Director James Gunn has responded to a question about Peacemaker being a "racist" American hero. The Peacemaker character is one of the new additions to Task Force X in Gunn's recent film, The Suicide Squad, which debuted in theaters and on HBO Max in August. John Cena plays Peacemaker, who is described as a former soldier who was taught to kill from the moment he was born. Peacemaker, as played by Cena, comes off as a dutiful yet naive government operative who will do anything to get the job done and has the skills to make that happen (or, as Gunn puts it, "a douchey Captain America").
Peacemaker served as both hero and villain in The Suicide Squad and will be back to expose those sides again in the Peacemaker series, which is set to debut on HBO Max in 2022. Gunn began writing the show for fun while in lockdown and it eventually went straight-to-series, with Gunn writing the full eight episodes (and directing a handful as well). Cena returns in the titular role for the series, which Gunn has said is a sort of "The Suicide Squad 2." It will continue the character's story after the events of The Suicide Squad with some flashbacks to dig into his origin.
During a Q&A at TCA (via TV Line) Gunn responded to a reporter's question implying that Peacemaker is a “jingoist, racist American hero." Gunn acknowledged that Peacemaker has "a lot of issues," but clarified the process further by saying he doesn't sit down to make his characters "likable," but instead tries to make them "as fully fledged as possible." Peacemaker makes a number of questionable decisions in The Suicide Squad, many of which will likely be explored in the series, with Gunn saying the character still has "a lot to learn." Read Gunn's full quote:
“One of the things though that made me want to tell the story of Peacemaker is that he has a lot to learn…. a lot to learn. And it wouldn’t take just one season of TV for him to learn that. But it is that ability to learn that he does have that for me makes him a little bit more likable. His blindspots in some places are pretty terrible, and in some places they’re just him being ignorant. And I think that’s an important distinction to make.”
Joining Cena and Gunn for the series are some new faces and recurring characters from The Suicide Squad, including Jennifer Holland's Emilia, Steve Agee's John, as well as Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith, Chukwudi Iwuji's Clemson Murn, Danielle Brooks' Leota Adebayo, Nhut Le as Judomaster, and Freddie Stroma as Vigilante. Gunn has already said that he'd love to do a Peacemaker season 2, but that it was ultimately up to HBO if that were to happen.
While Peacemaker makes a lot of questionable and downright morally reprehensible decisions in The Suicide Squad, the implications of his character being a "racist" feel a little extreme, and Gunn offers a very reasonable response to that. It's also refreshing to see a writer and director stand by his choices of creating characters that are far more complex than cookie-cutter superheroes, whose moral compass always points true north. Gunn's point about a character that's flawed and can learn from their mistakes is a strong one, as it's those complexities that make human characters that much more interesting, engaging, and relatable. Whether audiences love or hate Peacemaker in the new series is yet to be determined, but it will definitely be interesting to find out if he's a hero, a villain or, as Rick Flag says, "a joke."
Source: TV Line
