Peacemaker (DC Extended Universe)

:NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Peacemaker from the DC Extended Universe. The mainstream version can be found here: Peacemaker (DC).
Christopher "Chris" Smith, also known as the Peacemaker, is the secondary antagonist of the 2021 film and the titular main protagonist of the 2022 streaming spin-off series .
Trained since childhood by his father Auggie Smith to be a ruthless killer, Chris Smith was a brutal vigilante known as the "Peacemaker" obsessed with maintaining peace at any cost. His murderous pursuit of his goals eventually led to his arrest and incarceration in Belle Reve Penitentiary, where he remained until he was inducted into the covert government special operations unit Task Force X, informally known as the "Suicide Squad".
The Suicide Squad was tasked with destroying a military project called Project Starfish being conducted in the island nation of Corto Maltese. Unbeknownst to his teammates, Peacemaker was given a secret objective to erase any evidence that would expose the U.S. government's secret involvement in Project Starfish. When the members of Task Force X learned the truth, Peacemaker was left for dead after he attempted to stop them from exposing the government. He was found and placed in the hospital to recover from his injuries, as Waller intended to have him help them deal with Project Butterfly. During his mission with the 11th Street Kids, Peacemaker realized that his ideology was twisted, and managed to stop both his father and the Butterflies from invading the Earth.
He is portrayed by (who has also played Jakob Toretto in & Fast X, Agent Burns in Bumblebee, John Triton in The Marine, Danny Fisher in 12 Rounds, and also voiced Ferdinand the Bull in , Yoshi in , his WWE character in , and Rocksteady in , and by Quinn Bennett young. 
==Biography==
===Early Life===
Christopher "Chris" Smith was born in 1982 to White Dragon, who was a white supremacist and supervillain known as the "White Dragon". Upon his birth, Christopher was trained to become a killer like his father, whom would have him kill a man when he was just a child. This incident and his father's racial views disturbed Chris, but he found solace with Keith, whom he shared a love for music with. During their childhood in Evergreen, Chris and Keith were ordered by their father to fight each other, which resulted in Chris killing his brother on accident. The incident deeply traumatized Smith, but also resulted in Auggie hating him even more since he favored Keith over him.
At some point, Smith befriended Gut Chase and met his younger brother Adrian.
===Misguided Pacifism===
At some point in his adulthood, Smith decided to become a vigilante known as "Peacemaker" with the philosophy of achieving peace no matter the cost. Chris also adopted an eagle whom he named Eagly, and started to draw dove symbols on his weapon to better represent himself as the embodiment of peace. Despite his strained relationship with his father, Auggie would grant his son gear and equipment for his crusade. Early in his career, Peacemaker stopped the criminal known as Kite-Man from stealing a blackheart ruby, which was covered in the newspapers. According to Smith, he partnered with Matter-Eater Lad, but laments that he was a lunatic after witnessing him devour an entire Wendy's restaurant. Additionally, Peacemaker has a rather disdain for the well known superheroes, but developed a dislike of them due to reading negative things about them online (e.g. Aquaman sleeping with fish or Superman having a pooping fetish). In 2017, Smith was arrested by A.R.G.U.S. and imprisoned in Belle Reve, a federal penitentiary in Louisiana that held powerful criminal and supervillains.
===The Suicide Squad===
Four years into his imprisonment, Smith is recruited into joining the Suicide Squad by Amanda Waller, with him being part of the second task force team led by the assassin Bloodsport. The teams were tasked with landing on Corto Maltese to find the laboratory holding Project Starfish, and to destroy all evidence of it. Unbeknownst to his teammates, Smith was secretly tasked by Waller to destroy any evidence of America's involvement in Project Starfish to prevent an international incident. The second team landed on the second beach as the first squad were mostly eliminated by the armed forces, as Blackguard betrayed the group to gain his freedom. When Waller's subordinates discovered Rick Flag's location, Peacemaker and the squad were ordered to divert their objective to rescue Flag, as they believed he was captured by the Corto Maltese government.
