The Suicide Squad got Peacemaker out of jail, but it didn’t free him from his father and his past. After barely escaping Corto Maltese with his life, he’s now consumed by self-doubt. There might actually be limits to what he will—and should—do in the name of peace. That much is true in the new trailer for his spinoff HBO Max series. But there’s more to John Cena’s antihero than bullets and shiny helmets. He’s fierce and fearless. He’s funny and daring. And he’s also really sad.
HBO Max’s upcoming Peacemaker series will explore the story behind The Suicide Squad‘s biggest contradiction. As Warner Bros. describes him, the “compellingly vainglorious man” believes in peace “at any cost, no matter how many people he has to kill to get it.” Only, this new trailer shows that’s no longer true. He decidedly refuses to kill women and children when ordered to. Even though he’s part of a new team once again trying to save the world. Peacemaker is grappling with the man his father raised him to be and the person he is becoming.
No surprise this trailer matches the tone of James Gunn’s movie that introduced the character to the DCEU. Gunn also wrote and directed the eight episode series. Peacemaker also stars Danielle Brooks as Adebayo, Freddie Stroma as Vigilante, Jennifer Holland as Harcourt, Steve Agee as Economos, Chukwudi Iwuji as Murn, and Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith.
After this trailer Vigilante is already one of our favorite live-action superheroes. The world needs more impossibly stupid dorks trying to save it. We just hope we can tell Vigilante apart from Eagley.
Peacemaker comes to HBO Max early next year, January 13. We have high expectations for it. We expect a whole lot of laughs. A whole lot of explosions. And a whole lot of sad John Cena.
