10/01/2025
James Gunn's Peacemaker - Deconstructing the white savior complex? [ Essay]
In season two of the HBO Max/DC Comics series "Peacemaker" we see Chris Smith aka Peacemaker who is portrayed by John Cena wind up in an alternate/parallel universe where he has everything he ever wanted. He's the worlds greatest superhero, he has a great relationship with his father and brother who are also both highly respected superheroes...and he has the undying love of Emilia Harcourt.
But there's a twist...they all exist in a world where people of color are held captive and where Nazi's rule the world.
On the surface Peacemaker is just another silly James Gunn superhero project...but the truth is...James Gunn has been making some of the most socially conscious superhero films of the past 15 years. Whether it be his Guardians of the Galaxy movies which deal with things like animal rights and problematic father figures or his recent Superman film that deals with the complexities of border jurisdiction and super heroics.
The most recurring and interesting throughline of James Gunn's approach to superheroes is that they exist as anti-authoritarian social outcast. And the most evident and relevant example of this is in the series Peacemaker.
Created by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette, Peacemaker was originally a character under the publisher Charlton Comics. DC Comics would purchase most of the Charlton Characters in 1983 for less than 6,000 dollars to be used in what would become the groundbreaking graphics novel known as Watchmen.
Peacemaker was originally intended to be in the comics graphic novel Watchmen but DC urged writer Alan Moore to created new characters and Peacemaker would act as the inspiration for Eddie Blake aka The Comedian.
Watchmen would be created to pathologize superheroes as sociopathic, self centered vigilantes who are more concerned with their own personal agendas as opposed to being altruistic beacons of justice. Watchmen would have a profound affect on superheroes as it would be one of the first major instances of coding superheroes as authoritarian ego maniacs...or fascists.
James Gunn's Peacemaker would exist to subvert that notion. The comics version of Peacemaker would be very much a reflection of the post Vietnam gun totting, hyper masculine anti heroes popularized by characters like The Punisher and Wolverine, especially in the 80s which, prior to James Gunn and John Cena's interpretation of the character would be the characters most popular era.
HBO Max's Peacemaker is a sardonically comical, unexpectedly topical and subversive take on not just Peacemaker, but superheroes in general. Instead of just being a jingoistic gun totting vigilante, Peacemaker is an traumatized, sexually fluid, emotionally vulnerable wanna be superhero.
While season 1 was a great piece of American television, I actually think that season 2 has some of the most engaging and potent thematic meta text and subtext of the entire series.
Season 2 deals with A LOT, but the most interesting thing is...Nazi's.
While it might be seem hard to believe, Nazi's have been a part of superhero comics for decades. Because superheroes are essentially a Jewish American creation, it makes perfect sense that some of the most prominent villains in comics have been Nazi's.
Characters like Red Skull, Baron Von Strucker, Baron Zemo, and hell even Adolf Hi**er have all appeared as villains in American superhero comics.
The thematic structural integrity of superheroes is built on these characters existing as symbols of anti fascism...and HBO Max's Peacemaker is doing a great job of commenting on those themes.
Season two of the series in all of it's comedic glory is essentially a story about how childhood trauma informs how you engage with love and with society.
The trauma that Chris Smith experiences from his childhood has caused him to exist as a mediocre man child with delusions of his own sense of heroism, but once he discovers an alternate universe he decides that he should live there as that Earth's version of Peacemaker. But Chris never questions the moral standards of his decision or the moral standards of the alternate universe.
This is very important because this plot thread is commentary on several things...
1. It's commentary on how personal interest can distract a person from looking at the bigger picture of how their actions can have grand sweeping affects on other people.
2. It's also commentary on whether or not super heroism is an act of altruism or an act of self interest.
3. Its also commentary on the white savior complex.
Peacemaker's decision to be the greatest hero on Earth 2 is not fueled by a deep seated desire to improve the world...its fueled by deep seated narcissism. Its no coincidence that on Earth 2 where Peacemaker is considered one of its greatest heroes, we never see him save anyone.
The white savior complex is ever present this season, especially given the fact that most of it takes place on an Earth run by Nazi's.
As I've mentioned before superheroes are constructed as white male power fantasies, which means they exist along an intersection of racial obliviousness, social colonialism and racial erasure of various non white individuals.
Peacemaker does an interesting thing in its revelation that Earth 2 is a world run by Nazi's. They use two characters to expose the truth of this corrupt universe. They use Emelia Harcourt, a white woman to verbalize the presence of Earth 2's racism to an oblivious Peacemaker and they use Adebayo a black woman to display its tyranny by being a victim of racism [ she was chased by a gang of angry white people ]
I'm interested to see how the series resolves season two, mainly because I'm interested to see how Peacemaker himself views and addresses the discovery that he is happy in a world run by Nazi's.
This adds interesting layers to the nature v nurture component of his existence. Peacemaker version 1 was raised by a racist and while Peacemaker isn't shown to be overtly racist, does he have those beliefs subconsciously? And if he does, how does he resolve it?
![James Gunn's Peacemaker - Deconstructing the white savior complex? [ Essay] In season two of the HBO Max/DC Comics serie...](https://img5.medioq.com/731/702/1313562547317022.jpg)
