When James Gunn brings The Suicide Squad to theaters, there will be plenty of new members of the team with only a few select holdovers. One of the new members confirmed for Gunn's The Suicide Squad, and a man who looks to become almost a leader of the team, is John Cena's Peacemaker. He is also a character that existed before he appeared for the first time in DC Comics.
Peacemaker is a pacifist who is so determined to keep the peace that he will kill anyone who threatens that idea, making him one of the strangest members of The Suicide Squad. It is this juxtaposition that makes him such an entertaining character in the comics. He first appeared in 1966 in Charlton Comics and moved on to DC Comics when they purchased that company.
Fightin' 5 #40
Peacemaker made his first appearance in Charlton Comics Fightin' 5 #40 by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette. This was a secondary story in the book titled, "Introducing: The Peacemaker." While Peacemaker has often been seen as a character who will kill to keep the peace, that was not what this issue showed.
Instead, Peacemaker was literal to his name in this issue. He was a pacifist, refused to hurt anyone, and melted weapons rather than attack anyone. He creatively used different tactics to stop the bad guys without ever laying a hand on them.
The Peacemaker #1-5 (1967)
In 1967, Charlton Comics knew it had a hit on its hands and released a new series for The Peacemaker by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette. This was a big chance for Charlton to learn if people really liked Peacemaker, while also giving the company a chance to develop his character and morph him into something deeper and more interesting.
Christopher Smith was a diplomat who sought peace while also serving under the mask as Peacemaker. This series lasted for five issues, with The Fightin' 5 getting secondary stories in each issue.
Crisis On Infinite Earths #12
In Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC Comics brought together all the characters it owned in the multiversal war, and this included the Charlton Comics characters. This is how DC Comics added characters like Peacemaker, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and The Question to the mainstream timeline.
In Crisis on Infinite Earths, only select heroes had major roles, but in the final issue, Peacemaker was working with Green Arrow to fight to save the universe from Anti-Monitor.
The Peacemaker #1-4 (1988)
After Crisis on Infinite Earths ended, the DC Universe changed forever. Many of the Charlton Comics characters integrated into the world and this included Peacemaker. He got his own comic miniseries in 1988 with Peacemaker by Paul Kupperberg and Tod Smith to reintroduce him to fans.
This was a four-issue miniseries that also changed everything about the Charlton version of Peacemaker. He no longer avoided violence, stopping villains creatively. Instead, he kills anyone who threatens world peace, an interesting take on Marvel's The Punisher.
Checkmate Vol. 1 #15-18
While Peacemaker is part of The Suicide Squad now, his first experience working with Amanda Waller was in Checkmate. This was a government agency that Waller created as an independent branch of Task Force X, the official name of The Suicide Squad.
During this time, Waller created Project Peacemaker to help watch over him, and he ended up involved in an interagency war between Suicide Squad and Project Atom called the Janus Directive. Peacemaker was sent in to kill someone and it started the all-out war.
Suicide Squad #27-30
The Janus Directive was also playing out in other comics, and Peacemaker played a big role in the entire series, which also included Suicide Squad #27-30. This massive crossover series included names like Bronze Tiger, Harvey Bullock, General Ellering, Captain Boomerang, and more.
The entire event showed Amanda Waller as a villain, but she had manipulated everything and was trying to solve the problems without bothering to inform her superiors, including the President of the United States, forcing all the agencies into a reorganization at the end.
Eclipso #11-14
In DC Comics, Eclipso is the original spirit of God's Wrath who became an agent of chaos. He then possessed others to achieve his goals, including trying to destroy Earth on several occasions. In his 1993 series by Robert Loren Fleming and Audwynn Jermaine Newman, he faced off with the Shadow Fighters.
This brought Peacemaker into the ranks of Amanda Waller's group, and she sent them in to rescue a girl in Parador, where Eclipso had taken over the country. Peacemaker did not fare well in this fight, but this showed him in full agreement with working for Waller.
Blue Beetle Vol. 7
While most people think of Peacemaker as an antihero who goes against real superheroes and does what he feels needs to be done, it is not always the case. In Blue Beetle Vol. 7, Peacemaker finds a new role as a mentor to a young hero who needed someone to help him.
This was Jaime Reyes, the second Blue Beetle. It was a fun twist, since both characters originally came from Charlton Comics, but underwent major changes in DC. In the New 52, Peacemaker helped Blue Beetle find his purpose and become a true hero.
Suicide Squad (2021)
For a look at what fans might expect from a modern-day Peacemaker, he is part of the new Suicide Squad comics that launched in 2021. However, this is not likely what anyone will see in The Suicide Squad movie, as James Gunn admitted he based his inspirations on old-school comic storylines from the group.
In the new Suicide Squad comics, Peacemaker is a leadership type figure, although Rick Flag and Amanda Waller are the figurehead leaders. As a matter of fact, in the first issue, Peacemaker is the only one who lived, leaving him as one of the most powerful and influential members of The Suicide Squad.
Teen Titans Academy
Peacemaker is also around in a major team's comics in 2021, as Amanda Waller sent in the Suicide Squad to kidnap a young hero in training from Teen Titans Academy. In this comic book series, the original New Teen Titans are now teachers, instructing children with superpowers.
However, when someone steals Dick Grayson's old identity of Red X, the Suicide Squad shows up to bring in a girl that came to Teen Titans Academy to become a hero, but someone that Waller believes she owns. Peacemaker plays the role of the team leader here as well.