With only a few weeks left before James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad hits theaters in the UK and the United States, the John Cena starring Peacemaker show on HBO has revealed its first look. The spin-off based on the wrestler turned actor’s titular character will have eight episodes for its first season which is also penned by Gunn. First reported by Empire, the first look of Peacemaker has definitely piqued our interest for various reasons. Here’s the first look:
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John Cena, who first rose to fame for being a dominating powerhouse and showman in the World Wrestling Entertainment recently joined the league of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Dave ‘The Animal’ Bautista as a wrestler turned actor. Making his debut in The Marine (2006), Cena recently starred in Ferdinand (2017) and Bumblebee (2018), for which he received widespread acclaim. Soon after, the 16-times World Champion was picked for the role of Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad, which is dubbed as a soft reboot of the disastrous Suicide Squad (2016) by David Ayer.
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Despite being a relatively new face in the acting biz, Cena’s global popularity and charismatic personality helped him in landing the spin-off show Peacemaker, based on his character from Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. Described as an oxymoronic character, Peacemaker’s goal is to establish peace at any cost, which involves ruthless killings. According to Gunn himself, the character is a ‘douchebag’. “Peacemaker is a piece of sh-t. He’s not a good guy. And he wears the goofiest costume you’ve ever seen in your life”, says Gunn without mincing his words.
“Peacemaker has a clear set of ideals that I find really interesting,” says Gunn, who has directed five episodes of the series himself. “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, the show will also involve “a big science-fiction story”, and delve into some real-world issues. “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.”
Cena, who plays the role of Peacemaker also offers some harsh words for the characters. However, it would be interesting to see his back-story and get a perspective. Like Todd Philips’s Joker, the upcoming Peacemaker show can be a great character study for a supervillain with twisted ideals.
Peacemaker is scheduled to release exclusively on HBO Max in 2022.
