Despite some early skepticism about how a John Cena-led superhero series would fare in today’s competitive landscape, Peacemaker is currently the hot new TV show in town and continuing to draw in large numbers for HBO Max.
There are a number of things that James Gunn’s most recent project gets absolutely right, for which we could go on at length. When it comes down to it, though, I think the new series is garnering a positive reaction because it doesn’t hold back on anything. Peacemaker is a show that’s geared towards mature audiences and even they would blush at some of the things Gunn has come up with this time.
Speaking of mature themes, DC Comics has recently published a retrospective analysis of the first three episodes, which premiered on Jan. 13, and funnily enough, it includes the number of times our characters have dropped the f-bomb. According to the article, the starting trio of episodes incorporated 220 f-bombs “in the name of peace,” while John Cena’s titular character alone is responsible for 104 of those.
The rest of the characters are pretty far behind, with Harcourt dropping it 23 times and Economos and Vigilante following the track with 17 and 16, respectively. It’s also worth noting that the show burns through ten of these swear words before even the theme song starts playing at the beginning of episode one.
For Gunn, Peacemaker is about a man who wants to stay true to his name come hell or high water, so it goes without saying that profanity should be the least of people’s concerns when it comes to John Cena’s anti-hero.