The DCEU doles out a peculiar insult at Aquaman in its latest series, Peacemaker, but the joke is lazy and makes no sense, especially within continuity. James Gunn’s black comedy spinoff of The Suicide Squad features the return of John Cena’s buffoonish Peacemaker in a series that explores his past and psychotic behavior. In addition to jokingly referencing DC Comics and DCEU lore, Peacemaker also pokes fun at one of DC’s most famous heroes, Aquaman, who’s an equally easy target for satire in recent years, something that the DCEU has worked to mitigate.
Aquaman, a.k.a. Arthur Curry, debuted in 1941 as one of DC Comics’ Golden Age superheroes. Aquaman was one of the few DC heroes to lack a secret identity, and he was one of the founding members of the Justice League in the team’s first appearance in 1960. Despite his potent superpowers that make him one of the Justice League’s heavy hitters on the land, sea, or in space, he’s become the subject of mockery in recent years, with comedies poking fun at him more than other heroes, mistakenly depicting him as “useless.”
Peacemaker’s pilot episode, "A Whole New Whirled," has the titular hero discharged from a hospital following his The Suicide Squad injuries. During a prolonged conversation with a janitor, Peacemaker mocks Aquaman, believing that he doesn’t just talk to fish, but he also sleeps with them (and not in the way that mobsters do). Aside from the joke being low-hanging fruit as far as DC heroes go, it’s also baffling within the context of the DCEU, whose iteration of Aquaman is much more difficult to mock than the classic comic and cartoon versions.
Despite his incredible superhuman physical abilities, telepathic connection to marine animals, and supremely powerful trident, Aquaman is often mocked as being DC’s goofiest and most impotent hero. The DCEU made an effort to downplay these perceived qualities, eschewing Arthur Curry’s classic costume until the end of his solo movie and emphasizing the storied lore of his comics, though not without a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor characteristic of the superhero genre (albeit rarely making Arthur the subject of such jokes), resulting in one of the least “goofy” iterations of the undersea hero.
With this in mind, a DCEU property mocking Aquaman in-universe seems even more out of place. Shazam! and Justice League both acknowledged the often-mocked trait of Aquaman’s telepathic communication with marine life, but in both instances, they turned the joke’s ineffectiveness against the DCEU’s Aquaman into a joke in and of itself. Moreover, Aquaman has no secret identity in the DCEU, and his abilities are well-known to the public, making Peacemaker’s claim even more ludicrous.
Peacemaker is a well-written and well-acted black comedy that satires the racism, emotional immaturity, and psychotic behaviors of its protagonist. Unfortunately, however, not all of its jokes are going to land or make sense, even if the Aquaman joke was framed as an idiotic conspiracy on social media. Within the context of the DCEU, Peacemaker’s Aquaman joke came off as lazy and nonsensical in an otherwise well-made series.
Peacemaker releases new episodes on Thursdays on HBO Max.
