Peacemaker Season 2 Risks Making Vigilante A Better Character Than Cena
Peacemaker season 1 was a record-breaking success for James Gunn, the DCEU, and HBO Max. Season 2 has big shoes to fill, and one big problem to face.
Warning: Contains spoilers for Peacemaker season 1.
After the success of Peacemaker season 1, season 2 has some big shoes to fill but its biggest challenge might be making sure that Vigilante doesn’t upstage John Cena’s Peacemaker. Freddie Stroma wasn’t the actor originally cast to play Adrian Chase, but the character was recast despite 5 episodes already being filmed. This risky decision was vindicated however as Vigilante quickly became a fan favorite in Peacemaker.
Peacemaker season 1 focuses on Chris Smith working through the realization that he might not be the person that he thought he was, an epiphany brought about by Rick Flag’s dying words followed by months in the hospital to mull it over. In the one season Peacemaker comes a long way as he comes to terms with the fact that his idea of heroism is fundamentally flawed, manages to stop pushing others away and develops real connections, and pushes back against his father’s ideologies. By the end, Peacemaker is a new man, having killed his white supremacist father and become BFFs (after Eagly) with Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).
All of this presents a problem for Peacemaker season 2 as the majority of what was able to make season 1 so compelling was the nuanced depiction of outwardly loud and obnoxious Peacemaker. With Chris Smith in a healthier place, the story left to tell feels like it will be toned down and less outrageous than the character that James Gunn began with and will leave Peacemaker season 2 to be a more contemplative narrative about how Peacemaker now chooses to be a hero. On the other hand, Vigilante manages to go through the entirety of Peacemaker season 1 without learning a single lesson or becoming a better person in the slightest. While there is a sadness underlying Vigilante’s character, he is driven by the hedonism and violence that was previously associated with Peacemaker and makes him feel like he would fit better in a Suicide Squad movie in comparison at this point. Trying to tell Peacemaker’s season 2 story with Vigilante staying as he is severely risks Peacemaker being upstaged by his sidekick.
One possible solution to this issue might seem to be to attempt to recreate some of Peacemaker season 1’s narrative tricks with Vigilante as the focus to be able to explore the more nuanced aspects of Adrian Chase. However, this would have two major flaws. Redoing the same structure with Vigilante might ultimately make Peacemaker season 2 feel unoriginal and repetitive, having lost the spark of season 1. Additionally, this would still create the issue of moving the focus of Peacemaker to Vigilante rather than Peacemaker, which would defeat the purpose of the name of the TV series.
The saving grace for Peacemaker season 2 might come in two strange scenes from the Peacemaker season 1 finale that can set up a compelling narrative for Chris Smith’s future. Despite having killed his father, White Dragon (Robert Patrick), in episode 7, Peacemaker sees him in the woods in the finale and talks to him before trying to kill the vision with a blowgun, and his father returns once again in the final moments of the season. In the comics, Peacemaker is haunted by the ghost of his father, Wolfgang Schmidt, who pushes him to kill. The presence of Peacemaker’s father in vision form suggests that Peacemaker season 2 can explore the ramifications of Peacemaker struggling to find his new identity while dealing with a devil on his shoulder representing the years of trauma he suffered at the hands of his father. This would have the dual bonus of saving Peacemaker from having Vigilante be the most interesting character and also making it clear that trauma isn’t something that is fixed overnight.