1 of 5 | John Cena and Danielle Brooks star in “Peacemaker” Season 2, premiering Thursday on HBO Max. Photo courtesy of HBO Max
Peacemaker Season 1 proved John Cena’s character could lead a whole series after his appearance in the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. Season 2, premiering Aug. 21 on HBO Max, shows there’s room for this graphic, raunchy corner of the DC world after creator James Gunn’s Superman.
The new season opens months after Chris Smith, aka Peacemaker (Cena), killed his own father, the villainous Auggie (Robert Patrick), Chris and his allies have recovered from their recent battle, but things aren’t back to normal.
Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) regrets hooking up with Chris, an understandable dynamic for co-workers and the will-they-won’t-they dynamic of a TV show. This hurts Chris and Cena lets it show.
Supporting characters introduced in Gunn’s recent Superman appear, triggering Chris’ longing to belong and emphasizing how he’s still a little too violent and brash for the official superhero teams. Aside from cameos, Gunn refers to Metropolis overtly, but sparingly, so it’s not required homework.
As the Season 2 trailers showed, Chris also discovers a portal to another dimension where things appear to be better for him. This gives the season an It’s A Wonderful Life subplot, but events are still unfolding in the prime dimension.
Both Chris and Harcourt follow a downward spiral, including R-rated language, violence and debauchery. Directing the season premiere, Gunn presents this material as skillfully as his big budget, family friendly movies.
The hardcore moments really speak to the characters, too. Excess is the point. These people have lost control, and Holland also shows Harcourt’s self-destructive denial of her emotional needs.
Chris’ eagle, Eagly, is excessive too, but he’s over the top in defending his loved ones.
The consequences of Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) exposing Amanda Waller is felt, and her personal story is not reset either, giving Brooks emotional moments as well.
Economos (Steve Agee) is kind of back to his usual avoidant personality, with his demotion in light of Waller’s operations being closed down. Peacemaker’s story keeps drawing Economos in against his wishes.
Adrian (Freddie Stroma) remains Peacemaker’s biggest fan, with an endearing confidence in light of his lack of any useful knowledge or skills whatsoever.
New characters exclusive to the series join the cast in episode 2. Tim Meadows brings his deadpan to agent Langston Fleury’s vulgar posturing, and has an ultimate weakness so absurd it makes no sense. Yet Meadows commits to it and the weakness very quickly becomes relevant.
Chris’ venture into the alternate dimension suggests what could have been had he made different choices. Viewers will notice in the opening titles that certain actors whose characters have died still appear in the cast, thanks to this alternate dimension.
Living the alternate Peacemaker’s life is tempting, and even gives Chris a chance to fix relationships that may be beyond repair in his world. This sort of story, however, is always about how our mistakes make us who we are, and Peacemaker explores that too. The payoff comes in later episodes.
Gunn’s music choices remain impeccable. On Peacemaker, he chooses much deeper cuts than Guardians of the Galaxy, including many wonderful discoveries by Foxy Shazam, so every track warrants using the Shazam! app to identify.
This means the opening title sequence has also grown to reflect the expanding Peacemaker world and evolving dynamics of the characters. Details of the opening titles are considered a spoiler and it’s the part that warrants the most analysis, but it’s not giving away too much to suggest they added a Fred and Ginger element.
Comic books are all about showcasing different tones and creative visions within a connected universe. The Marvel world has not really diverged much, except for later Thors and Ant-Mans emphasizing comedy and allowing Deadpool to be R-rated.
Peacemaker is darker than Superman in such a striking way that the two have established the goalposts of each spectrum. The rest of Gunn’s DC movies and shows can fall somewhere in between, but Peacemaker shows how many characters can traverse both ends, while finding heart and humor in the most extreme moments.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
