What better way to celebrate the start of 2022 than with some violence and a bald eagle? As the clock hit midnight for east coasters, James Gunn dropped a new trailer for Peacemaker, the spinoff of The Suicide Squad starring John Cena’s patriotic antihero. Rather than focusing on the titular character’s conflicted soul, this new trailer is all about that goofy violence and goofier sense of humor that Gunn’s movie gleefully indulged in.
Having managed to brand himself as a superhero after the events of the film, Peacemaker’s called into action to help “save” the world again. Instead of trading barbs with Idris Elba and hanging out with a shark man like last time, Peacemaker’s given a new crew to ping-pong off of who are maybe just as unhinged as Task Force X. The most interesting of the cast—well, other than the beloved Eagley, of course—is Freddie Stroma’s Vigilante. Somehow, he manages to make Peacemaker look considerably smarter. At one point in the trailer, he’s wielding a chainsaw, which seems like a bad idea. Those two together as sure to be an appealing double act of idiocy.
As with all humor, some of the trailer’s jokes work better than others. Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo putting an extra bullet in someone Peacemaker’s already ended is a good gag, as is his one-liner when he throws a rocket launcher at a horde of enemies. Others like Vigilante getting tortured aren’t terribly funny in the moment, but perhaps they play better in the show proper rather than as isolated bits. But even if the jokes will be hit or miss, the cast looks like it’ll have enough chemistry to make that not matter so much: Cena and Brooks play off each other real well, and Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt seems like she’ll be fun as someone who is clearly too good for the group of idiots she’s saddled with. And if nothing else, it’s a show where John Cena happily jumps into the air as an eagle flies overhead. Didn’t know I needed that until I saw it.
Peacemaker will hit HBO Max on January 13.
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