Peacemaker Does James Gunn’s Best Trick Better Than Guardians Of The Galaxy
James Gunn might be known for killer soundtracks and obscure comic book characters, but both GOTG and Peacemaker show off a more impressive talent.
Warning: Contains spoilers for Peacemaker episode 7.
The Peacemaker TV series has allowed James Gunn the room to improve on his best trick from the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies. James Gunn has become well known for bringing obscure comic characters to the screen and for his amazing soundtracks. Peacemaker has fulfilled both of these elements, but it has also demonstrated another key skill that James Gunn has.
The Peacemaker TV series sees Chris Smith (John Cena) released from hospital so that he can battle the Butterflies. After sleeping with one and then killing her, he struggles to flee her apartment, but not before stopping to grab some things he deems cool. Throughout the series, the ARGUS team have continually had stupid arguments about things as silly as the correct name of The Berenstain Bears. This serves as a backdrop for Peacemaker’s emotional journey as he works through his family issues, battles against an international alien invasion, and pushes back against white supremacy.
While the Peacemaker TV series includes some truly dumb scenes and jokes, it still manages to provide painful, nuanced, and emotional scenes. This combination was a trademark of the Guardians Of The Galaxy films. The movies included scenes where Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) saved a planet by challenging the villain to a dance-off and a scene where a small living tree danced around to ELO’s Mr. Blue Sky while a battle raged behind him. But the films also saw Quill dealing with the death of his mother and working out his father issues between killing Ego (Kurt Russell) and the death of Yondu (Michael Rooker). In Peacemaker, James Gunn has taken these vibes and gave them more room to breathe within the TV series format.
Peacemaker can often feel like a lot to take in visually and comedically, and its dramatic opening credits help to demonstrate that comedy might be the primary element to expect from the TV series. However, the DCEU TV show manages to achieve a surprising amount of dramatic nuance as Peacemaker explores his guilt over the death of Rick Flag and crucially connects those emotions with those related to the death of his brother, Keith, when they were young. While both deaths have formed who Peacemaker is was and who he is becoming, subtle details further connect the deaths as Peacemaker blames both himself and a third party for his killing of them: Amanda Waller with Rick Flag and his father with Keith.
All of this spread out across the TV series medium helps Peacemaker to tackle bigger issues than the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies while still having enough lighter comedic and musical breaks to avoid becoming too heavy or depressing. Peacemaker doesn’t feel the need to shy away from bigger questions. The storylines behind Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), and Peacemaker himself all center around not being defined by where you come from. Meanwhile, one of the main villain arcs for the Peacemaker TV series is tied to pushing back against the prevalence of white supremacist ideals in the United States, and it is a testament to James Gunn’s skills that this portrayal can still be heralded as fun.
Peacemaker releases new episodes Thursdays on HBO.