Take A Deep Dive Into John Cena's Peacemaker In This New Featurette

James Gunn loves to write an "odd man out" story, so much so that his films tend to feature teams full of outsiders who must work together for the greater good. The most recent example is Gunn's move to the DCEU with "The Suicide Squad." The film features all sorts of complicated characters, including amoral father figure Bloodsport (Idris Elba) and Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), an antihero with mommy issues. However, for all the efforts to humanize these oddballs, there is one team member who slots almost entirely into the irredeemable villain role — and, no, we don't mean Starro.

While everyone else thinks their mission is to save the day from the intergalactic creature, Peacemaker (John Cena) is really a double-agent on a mission to cover up America's involvement in actual crimes. By the end of "The Suicide Squad," he has gone full bad guy, killing his own teammates and nearly getting killed himself in the process.

Soon, a new Peacemaker television spinoff, which includes Cena reprising the character, will premiere on HBO Max. Ahead of the show's premiere and in the days leading up to the October 16 DC FanDome event, DC Comics released a new featurette all about the jerk version of Captain America with a chrome toilet seat for a helmet. The featurette includes interviews with Gunn and Cena, and it gives us some new insights into what makes Peacemaker tick and why he is getting his own TV series.

The new featurette, titled "Peacemaker Takes Us Behind the Scenes of Suicide Squad," was released on the DC YouTube channel over the weekend. Clocking in at nearly four minutes, the video includes interviews with "Peacemaker" star John Cena and "The Suicide Squad" director James Gunn, both of whom are there to discuss the character.

"To me, Peacemaker, he's the saddest character in the whole thing," says Gunn about the character's role in "The Suicide Squad," adding, "He has the most difficulty connecting to another human being because he doesn't feel like he belongs." 

Cena also opened up about finding the character of Peacemaker and figuring out who he is as a person. "We talked a lot about backstory. [Gunn] was like, 'Hey man, be like a douchey Captain America who would shoot a kid.' Okay, I got it," he reveals.

But other than being the kind of guy who would "shoot a kid," what does it mean to be Peacemaker? According to Gunn, "Like a lot of dudebros, he didn't have a great father, didn't have any mother. It's toxic masculinity at its most toxic."

"He just wants to be seen, and there's a lot of psychological subtext there as well," Cena continues. "He's very socially awkward. Something as simple as the uniform hits on the head that this guy has validation problems. [...] This man genuinely thinks he's a hero and wants his Peacemaker logo on everything."

We'll find out more about "The Suicide Squad" character at DC FanDome on October 16 and later, when the "Peacemaker" TV series debuts on HBO Max in early 2022.