James Gunn’s Peacemaker series takes inspiration from Watchmen

Fans of the DC Extended Universe haven’t had too many movies to celebrate this year, although the ones we got were fairly successful. We finally got to see Zack Snyder’s gritty, four-hour cut of Justice League. Then James Gunn brought some big laughs and even more brutality with The Suicide Squad. Next up in January, we get Gunn’s original series Peacemaker, which promises to include a little bit of everything.

Peacemaker continues the story of Christopher Smith (John Cena), a patriot who will do anything it takes to achieve world peace, even if he has to kill everyone on Earth to get it. In The Suicide Squad, he almost died pursuing his passion to “do the right thing,” before receiving some life-saving treatment. But now he’s back to full health and has teamed up with some new partners to fight for peace once again!

For this series, Gunn is drawing from sources as disparate as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel Watchmen and the HBO comedy Eastbound & Down. Along with works like The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen represented a tonal shift in comics, showing masked vigilantes in a much more grounded, realistic fashion. It was also unabashedly political.

But Peacemaker won’t be completely grim. I mean, The Suicide Squad was one of the funniest superhero movies of the year. “If superheroes really existed, what would they be?” he asked Empire Magazine. “You kind of have to be f***ing insane to be putting on a costume and going around beating the sh** out of people because you think they’re doing the wrong thing.”

"It gets more dramatic as the show goes on. It’s definitely a dramedy, with enormous action elements. Really intense, high-velocity action, much more so than your usual TV show. It’s its own thing. There’s a lot of outrageous elements. I found working with TV, I was able to push everything further. Generally, the movies I make are slaves to the plot to some degree. This TV show is a slave to character. That made it a fun experience for me."

Christopher Smith isn’t a total douche, however. One of the things that contributes to his warped view of reality is his troubled upbringing. “I do think that he has a lot good attributes, and he’s trying to do the right thing, but he’s kind of been brought up in really f***ed way,” Gunn said.

Gunn goes as far as saying that this series features the worst father he’s written since Guardians of the Galaxy. “And I wrote Ego, who killed Peter Quill’s mother with cancer.”

Is it really a superhero project without a bad dad?

James Gunn shows off our best look at Judomaster! 

In The Suicide Squad, James Gunn utilized a host of lesser-known DC characters: Weasel, Ratcatcher 2, Polka-Dot Man, etc. And Peacemaker will be no different. For instance, Gunn recently shared a new look at star Nhut Le looking very menacing as Judomaster. See for yourself:

Finally, if Peacemaker were to get renewed for an additional season, James Gunn wants no one but himself as director. “If we do a second season, I will direct all eight episodes,” he said.

You can catch Peacemaker when it airs on HBO Max on January 13, 2022!

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