Peacemaker and Bloodsport cleared the camp and discovered that Flag was actually not captured by the government, but was working with the Corto Maltese resistance leader Sol Soria. The team then assisted her so they could find and capture Gaius Grieves, who was working on Project Starfish. After capturing the scientist, Flag decided to divert their mission to rescue Harley Quinn, who had also survived the beach massacre and was being held by the Corto Maltese government. Peacemaker was against the idea, but agreed to work with his allies before they discovered that Quinn had escaped on her own. The group then traveled with Grieves to infiltrate Jotunheim, where they split into two groups - Flag, Peacemaker and Ratcatcher forcing the scientist to show them the project as Bloodsport, Quinn and Polka-Dot Man planted the rest of the explosives. Coming across the creature known as "Starro the Conqueror", Grieves explained to Flag and Ratcatcher that they were sent to destroy America's involvement in the project.
When Flag decided to take the evidence and expose it, Peacemaker stopped him pointing his gun at him, exposing his secret objective given to him by Waller. Before he could stop Flag, the explosives destroyed the facility, which allowed Starro to kill Grieves and escape from its imprisonment. During this, Peacemaker battled Flag over the disc, which resulted in the vigilante in stabbing Flag in the heart, and Rick calling him a joke before dying. When he saw that Ratcatcher had collected the disc, Peacemaker attempted to kill her before Bloodsport drops from the ceiling. The two shoot at each other, but Peacemaker is wounded from Bloodsport's bullets, and is left for dead as the falling debris fall on him. Bloodsport and remaining members of the squad would stop Starro from taking over Corto Maltese, and the assassin also blackmailed Waller for their freedom. Despite being left for dead, Peacemaker survived and was hospitalized at Mount Rouge Health Center, as Waller intended to have him go another dangerous mission.
===Peacemaker===
====A New Mission====
Five months after his mission with Task Force X in Corto Maltese, Smith has recovered from the injuries he suffered there and is discharged from hospital. Upon returning to his trailer home, Smith is confronted by a group of A.R.G.U.S. agents: Clemson Murn, Emilia Harcourt, John Economos, and newcomer Leota Adebayo. Murn gives him the choice of returning to Belle Reve prison or joining a new mission dubbed "Project Butterfly"; Smith reluctantly accepts the latter. Smith visits his father, Auggie, to retrieve his pet eagle Eagly and acquire a new outfit. He then has dinner with the team and Murn gives him a dossier of an assassination target. Smith later attempts to flirt with Harcourt in a bar, but is rejected and instead goes home with a different woman at the bar, Annie Sturphausen. Adebayo privately discusses her role in Project Butterfly with her mother, A.R.G.U.S. leader Amanda Waller. Sturphausen attacks Smith and reveals that she has superhuman strength. During the following fight, Smith activates a sonic boom weapon in his helmet that destroys her.
Smith contacts Harcourt and explains his situation as Evergreen's police force arrives to investigate the sonic boom. While collecting his things, Smith comes across a mysterious device in Sturphausen's apartment. Smith briefly takes a couple hostage and is able to escape from their apartment's balcony, getting away with Eagly, Harcourt, and Adebayo. Police detectives Sophie Song and Larry Fitzgibbon investigate Sturphausen's death. They arrest Auggie after Economos switches Smith's fingerprints for his in the police system, and Adebayo bribes the couple into identifying Auggie as the man who took them hostage. In prison, Auggie is hailed by a group of white inmates as the "White Dragon". Smith realizes that Sturphausen only tried to attack him after reading the dossier he had on his assassination target and tells the team. Feeling shunned by them, Smith returns to his trailer and is greeted by his one-time crimefighting partner Vigilante who attempts to cheer Smith up by inviting him to a target practice. They later learn that the device from Sturphausen's apartment is a miniature spaceship.
