Warning: Contains major spoilers for the Peacemaker series.
Peacemaker follows the titular character, aka Christopher Smith, as he helps an ARGUS team track down an infestation of mind-controlling aliens known as "Butterflies." Over time, John Cena's character, originally introduced in last year's The Suicide Squad, unexpectedly finds friendship and family among his ragtag teammates.
Though he is the hero of the series, Peacemaker makes no assertions that its protagonist is anything resembling a good person. In fact, James Gunn and the creative team go out of their way to prove quite the opposite, providing plenty of evidence of Peacemaker's true awfulness, all to enhance his redemption arc throughout the show.
Insulting Children
The sixth episode of Peacemaker shows the titular vigilante crimefighter presenting for a class of elementary school students for Career Day. The presentation goes about as well as one might expect, with Chris insulting the appearance of each child that asked him a question.
While this is far from the worst thing Christopher Smith is guilty of, it does show how few morals the character has - or even comprehends. To stoop to the level of insulting children to their faces would be a new low for most people, but it seems to be just another day for Peacemaker.
Framing His Father
It is evident from the very beginning of the series that Chris and his father, Auggie Smith, have never had a functional relationship. This becomes even more clear when Chris's ARGUS team frames Auggie for a crime Chris committed, with Auggie's incarceration leading to the revelation that he is actually the somewhat obscure DC comics villain White Dragon.
Though Chris was not fully involved in the framing of his father, he was indirectly responsible for it. Even when Chris tries to make up for this misstep, he only makes things worse for both him and his father. In the end, this sequence of events only goes to highlight the extremely dysfunctional relationship between the two Smith men.
Killing His Own Father
After once again adopting the White Dragon persona, Auggie Smith attempts to track down and kill his son for framing him. In the penultimate episode of Peacemaker's first season, Christopher and his father finally go head-to-head in an emotional confrontation that leads to Peacemaker shooting his own father in the head, killing him.
August "Auggie" Smith is one of the least likable characters on Peacemaker, and though he deserved to die, there is still something quite broken within Christopher now that he has ended the life of his own father. Audiences will have to wait to see just how deeply this kill will affect Peacemaker moving forward.
Keeping A Butterfly
After their botched (and then recovered) mission to assassinate the butterfly-infested family of Senator Goff, Peacemaker and Vigilante keep the alien creature that had burrowed into the senator's brain, keeping this a secret from the rest of the team.
Keeping the butterfly wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world if it had never escaped. However, the alien creature found its way back into the open world, eventually surmounting a massive infestation of a police precinct and its prisoners, leading to one of the worst alien invasions the DCEU has ever seen.
Crusade Against Crime
Peacemaker is best known for his bloody war on crime. Alongside similarly unhinged personalities like Vigilante, Peacemaker has murdered countless criminals, without stopping to consider whether their crimes were worthy of death or not.
Chris' crusade against crime has left his hands endlessly bloodied with untold hundreds of deaths. His methods are truly heinous, especially in comparison to the no-kill rules of other heroes in the DCEU, though Peacemaker does make an interesting point that Batman's multiple villain problems might be solved if he took a similar approach in fighting crime.
Relentlessly Bullying Economos
In the early days of Team Peacemaker, Chris didn't particularly get along with any of the agents he was paired up with. He took a particular disliking to Agent John Economos, whom he endlessly ridiculed with school-age nicknames, the most infamous of which being "Dye-Beard."
Chris's taunting comes off as particularly cruel, as Economos consistently makes it clear that he finds his teammate's comments hurtful. Nevertheless, Chris doesn't let up on the ARGUS agent, seemingly filling a void within himself by tearing Economos down. Thankfully, the two are able to bury the hatchet later in the season, even becoming friends.
Accidentally Killing Innocent Insurgents
Peacemaker and Bloodsport's rivalry was a central point of The Suicide Squad, as both eerily similar killers constantly attempted to prove to the other, as well as to themselves, that they were the superior specimen. One such moment came when they took turns showing off at their creative methods of killing a group of soldiers -only to learn that their victims were on their side all along.
Though this moment is played for laughs in the film, the truth remains as horrific as ever. Peacemaker and Bloodsport took the lives of Corto Maltese's freedom fighters, those who sought to create a better world for their families. Not only did they severely inhibit the rebel efforts against the corrupt government, but they also took dozens of innocent lives.
Betraying His Team
The Suicide Squad was sent to Corto Maltese by Amanda Waller to stop Project Johutenheim, a dangerous operation capable of bringing about worldwide destruction. However, unbeknownst to the rest of the team, Waller gave Peacemaker special orders to cover up the U.S. government's involvement in the project.
Peacemaker's betrayal came after the ragtag team of criminals had shared several bonding moments over the course of their mission. Turning on the remaining members of the squad was a severe blow, and nearly shows just how ruthless a character Christopher Smith really was before his redemption.
Killing Rick Flag
After Peacemaker betrayed the Suicide Squad, the team's handler, Rick Flag, confronted the traitor in an attempt to leak the necessary information concerning the United States government's involvement in Project Johtunheim to the public. The encounter evolved into a struggle that left Flag dead, stabbed through the heart with a piece of debris.
Peacemaker has shown Rick Flag's death to be one of the few that continue to haunt Christopher long afterward. Flag was a good man, and a friend to Peacemaker, making the murder all the more emotional. Despite his evolution over the course of his spinoff series, Christopher must atone for Flag's death somehow by Peacemaker's end.
Killing His Own Brother
Over the course of its first season, Peacemaker began to drop hints regarding Christopher's older brother, Keith. The seventh episode eventually revealed that Christopher accidentally killed his brother in a bare-knuckle boxing match set up by their father when they were just children.
Though Keith's death wasn't the young Christopher's fault, it is still a tragedy that haunts him to this very day. Despite the fact that Keith's blood is clearly on his father's hands, Chris can't help but feel partially responsible. This moment has plagued him throughout his entire life and influenced many of his callous and ruthless actions as the vigilante Peacemaker.