the flesh. A lot of what transpires in Peacemaker Season 2 to me feels like an allegory for addiction. Chris is using anything he can get his hands on to feel like he once did, but there is no going back. But he has not reached the stage of understanding that something new must be born in its place.
That metaphorical chasing of the dragon takes Peacemaker to an alternate dimension where his father is seemingly a good man. There is a moment of quiet solitude where Chris breaks down in tears with his face in his hands in the home of the alternate Earth. This is John Cena’s acting is on full display as we watch all of the pain wash over him. What if this were his life? What if he was dealt a bad hand? All of those questions open a million doors in his mind at a time when he has no idea who he is or where he is going.
But then the other Peacemaker makes himself known, and hell breaks loose. When I considered the concept of ego death, I wondered if I was overstepping, but the ending of episode 1 clinched the deal. Notably, for the rest of the episodes I have seen, Chris rarely puts on his costume, which I found to lend credence to my feelings on what he is going through.
We also get glimpses that the other version of him was dealing with a pill addiction that his family was worried about. It’s a reminder that not everything that glitters is gold, no matter what.
Peacemaker Season 2 stands as a beautiful character study of a character who has quickly become my favorite live-action hero, thanks to James Gunn’s writing and John Cena’s dedication to the character.
So I ask myself, where does Peacemaker fit into the Gods and Monsters theme? Peacemaker exists in the space in between. A man who was raised as a monster, who stumbles and falls, but with help from his friends, could become something that rivals the Gods themselves.