Peacemaker is an antihero originally owned by Charlton Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. The Peacemaker, Christopher Smith, first appeared in Fightin' 5 #40 (November 1966) and was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Pat Boyette. In his debut appearance, he was depicted as a pacifist willing to do anything to bring peace to the world. When DC Comics acquired Peacemaker they changed the character, as depicting him as a violent vigilante haunted by the ghosts of his past. Smith's incarnation would later be killed, and though another incarnation of Peacemaker would follow, Smith's incarnation would later be brought back and become a recurring character.

Peacemaker appears in media set in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and DC Universe (DCU) movie franchises, in which he is portrayed by John Cena. This incarnation, Christopher "Chris" Smith, appears in the DCEU film The Suicide Squad (2021) and the DCU film Superman (2025), in addition to starring in the television series Peacemaker (2022–2025).

Though largely forgotten following the 1980s, Peacemaker's appearances in The Suicide Squad and his television series were credited with reviving the character's popularity. Critics have highlighted the television incarnation of the character, and Cena's performance has been praised. Cena's incarnation's bisexuality has also been the subject of discussion from critics. Taking on the title of "Peacemaker", he uses an array of weapons to combat many international threats. The DC Comics continuity would later be rebooted in the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline, which would alter Smith's backstory. Taking on the mantle of Peacemaker, Smith would serve as a vigilante, believing that his helmet contained the ghosts of the people he killed or were killed in his vicinity. Smith subsequently joins the organization Checkmate, a special-forces unit, hunting terrorists until his own behavior becomes too extreme.

Peacemaker is returned to life, Following this, he begins working with Amanda Waller, a government official he had previously worked with during his time with Checkmate. Peacemaker undertakes many missions for Waller before eventually joining the Suicide Squad. Following this, the character appears in the 2022 television series Peacemaker. The show's first season sees him put on a government task force to stop a species of aliens known as the Butterflies. The second season of the show, released in 2025, depicts Peacemaker visiting a parallel universe where he is an admired public hero. Smith also makes cameo appearances in the DC Universe television series Creature Commandos (2024) and film Superman (2025).

Other versions

The character of Mitchell Black would take on the mantle of Peacemaker following the original's death in the comics.

An alternate female version of character known as Peacewrecker is introduced in the crossover series Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths.

A private army called the Peacemakers appear in Absolute Superman as enforcers of Lazarus Corp, with Christopher Smith appearing as a captain within one of its rank who is mentally unstable and is later forcibly turned into a cyborg by Brainiac.

In other media

The Christopher Smith incarnation of Peacemaker appears in the television series Suicide Squad Isekai, voiced by Takehito Koyasu in Japanese and Seán Patrick Judge in English. This version is a member of the Suicide Squad. In video games, the DCEU version of the character appears as a playable character in several video games, including the mobile version of Injustice 2, Mortal Kombat 1, DC Worlds Collide, and Fortnite Battle Royale. The Christopher Smith and Mitchell Black versions of Peacemaker appear in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.

Development

thumb|left|upright=0.75|Comic book panel of Peacemaker's debut in [[Fightin' 5 #40 (November 1966).]]

In comics

The Peacemaker, named Christopher Smith, first appeared in a backup series in Charlton Comics' espionage-team title Fightin' 5 #40 (November 1966). He was created by Joe Gill and artist Pat Boyette, though Bill Montes has also been credited by IGN for Peacemaker's creation. Charlton went out of business during the 1980s. The rights to Charlton Comics' characters, including Peacemaker, were acquired by DC Comics. Charlton Comics' characters were incorporated into DC Comics' fictional universe, first via an alternate world, before eventually being brought into the mainstream DC Comics continuity during the 1985 DC Comics crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Initially, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's comic series Watchmen was planned to feature characters taken from Charlton Comics' creations. Peacemaker was planned to appear, with the series being dubbed Who Killed the Peacemaker?. Though DC initially allowed the usage of these characters, the later plan to incorporate the characters into the mainstream DC universe as part of Crisis on Infinite Earths resulted in DC retracting the ability to use them, However, Bautista was unavailable for the role due to taking the lead role in Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead (2021).

