Peacemaker: One Quote From Each Main Character That Perfectly Sums Up Their Personality
WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Peacemaker and references to racism and homophobia.
The HBO Max series Peacemaker has been a hit with fans all around the world. This success is largely due to the range of characters in the story, from Peacemaker himself to new fan-favorites, like Vigilante and Leota Adebayo.
With each episode containing dialogue that can be hilarious, brutally honest, and sometimes downright disturbing, each character's personality can be perfectly summed up by a single quote. Some of the quotes are said toward the end of the season and are a culmination of each character's development while others were said earlier in the season.
Keeya Adebayo is a compassionate and supportive partner (and one of Peacemaker's most likable characters). When Leota Adebayo explained that she didn't want to betray her team or her mother, Amanda Waller, Keeya made it clear that Leota didn't owe any of them.
Keeya wanted Leota to be safe and hated seeing her feel agonized about the decisions she's made and decisions she still needed to make. Even though she did not completely understand what Leota was going through, Keeya did her best to support her, and to remind Leota that she needs to make her own choices, not just the choices that others want her to make.
Auggie Smith is a bigot and a horrible father. He lives his life by prejudiced and toxic beliefs that make himself and everyone around him miserable. When he learns that his son was shot by Bloodsport during the events of The Suicide Squad, Auggie's cruel reaction tells the audience everything they need to know about his character's personality.
Instead of showing his son compassion or being glad to see him after years apart, Auggie can only focus on how his son failed to live up to the ideals of masculinity and white supremacism. Peacemaker would always be a disappointment to Auggie and Auggie will always hate and resent him.
Before being taken over by a butterfly, Sophie Song proved to be a perceptive and fearless police officer who was one of Peacemaker's most intelligent characters. She was committed to doing what was right and lawful.
While investigating whether Auggie Smith was actually guilty of murder, Sophie dealt with a lot of racism and bigotry. Sophie did not let this offensive behavior get to her, though. In fact, she had the wit and snarkiness needed to immediately retaliate in a way that gave her the last word and that put Auggie's insensitive remarks to shame.
The finale revealed why Judomaster was so loyal to the butterflies as he believed in their mission to save humanity from itself. All of his actions and fighting against other characters in Peacemaker connect back to supporting the butterflies' mission.
He didn't get a lot of dialogue in the show, but this line communicates his character's motivations (which are tied to a truth about the butterflies that both Peacemaker and the audience don't fully understand until the finale).
In many ways, Economos is the voice of the audience, calling out the absurdity of certain characters' behaviors and the bizarre situations they find themselves in. One such moment is when Vigilante wanted to murder the medical professionals who helped them because they saw his face and his allies' faces.
When Harcourt insisted that the medical professionals be tied up instead, Vigilante worried about using duct tape because it would hurt their skin. Vigilante's insistence on murdering these individuals but his concern about the use of duct tape is absurd and Economos articulated that (just as he articulated the absurdity of many other points in the story).
The butterfly-controlled Murn didn't tend to show a lot of emotion or empathy. Yet, the fact that he sacrificed his life and defied the other butterflies showed that he did have a lot of empathy and that he did care about humans. While he was often blunt, harsh, and critical of his human team members at times, this quote proved how much he valued and respected Harcourt, Adebayo, and the other members of the team.
They proved to him that humans are worth it and unlike the other butterflies, Murn didn't believe they were incapable of saving themselves from self-destruction. This was Murn's most outwardly emotional and empathetic moment, but it's also in character as he followed it up with the blunt command to finish the job they've started.
Emilia Harcourt knows that in this world, hesitation can be the difference between life and death, and an individual has to give everything they've got to make difficult choices and get the job done. This describes Harcourt's personality, how she approaches her job, and why she is good at it.
This quote not only captures her personality, but it is also how the other members of team ultimately earn her respect. She grows to respect Adebayo, Peacemaker, and everyone else on the team as they do not balk and they make the hard choices when it matters most, especially against powerful villains such as Peacemaker's butterflies.
Peacemaker and Vigilante have a lot in common, but this quote highlights what sets them apart. Both of them have internal battles that they are struggling with, but they respond to these struggles differently. Peacemaker is working hard to confront his trauma, his insecurities, and his problematic behavior (and is gradually learning to grow from it).
Vigilante, on the other hand, has no interest in this kind of introspection or growth. He knows he has a lot of issues, yet he is not willing to confront or grow from any of them, and will instead continue being his goofy, violent self with a complete lack of self-awareness.
When Vigilante and Harcourt were grievously wounded during the finale, Leota Adebayo rushed in to fight the butterflies. She gunned down almost all of the remaining butterflies, pulled a butterfly out of Harcourt's mouth before it could take over her body. She then worked with Peacemaker to kill the alien cow that was providing the butterflies' only food source.
Even though she felt out of place and out of her depth for most of the season, Adebayo realized that she actually belongs in this world and doing this job. She has the perceptiveness, the courage, loyalty, and out-of-the-box thinking needed to excel in this environment. She isn't just there because she is forced to or feels obligated; she truly belongs.
This quote captures the essence of Peacemaker´s character growth and how he is confronting some of his more problematic behavior. His problematic behavior is largely rooted in his insecurities and fears, much of which are connected to his toxic, tragic, and dangerous upbringing.
Recognizing which of his behaviors is a result of his insecurities and fears is a major step forward for him. This understanding can help him change his behavior or at least better understand why he makes certain choices. Such introspection helps Peacemaker become a significantly better version of himself by the end of the season.