Murn briefs Smith on their first mission: to assassinate United States Senator Royland Goff, who is a suspected "Butterfly", as well as his wife and young children if they are proven to be Butterflies as well. Smith shows hesitance about killing children despite previously saying that he was willing to do so for "peace". Smith and Harcourt stakeout the Goff's house and are soon joined by Vigilante, who secretly followed the team. When the Goff family are seen displaying alien-like behavior, Murn orders Smith to assassinate them all but Smith is unable to do so. Vigilante takes over and successfully kills the wife and children, but he and Peacemaker were attacked and captured by Judomaster, Goff's bodyguard, before they could take out Goff himself. Goff tortured Vigilante, whose secret identity is revealed to be Adrian Chase, to make Peacemaker talk, but Peacemaker escaped and killed Goff before he revealed anything. They are interrupted by Murn, Harcourt, and Adebayo which gives Smith the opportunity to free himself and Vigilante. Meanwhile, Economos incapacitates Judomaster. Smith and Vigilante witness a Butterfly emerge from Goff's corpse, and an A.R.G.U.S. computer shows that these Butterflies are suspected to be all over the world.
After capturing Judomaster and returning to their headquarters, Smith and Chase report to Murn that they have destroyed the Butterfly creature. Chase drives Smith to Auggie's house to retrieve new equipment, where Smith learns that Auggie has been framed and arrested. Against Murn's wishes and despite Adebayo trying to talk him down, Smith visits Auggie in prison; Auggie threatens to expose Project Butterfly to the police. Adebayo suggests to Chase that Smith would be better off without his father, and Chase gets himself arrested so he can kill Auggie. Smith and Adebayo return to their headquarters where an escaped Judomaster attacks Smith. Adebayo shoots Judomaster before he can reveal a secret about the Butterflies. Smith returns to his trailer, where he is keeping the Butterfly creature alive in a jar, and reflects on having to kill Rick Flag as well as his traumatic childhood that included the death of his brother. In prison, Chase provokes Auggie's prison mates into fighting but fails to get Auggie involved. He is later bailed out by Harcourt. Adebayo finds a lead on the Butterflies and informs Murn, who is secretly a Butterfly himself.
At Auggie's urging, Song and Fitzgibbon realize that Smith killed Sturphausen after double checking Auggie's fingerprints and re-interrogating the couple that Smith held hostage. The team is briefed about how the Butterflies enter human hosts and only feed on an unknown amber fluid. Adebayo's clue leads them to a nearby bottling factory where the liquid is processed and bottled, while Murn enlists an associate, Caspar Locke, to pose as the new police captain and undermine Song's investigation. Song resorts to requesting help from her uncle, a judge. Peacemaker uses a helmet with X-ray vision to learn that all of the factory employees are Butterflies, as well as an escaped gorilla named Charlie. They kill the employees, and Economos earns Peacemaker's respect by killing Charlie with a chainsaw. The team bond on their way back from the factory, and Peacemaker invites Adebayo to drink at his home where she advises him to be nicer to others. She also secretly plants a diary in his home as ordered by Waller. Returning to the office, Adebayo discovers with Peacemaker's X-ray helmet that Murn is a Butterfly, and he attacks her.
Murn reveals to Adebayo that the Butterflies came from a dying planet and their queen Eek Stack Ik Ik lead the others in a plan to dominate Earth, with Murn being the sole dissenter. To Locke's dismay, Song releases Auggie from prison and acquires an arrest warrant for Smith. At Smith's trailer, the Butterfly Queen attempts to communicate with Smith and Chase, but the Evergreen police force arrives to arrest Smith. Chase accidentally breaks the Butterfly's jar, allowing it to take over Song. Smith, Chase, and Eagly escape with Locke's help, while the latter acquires the fake diary. Economos traces the Butterflies' activities to Coverdale Ranch, where they believe the Butterflies are using a "cow" to mass-produce the amber fluid. Adebayo feels guilty about hiding secrets from Smith and her mother. Eek Stack Ik Ik-Song summons a Butterfly army and takes over the Evergreen police force, prisoners, and Locke. Auggie prepares his followers and puts on the White Dragon armor, intending to kill his son. Butterfly-Locke uses the fake diary to publicly incriminate Smith and issue an arrest warrant.
