Warning! Spoilers ahead for Peacemaker episode 8.
Thanks to Peacemaker's season finale, the DCEU just proved how lethal Marvel's Captain America could truly be with his shield. Featuring John Cena in the titular role as Peacemaker, Chris Smith and his team battled the alien race known as the Butterflies, operating as an offshoot team from Task Force X as seen in The Suicide Squad. Taking the fight to the aliens with a final showdown, Smith channeled his inner Captain America with his own shield, showing just how brutal Steve Rogers could be if the MCU wasn't geared towards a more family-friendly audience.
In Peacemaker episode 8, Chris and his team discover the location of "the cow", the Butterflies' only source of food on the planet while they'd been infiltrating mankind by taking human hosts. After attempting to blow up their secret base containing the cow, Peacemaker and company come out guns blazing in a final battle to stop them for good. However, once Smith empties several clips, he pulls out a new shield bearing his "dove of peace", entering the fray to kill as many Butterflies as he can.
The comparison to Marvel's Steve Rogers seems to be intentional with Peacemaker's new shield. After all, John Cena did comment in early behind-the-scenes footage for The Suicide Squad that his character was basically "a douchey Captain America". However, Peacemaker's moves with his shield are far more brutal than the MCU's Captain America has ever displayed, attacking his foes with deadly force. At one point, Peacemaker's shield goes up into the air and he shoots it with his gun as it comes down, sending the pointed end straight into one of the Butterflies' necks. While it's a move Captain America could likely pull off with his own shield, it's highly unlikely that Rogers, Sam Wilson, or any other Captain America in the MCU would ever do (short of John Walker's darker U.S Agent in a carefully edited fashion).
Given the family-friendly demographic the MCU targets, it's doubtful that Steve Rogers' Captain America would have ever been allowed to display the levels of brutality Peacemaker does. However, that doesn't mean he couldn't. Considering the additional strength Captain America has thanks to the Super Soldier serum, combined with the unique vibranium makeup of his shield, Rogers would likely be even deadlier than Chris Smith. However, Rogers wasn't as predisposed to extreme violence as Smith is. While he had no problem killing when necessary, it's likely that he wouldn't have been as brutal by choice even if it was an option. To his credit, Smith did show some reservations about killing as the first season of Peacemaker progressed, though it seems the alien Butterflies were a notable exception.
While it may never be seen in the MCU, the DCEU just showed just how brutal Captain America could truly be with his shield. As such, it will be interesting to see if Smith will continue to use his own shield in the recently announced Peacemaker season 2, or if its use was more of a one-time occurrence for this final battle. Either way, Peacemaker definitely lived up to John Cena's "douchey Captain America" description, wielding his own shield with extremely lethal force.
Peacemaker is now streaming on HBO Max.
