How Did Peacemaker, Possibly the Worst Superhero Ever, Become A Hit?
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There’s probably no character that no one cared less about than DC Comics Peacemaker. How then did it become a hit series for HBO Max and the number one streaming show in the world?
The Hollywood Reporter: No one gave a shit about Peacemaker. That is, until James Gunn and John Cena.
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Peacemaker didn’t even become a DC character until 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, which merged Charlton Comics characters Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and The Question, among others, into the DC Universe, and by then he was already relegated to the D-list.
[Peacmaker] has a joyful, homemade energy of friends making art, and rocking out together while they do so. But where such a project could feel slight, Gunn deftly guides the emotional undercurrent of the series in which every member of this newly formed Task Force X, composed of reluctant government agents and reluctant antiheroes, Peacemaker, Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), John Economos (Steve Agee) and Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), is given at least one moment of honest vulnerability and heartbreak, often in the least expected form, that bridges immaturity and maturity, affirming the power of comic book characters for kids and adults in a way that’s rarely achieved with such confidence.
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The bloodshed and the dick jokes are fun, and the encyclopedic knowledge of the most obscure comic characters is unmatched by fellow comic book filmmakers, but Peacemaker thrives on Gunn’s ability to create human connection between characters who, at least on the surface, not only resist connection but have accepted their place of anonymity. Gunn excels in healing broken things that didn’t even know how broken they were.
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Peacemaker lands at a point where the idea of a man raised in an alt-right and Klan-friendly environment seems like it would be an unwelcome addition to superhero storytelling. But it’s because of the contemporary nature of the show that Peacemaker feels topical in a way that’s refreshing, political without chasing the tail of the great Cold War superhero stories of Alan Moore and Frank Miller.
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Change is a process and taking accountability for what you did and said isn’t easy, yet Peacemaker shows how necessary it is that we provide each other with that opportunity. The results aren’t immediate, sacrifices will be made and wounds will remain, as is made clear by Smith’s recurring visions of his father. But the road to peace is certainly made easier alongside people who do in fact give a shit about you. It’s rather beautiful that Peacemaker, born of such a fraught environment, exists as the result of metamorphosis for all involved and perhaps promises a new way to understand what comic characters can offer when allowed genuine change by artists seeking the same.
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