John Cena is back on the ropes.

Peacemaker is a new series on HBO Max, set in the same DC Universe as The Suicide Squad (2021) and the story takes place a short while after the end of that movie. Director James Gunn returns along with John Cena reprising his role as the titular Peacemaker, also known as Chris Smith. The TV series has the same chaotic high energy and comedic tone as the film, but with a little more time dedicated to characterization given to Peacemaker, so there are some (slightly) more sad and serious scenes with him.      

As Peacemaker returns home after recovering surprisingly well from his injuries he sustained in The Suicide Squad, he is accosted by another government detail with another shady mission. A new team put together by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is handling the logistics of the missions Peacemaker executes. However, Peacemaker finds himself struggling against falling back into his former ways of killing with no mercy and can’t decide if this is the path he’s meant for. 

The team is managed by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) a former mercenary with a shady past, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) a tough agent whose worked for several high level government agencies that assists in the field alongside new recruit Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), who has a hard time adjusting to the crazy world of vigilante justice. She is secretly assisting her mother, Waller, as an inside agent on the team. Rounding out the team is John Economos (Steve Agee), who provides technical support.

Peacemaker also reconnects with his family and old friends, like his pet eagle named Eagly (Dee Bradley Baker), and his father Auggie Smith (Robert Patrick) whose very offensive remarks and disdain towards his son does not provide a warm welcome. His father also seems to have a villainous reputation in his past.

His former associate and self-proclaimed best friend Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) attempts to make contact. Vigilante wants to help, sometimes with a little too much enthusiasm. He follows Peacemaker around and interrupts his missions, while trying to help him understand his new view on life from the perspective of a fellow vigilante.      

The mission he’s on is to eliminate mysterious targets codenamed Butterflies, strange metahumans with powers that put even Peacemaker on the ropes. They have taken many different roles in order to hide, including high end positions like State Senators. However, his reckless and careless antics result in quite a number of problems in execution of these missions. Peacemaker is opposed by various forces such as the police whose investigation is helmed by Sophie Song (Annie Chang) and Larry Fitzgibbon (Lochlyn Munro), a bodyguard known as Judomaster (Nhut Lee) also stands in his way.

The series does have a high amount of vulgarity, gore and nudity so be prepared when diving in. With a great comedic style and pace, along with a chemistry between the actors that is executed well with John Cena in particular doing an excellent job. Peacemaker will air five more episodes on Thursdays starting with the three that premiered this week.