Peacemaker's First Appearance Actually Justifies His Biggest Hypocrisy
In the 2021 film The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker claims he loves peace so much he’s willing to kill every man, woman and child to ensure it. This hypocritical attitude is played for laughs in the movie, but the character’s original comic book origins justify his sometimes extreme approach.
Peacemaker began life as a superhero for the now-defunct Charlton Comics, as a part of its Action Heroes line meant to capitalize on the success of Marvel Comics’ superhero success in the 1960s. Peacemaker was just one of many superhero characters introduced by Charlton at this time, in addition to Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and the Question. Later on, Charlton went out of business, and its superhero characters were acquired by DC Comics. Peacemaker has been a part of the DCU ever since, although largely on the periphery until very recently. Before being portrayed by John Cena in The Suicide Squad movie and his eponymous TV show, Peacemaker was perhaps best known to most comics fans as the inspiration for the Watchmen character Comedian.
Related: Peacemaker & Vigilante's Brutal First Fight Settled Who's Deadlier
Peacemaker’s first appearance was in 1966's Fightin’ Five #40. Written by Joe Gill and drawn by Pat Boyette, the story introduces readers to Christopher Smith, a character quite different from the Peacemaker of today. A diplomat described as “an envoy to the Geneva arms conference… a man dedicated to peace,” Smith arrives in an unnamed South American country being ravaged by a senseless war. There he discovers that it’s all the result of arms dealer and war profiteer Emil Bork making a fortune selling weapons to the locals. Seeing no diplomatic solution with such a man, Smith dons the garb of the Peacemaker, resorting to violence
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