John Cena Explains Real-Life Military Inspirations for Peacemaker in TSS
For his first appearance as Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad, John Cena used real-life military ifigures as inspirations for his anti-hero. The soft sequel/reboot of the DCEU's 2016 Suicide Squad saw James Gunn introduce a brand new version of Amanda Waller's Task Force X, which, alongside the returning Harley Quinn, included predominantly new and obscure characters like Sylvester Idris Elba's Bloodsport, and Cena's Peacemaker. Gunn's R-rated take on the eponymous team earned acclaim from both audiences and critics and became DC's most successful film on HBO Max to date, according to the director. The film not only introduced Cena's Peacemaker to audiences, but set the wheels in motion for the first DCEU TV show, Peacemaker, as the series picks up following the events of the film.
Peacemaker's TSS appearance marked the first-ever live-action portrayal of the character, and it showed his twisted philosophy of achieving peace by not caring «how many men, women, and children» he needs to kill to get it. It was Peacemaker's steadfast ideals and the fact he was one of the few characters that did not change for the better that encouraged Gunn to create the Peacemaker show, which dives deeper into Christopher Smith's past and sees a greater evolution for the vigilante. In an interview promoting Peacemaker, Cena revealed that his research to play the character in TSS did not involve reading the comics, as Gunn advised against doing so. However, Cena did say that to help create the «douchey Captain America» persona, he used real-life military inspirations.
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Speaking with GQ, Cena shared that he saw Peacemaker's comical, unsubtle outfit and drew inspiration from
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