James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad universe is expanding into TV. HBO Max has ordered a TV spin-off of James Gunn’s upcoming Suicide Squad movie starring John Cena.
The series will be called Peacemaker, named after Cena’s character in the film, and the streamer has handed the show an eight-episode order. Also of interest is that Gunn is writing all of the episodes and will be directing a number of them. The purpose of the show is to explore the origins of the character that Cena plays in the 2021 movie.
The Peacemaker character was created by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette and first appeared in the Fightin’ 5 series originally owned by Charlton Comics. He is a man who believes in peace at any cost — no matter how many people he has to kill to get it. The first incarnation of Peacemaker is Christopher Smith, a pacifist diplomat, and son of a Nazi death camp commandant who founded the Pax Institute who fights dictators and warlords.
This is the latest major DC Comics original on HBO Max and comes after the service revealed it was making a spin-off of Matt Reeves’ upcoming Batman film. HBO Max’s library of DC originals also grew when it was announced that the DC Universe streaming service would be comic book-centric only & that shows like Titans, Doom Patrol & Harley Quinn would now be HBO Max originals.
