Peacemaker S1 (2022) Review

Peacemaker S1 (2022)

Peacemaker follows Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, who, following the events of The Suicide Squad, is placed on a team tasked with uncovering a race of alien butterflies before they take over the world. 

When it was announced that the best part of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad was getting his own series, I was arguably more excited for that than The Suicide Squad itself. And damn, if Gunn didn’t instantly make this one of the most unique and exciting shows on television. Bloody, raunchy, and R rated as hell, Peacemaker is a deeper analysis on the shallow perspective we get of Chris in the film, diving into why he’s willing to kill anyone and anything for peace, or if that’s just his twisted upbringing and demented (and thoroughly racist) father’s work at play. Because while a villain (of sorts), he sees himself, and has always strived to be, a hero. Deeply flawed, if not extremely morally grey, but a hero nonetheless. 

Luckily, that’s where Peacemakers story does the rest, throwing him back on a team of other, also morally questionable individuals, who through the course of trying to save the world, allow Chris to prove that he is more than just the senseless killer his father raised him to be. They bring out the human in him, and with that, an acceptance of relationships and his emotions, and him the same with them, altering their cold and rather heartless methods to come together and bring down the butterflies, a nice parallel to Starro in the movie. 

We get a fantastic cast as well, starring Christopher Heyerdahl, Nhut Le, Lochlyn Munro, Annie Chang, Steve Agee, Chukwudi Iwuji, Robert Patrick, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Holland, Freddie Stroma, and John Cena. Honestly, there wasn’t a bad bit of casting in this whole series, with team Peacemaker (Holland, Stroma, Brooks, Iwuji, and Agee) killing it, but obviously, John Cena was just perfect here. It’s a tall task making a dick like Peacemaker likable (especially after he killed Rick Flag), but he knocks it out of the park with so much heart, humor, and timing; hard to think of a better guy for such a complex role. 

Peacemaker, directed by James Gunn, is a surprisingly heartfelt character study on Peacemaker and his rag tag team of killers, fully delivering on it’s hard R rating in what is easily one of the most genuine and quirky superhero outings since Gunn’s first go round. Can’t wait for season 2!

9.6/10