Peacemaker star John Cena reveals the multiple superhero movie roles he got rejected for before joining the DC Extended Universe. Thanks to the rise in popularity of superhero movies, most of Hollywood's biggest stars are part of at least one major comic book franchise. Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans were at the forefront of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years, while Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds rose to new heights with Fox's X-Men movies. Meanwhile, the DCEU made stars out of Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa, but also have Robert Pattinson, Dwayne Johnson, and others nearing their debuts.
Cena is one of the latest Hollywood stars to enter the superhero world. He made his DCEU debut last year in The Suicide Squad, where he played Peacemaker in James Gunn's wildly entertaining franchise installment. This proved to be just the beginning of his time playing a peace-loving vigilante who will kill anyone and do anything to achieve peace. Gunn developed a spinoff show for Peacemaker after working with Cena on The Suicide Squad and seeing room for the character to be explored in a more personal way. Based on the incredibly positive Peacemaker reviews, it appears he was right, as audiences love seeing more of Cena's superhero character.
Now that the first three episodes of Peacemaker are streaming on HBO Max, Cena is doing the press rounds to promote the series. This included talking to Josh Horowitz for the Happy Sad Confused Podcast. The interview included Cena discussing his past attempts to land a superhero role and revealing a few of the characters he was rejected for. Peacemaker's star didn't detail the entire history of rejections, but he did confirm the DCEU's Shazam and Cable in Deadpool 2 as two he lost, on top of multiple other Marvel characters.
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Cena mentioning Shazam and Cable as two characters he could've played shows how different both roles and movies almost were. It is quite easy to imagine Cena playing Billy Batson's adult form in Shazam! as the actor can channel his own inner-child and goofiness. This would've seen him tap into a different comedic mindset and be a bit more immature. It also would've meant Zachary Levi never got the DCEU superhero role. Cena playing Cable instead of Josh Brolin might have shifted the time-traveling mutant to more of a comedic presence in Deadpool 2 instead of the straight man to Wade Wilson's constant one-liners. It isn't known what other Marvel roles John Cena may have auditioned for in the past, but someone like Drax the Destroyer might have made sense.
Although the constant rejection might not have been easy for John Cena to handle in the past, it appears that everything worked out for the best. The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker both give him the chance to flex his acting muscles (and his regular massive muscles) constantly. He might have been able to make Shazam, Cable, or any number of Marvel characters his own, but Peacemaker's mixture of action, comedy, and heart make the character a great pairing for Cena. Hopefully Peacemaker season 1 is just the beginning of his time in the DCEU after waiting so long to get a superhero role.
Source: Josh Horowitz