==Personality==
Following his release from the hospital, Smith began to reflect on his actions; he notably regrets killing Flag and putting on the façade of a rude, arrogant, misogynistic person in order to push people away to protect his own feelings and reduce the risk, and begins to question the morality of his father's teachings. He is also heavily driven by his desire to gain his father's approval, despite being well aware and even being blatantly told on occasion that his father does not care about him and sees him as pathetic and weak. He even admitted that John Economos could be a potential friend, if he did not constantly tease him. Despite his claims that he is willing to kill children in the name of peace, he was unable to bring himself to kill Senator Goff's children, though he claimed to Murn that he was unable to kill them due to not having been given the reason to kill them. He also was shown to be uncomfortable and horrified when Vigilante killed them with the sniper rifle. Peacemaker later admitted to Harcourt that he doesn’t think he wants to kill people anymore, showing that he has grown from his previous ideology, though he did admit he still had no issue killing aliens.
==Abilities==
*Master Marksman: Peacemaker is a world-class marksman, like Bloodsport. He has trained his whole life to bring peace to the world, and he knows how to use and properly aim his guns as well as accurately fire his blowgun from a distance. In Corto Maltese, Smith was also able to shoot all three people using a blowgun from a far distance and he also used his pistol to shoot a man behind him over his shoulder without even looking at him. In a convoy, he used a shotgun to shoot the driver in the back of the head through the barrier, also without looking at him. During his final confrontation with Bloodsport, their bullets collided when they fired at each other. He later demonstrated to Vigilante that he could dual-wield revolvers, shoot at targets while bending over and looking between his legs, as well as create a peace symbol in a target with a rifle. Peacemaker is also a skilled archer and can use a recurve bow. He used a shotgun to accurately shoot Royland Goff in the face, and another shotgun to consistently shoot numerous Butterflies in the head with aid from his x-ray vision helmet. He even shot one through a door and shot another door open.
*Expert Combatant: Due to his rigorous training from birth by his father, Auggie Smith, his experience as a violent vigilante, combined with his powerful physique and stamina, Peacemaker is a phenomenally well-seasoned hand-to-hand combatant. His skill is great enough that he was even able to brutally fight the highly trained military Colonel, Rick Flag, only winning due to stabbing Flag in the heart with a bathroom tile in desperation for his life. Smith can also fight against Judomaster but was later overpowered due to his superior fighting technique. Smith later then rematch with Judomaster in the second time and later started to use more of his strength and fight him more effectively than before. Peacemaker is skilled at using knives. He almost managed to stab Judomaster with his knife. He can also improvise his darts as stabbing weapons.
**Axe mastery: Peacemaker accurately threw his tomahawk into the head of a member of the Maltese Resistance. He also used his tomahawk to quietly slit another man's throat and chop into another man who was lying down
**Sword mastery: Peacemaker used his sword to cut off a man's arm before he could shoot him, and then slit his throat. He also used his sword to brutally, but efficiently kill five Corto Maltesean soldiers who were guarding Jotunheim.
**Knife expertise: Peacemaker is skilled at using knives. He almost managed to stab Judomaster with his knife. He can also improvise his darts as stabbing weapons.
**Shield mastery: Peacemaker is highly skilled at using a shield in combat. He effectively fought numerous butterflies with it and blocked many gunshots coming towards him. He even combined with his pistol and shield while fighting butterflies.
*Expert assassin: According to Waller, anything is a deadly weapon in Peacemaker's hands because his father trained him how to kill from the moment he was born. Similarly, Clemson Murn stated that he is a born killer (with which Vigilante agreed) with expertise in every weapon known to humankind and experience in black ops around the globe. As such, Peacemaker is a highly capable assassin, as he and Bloodsport efficiently wiped out the Maltese Resistance and later swiftly cut down men guarding Jotunheim. He also killed Rick Flag by improvising a jagged bathroom tile as a piercing weapon.
