Peacemaker (2022) is a DC Studios show that started as a spin off from James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021) but has turned into something much bigger.
In his work Gunn brings a sense of charm and humor from the comics that was missing in film adaptations of our favorite heroes. The show follows Peacemaker as he reconsiders his beliefs around achieving freedom and peace through violence. What many fans appreciate, including myself, is the LGBTQ+ representation in the show. After years of vague and limited queer representation in the Marvel cinematic universe, something Gunn began to approach previously, Peacemaker is a breath of fresh air. From the first episode the show has had no shame representing LGBTQ+ characters on screen.
Leota Adebayo is a member of the 11th Street Kids and she does not shy away from saying that she has a wife. Danielle Brooks, Adebayo’s actress, emphasizes the importance of her character as a black queer woman herself. In an interview with HBO Max, Brooks says Leota and her wife allow people to see that “it’s okay to be who [they] are” with their characters being written the same as anyone else. Naturally embedding queer characters into a story helps normalize love that shouldn’t be considered different in the first place. While working on The Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Gunn hinted at sexual themes but had yet to fully realize them. Being under Marvel’s and therefore Disney’s thumb made that difficult but now he is the head of the DCU and what has come from that has been great.
Peacemaker’s bisexuality is mentioned from the first episode though it is treated as more of a joke at first. His acceptance of it adds to how he steps away from what his white supremacist dad wants him to be. It creates commentary on how children can break away from parents’ hateful beliefs. As someone from the Southern U.S., discussion on the subject is important because while I came from a more open minded home I’ve met a lot of people filled with their parents’ hate. It’s not a secret that the media that one consumes impacts how they see the world. It’s why you see conservatives boycotting content that goes against their beliefs and calling it brainwashing material. Seeing heroes on screen step away from that can help hateful people do the same.
Going back to the MCU’s problems with queer representation, I appreciate Peacemaker continuing to explore sexuality, for example they have begun to explore asexuality in Vigilante, instead of mentioning it and moving on. The MCU is not the only franchise to suffer from this as past DCEU projects have too. Birds of Prey (2020) has two openly queer characters, Renee Montoya and Ellen Yee, but other than the confirmation of their past relationship it leaves much to be desired.
Overall the representation in Peacemaker is important. The characters and their relationships are genuine but don’t define them. Peacemaker has become a pillar of the new DCEU and he’s bisexual. He is queer, he’s a hero, and most importantly he’s human. If you haven’t watched Peacemaker yet, go check it out.
CJ Jones is a Television, Photography, & Digital Media major who will be seated for every James Gunn release from now on. They can be reached at cjones13@ithaca.edu