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Are you ready for peace… At any cost? Well, get ready, because we now know that Peacemaker, the John Cena starring spinoff series from The Suicide Squad, will premiere on January 13 on HBO Max. And not only that, we’ve got our first bloody, over-the-top trailer from the James Gunn series, thanks to DC FanDome.
In The Suicide Squad, we met Cena’s vigilante… Anti-hero? Villain? Both? A man adept at using every weapon in existence, and imbued with the misguided belief that in order to bring peace, you have to kill a lot of people. Spoilers past this point, but in the film, Peacemaker ultimately turned on his teammates, and was left for dead by Bloodsport (Idris Elba). Only in a post-credits sequence we found out that Peacemaker was not dead, he was recuperating in a hospital, and was about to be used — once again — by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) to help, “save the fucking world, that’s all.”
When HBO Max’s Peacemaker picks up, he’ll be teamed up with Jennifer Holland as Harcourt and Steve Agee as Economos, both from The Suicide Squad; as well as Danielle Brooks as Adebayo, Freddie Stroma as Vigilante and Chukwudi Iwuji as Murn. And as seen in the trailer, his father, Auggie Smith, will be played by none other than Robert Patrick.
But the real, clear star of Peacemaker? Eagley, Peacemaker’s bald eagle sidekick, who gets a bunch of killer moments like sticking his head out of a car like a dog, and the kicker to the trailer where he gives Cena a big hug with his wings.
Here’s the logline for the series from HBO Max: “Peacemaker will explore the origins of the character that John Cena first portrayed in James Gunn’s 2021 film, The Suicide Squad – a compellingly vainglorious man who believes in peace at any cost, no matter how many people he has to kill to get it.”
Gunn, who wrote and directed The Suicide Squad, wrote all eight episodes of Peacemaker, and directed five, including the series premiere. Given The Suicide Squad underperformed in theaters, and over-performed on HBO Max (at least according to the data available), it’ll be interesting to see where the spinoff series falls on the hype scale. And remember, fans: don’t start fighting about it, or Peacemaker will come for you.
Peacemaker premieres Thursday, January 13 on HBO Max. Watch the trailer above.