*Peak Human Conditioning: Peacemaker has achieved peak physical condition in his mission for global peace. He is incredibly strong and tough, being one of the most fit human heroes like Batman, as well as sufficiently fast and agile. He claims to put a lot of time into his small muscle groups.
*Skilled Tactician: While he comes off as a brutish soldier, Peacemaker is not entirely unintelligent when it comes to strategy. He knows how to effectively use his resources; he brought his x-ray vision helmet on a mission after learning that Butterflies infest a person's brain so he could identify them. He also correctly deduced that Leota Adebayo planted the diary in his trailer and that his father was tracking him by his helmets, so he attached his helmet to a raccoon to mislead him and his group.
*Weapon Proficiency: Peacemaker accurately threw his tomahawk into the head of a member of the Maltese Resistance. He also used his tomahawk to quietly slit another man's throat and chop into another man who was lying down. Peacemaker used his sword to cut off a man's arm before he could shoot him, and then slit his throat. He also used his sword to brutally, but efficiently kill five Corto Maltesean soldiers who were guarding Jotunheim. Peacemaker is highly skilled at using a shield in combat. He effectively fight numerous butterflies with it and block many gunshots coming towards him. He even combined with his pistol and shield while fighting butterflies.
*Stealth: Despite his large appearance, colorful outfit and shiny helmet, Peacemaker is capable of stealth. When the Suicide Squad went to rescue Flag, Peacemaker and Bloodsport stealthily eliminated members of the Maltese Resistance.
*Indomitable Will: Peacemaker will do whatever it takes in order to achieve his warped form of peace. He is so obsessed with attaining peace that he will kill as many men, women, and even children as he has to in order to make it happen. Peacemaker was even willing to kill Rick Flag and attempted to also kill Ratcatcher 2 as part of his mission despite having befriended both of them during his time at Corto Maltese, though in both instances he showed reluctance to do so before coming to the conclusion that there was no other alternative and also showed regret over his murdering of Flag.
*Intimidation: Due to his absolute belief in keeping the peace, Smith is willing to go to any length to complete his mission. As he claims to be thorough, Ratcatcher 2 was visibly afraid of his ruthlessness.
*Skilled musician: Peacemaker is a skilled pianist, as he played the piano version of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home." Music serves as an outlet for Peacemaker as a way to express himself due to him being emotionally mute
==Quotes==
==Other Media==
===Mortal Kombat 1===
Peacemaker appears in the video game Mortal Kombat 1 as a DLC guest fighter (alongside Omni-Man and Homelander) with his physical appearance taken directly from his appearances in The Suicide Squad and the television series of the same name, with John Cena reprising his role through voice and motion capture. In the game, his moveset contains multiple references to his appearances in the DC Extended Universe while his pet bald eagle Eagly and the Butterflies from the Peacemaker television series also appear, with Eagly appearing in many aspects of Peacemaker's gameplay while the Butterflies have a set chance to appear from the opponent's remains after some of Peacemaker's brutalities and his Pest Exterminator fatality.
==Trivia==
*He is based off of the DC Comics character of the same name.
**This is also the first live action adaptation of the Peacemaker character.
*The role of Peacemaker was originally intended for , an actor best known for his portrayal of Drax the Destroyer in the . However, Cena was chosen for the role after Bautista's busy schedule prevented his involvement.
*Peacemaker has been positively received by fans, to the point the opening number to his show has spawned numerous videos of fans imitating the dance; even a group if four did the dance number for a talent show. Peacemaker is even listed among possible Justice League reserve candidates in Young Justice Phantoms; likely, again, in response to Peacemaker's popularity.
*F9 and The Suicide Squad, both of which John Cena starred in, came out in 2021.
*John Cena as Peacemaker will be one of the few castings that will remain the same in James Gunn's upcoming DC Universe reboot.
==External Links==
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