James Gunn is putting the finishing touches on his new favorite character, Peacemaker in the DCEU.
Gunn not only signed John Cena to play Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad, which is set to hit theaters later this year, but he also kept the hero around for his own streaming series for HBO Max.
James Gunn on John Cena as Peacemaker
James Gunn took part in a Q&A series on Instagram Stories. During this, he talked a lot about John Cena and why he brought him on for this role in the DCEU.
When it comes to Cena, Gunn said that the former 16-time WWE world champion was both “hilarious” and a “great guy to have as a partner.”
He also revealed when he decided he wanted to work with Cena in a movie.
“I loved him in Trainwreck and have been looking for the right role for him for a while,” Gunn said.
Cena had a small, but hilarious, role in Trainwreck where he played completely against his clean-cut good guy type that WWE promoted for well over a decade.
This also isn’t the first time that Gunn worked with a professional wrestler, as he cast Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy.
While he didn’t work with him on The Suicide Squad, Dwayne Johnson is also one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and is part of the DCEU as Black Adam in his own upcoming movie.
Gunn chose to continue working with John Cena and created an HBO Max series for Peacemaker before returning to the MCU for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Gunn said he will direct at least three of the episode of the Peacemaker streaming series, including the “first three chapters.”
Who is Peacemaker?
Casting John Cena as Peacemaker continues to play the former WWE star against his type.
Peacemaker is, as Cena told Jimmy Fallon recently, a “douchey Captain America.” He also said he is the opposite of Batman, who is wealthy, while Peacemaker lives in a single-wide trailor.
In DC Comics, Peacemaker is an “agent of peace” and he practices an “extremist form of pacifism, which makes him love peace so much he would kill for it.”
In The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker will take over as the team leader, and that might not bode well for Rick Flagg, who was the leader in the first movie and is returning for this one as well.
The Suicide Squad hits theaters on August 6, 2021.