John Cena entered talks to portray the character in April 2019, as Gunn had wanted to work with Cena upon seeing his performance in the romantic comedy Trainwreck (2015), and had been looking for an appropriate role for him for a while. Cena had previously auditioned unsuccessfully for roles in both Marvel and DC Comics-based films. Cena's casting in the role was officially revealed in August 2020. Upon being cast, Gunn told Cena not to read any comics featuring Peacemaker, as Gunn felt Cena having a preconceived notion of the character would distract from the story he wanted to tell. During the promotion of The Suicide Squad, Cena decided to wear the Peacemaker costume for interviews and other promotional events as a way to familiarize the audience with the lesser-known character, which was a tactic that he had previously used as a professional wrestler.

After finishing work on The Suicide Squad, Gunn began working on a spinoff series about the origins of Peacemaker "just for fun" during his COVID-19 lockdown isolation. He brought the idea to producer Peter Safran, who was later approached by DC Films to create a Suicide Squad spinoff series. The character does not get as much exploration or development as the other members of the Suicide Squad during the 2021 film, which is one of the reasons that Gunn decided to create the series despite him originally intending for the character's apparent death in the film to be permanent. The Peacemaker series was eventually picked up by HBO Max in September 2020, with Gunn writing all eight episodes of the first season and directing five of them. Cena agreed to reprise the role for the series in 2020, becoming an executive producer with Gunn and Safran. As a result, Peacemaker, who was originally intended to die in The Suicide Squad, was kept alive for the series, and a post-credits scene was filmed in January 2021 for the film to set up Peacemaker, which also began filming around that time. Following the first season's success, a second season of Peacemaker was ordered in 2022.

Characterization

Peacemaker was originally characterized as a pacifist so dedicated to peace that he did whatever was necessary to fight against warmongers. In his comics, he fought alongside an institution of his founding known as the Pax Institute. Following the acquisition of the character by DC, Peacemaker was re-characterized as a violent vigilante who had a mental breakdown after discovering his father was secretly a Nazi. The character believed he was haunted by the ghost of his father, as well as the ghosts of all those who his father had killed. Smith believed the ghosts could speak to him through his helmet, and the ghosts offered him wisdom and strategy. He is emotionally closed off and portrayed as a "rude, violent jerk." The television series expands on Peacemaker's character, depicting him haunted by his murder of the character Rick Flag Jr. receiving encouragement from several supporting characters in the series while others judge him for who he is outwardly, believing he cannot change. Multiple critics characterised Cena's portrayal of Peacemaker as being inspired by Watchmen<nowiki/>'s Comedian. Cena elected to portray the character as bisexual in the television series, with Gunn stating that Cena made Smith "into this hyper-sexualized dude that is open to anything sexually." Cena examined the history of Peacemaker in the comics and determined that with Christopher Smith's childhood struggles and hardships, he would be "willing to do anything to a certain extent."

Critical reception

thumb|left|upright=0.75|Cena's performance as Peacemaker was praised by critics.

Despite early popularity under Charlton, Peacemaker as a character quickly fell into obscurity following his appearances in the 1980s. Polygon<nowiki/>'s Lux Alptraum stated that the Peacemaker television series allowed the character to expand from being the "flat" character previously depicted in The Suicide Squad.

Cena's performance as the character has been positively highlighted by critics in both The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. James McMahon, writing for NME, highlighted the show's portrayal of Peacemaker and Cena's performance, citing its "irreverent", Watchmen-inspired portrayal of superheroes. Jenna Anderson, writing for ComicBook.com, positively highlighted Smith's bisexuality for adding more LGBTQ representation to DC Comics media and subverting expectations for the Peacemaker character. Conversely, Alptraum felt Smith's bisexuality was poorly represented, being easy to miss and more reflective of Smith just being sexually charged as a character. Alptraum felt it fell into pre-existing stereotypes regarding bisexual men on television, stating that "we're stuck with a limited vision that reinforces the idea that male bisexuality is nothing more than overflow of indiscriminate horniness" and that it did nothing to confront pre-existing stigma towards bisexual men.

References

  • Peacemaker at International Superheroes
  • Peacemaker at Comics101
  • Keith Giffen verifies identity of the new Peacemaker
  • Index to the Earth-4 adventures of the Charlton Action Heroes