Television series

Peacemaker

Name: Peacemaker
Genre: Comedy, Action, Science Fiction
Released: 2022
Cast: John Cena, Steve Agee, Freddie Stroma, Jennifer Holland, Danielle Brooks

Superhero

Peacemaker is a gloriously trashy action-comedy about a bulletproof antihero forced to confront his abusive past while saving the world. John Cena commands the screen with surprising vulnerability beneath the swagger, anchoring a show that's equally committed to explosive set pieces and genuine character work. It's thrilling, filthy, and funnier than it has any right to be.

TVMaze rating

3.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy crude, gleefully violent superhero satire built around a dim but oddly sincere man who fails upward, and you like your jokes delivered with a bloody grin.

Skip it if the humour is coarse and the language relentlessly profane, so if juvenile swearing and graphic brutality wear you down quickly, the laughs may not be worth the stomach-turning moments.

What it asks of you: Episodes run about forty-three minutes, so each sitting is light, but it wants steady attention across sixteen episodes of frantic swings between goofy and grim.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Suicide Squad2021

James Gunn's gleeful, anarchic superhero film shares Peacemaker's willingness to blow up expectations alongside actual buildings. It's irreverent, darkly funny, and features several of the same characters and that same anarchic energy.

But The plotting is deliberately chaotic and the humor lands best if you enjoy profanity and graphic violence as comedic tools. Not a film that respects its own stakes.

Harley Quinn2019

Another DC property that ditches prestige for unhinged fun, following a character reinventing herself after toxic romance. It's funny, violent, and genuinely invested in its characters becoming better versions of themselves.

But The animation is deliberately crude and the tone is relentlessly crass. If you need your superhero shows to be serious or pretty, this isn't it.

Doom Patrol2019

Dark, weird, and unapologetically committed to giving broken characters depth and agency. It shares Peacemaker's ability to balance grotesque humor with real pathos about trauma and self-loathing.

But It's considerably darker and more gothic, with body horror that's genuinely unsettling. The pacing can feel deliberately sluggish in ways that test patience.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Peacemaker

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Killjoys2015

Both are ensemble casts of morally compromised people forced into violence who discover that loyalty and genuine affection matter more than their missions. Peacemaker is grittier, but they share the core idea that broken people choosing each other is the real story.

A space-opera action comedy about broke bounty hunters doing the galaxy's worst jobs. It's gorgeously scrappy, endlessly charming, and somehow makes genuine stakes coexist with ridiculous humor and found-family warmth.

But It's a Canadian show on a smaller budget, so the sci-fi effects are intentionally cheap-looking. The tone is far warmer and less cynical than Peacemaker, which some find saccharine.

Deadpool2016

A superhero film that's in on the joke about its own absurdity, built around a protagonist who's funny precisely because he's broken and violent. It proved irreverent action-comedies could work at scale.

But The novelty of the irreverent tone has worn thin since 2016, and it relies heavily on pop-culture riffing that dates it. The plot is genuinely thin.

The Righteous Gemstones2019

Danny McBride's darkly comic investigation into a corrupt family wrapped in religion and violence. It understands how comedy and genuine crisis can occupy the same character at the same moment.

But It moves between tones deliberately, sometimes unsettlingly, and the religious subject matter may alienate viewers either direction. The pacing is its own thing.

The Boys2019

Brutal deconstruction of superhero mythology using gore and transgression as storytelling tools. It's vicious and smart, with characters you didn't expect to care about who'll devastate you.

But The shock value sometimes overwhelms the actual narrative, and the show's cynicism can feel exhausting when sustained across eight hours. Relentlessly dark.

Raised by Wolves2020

A show unafraid to pivot tone wildly—from cosmic horror to genuine tenderness to grotesque action. It trusts its audience to sit with weirdness and ambiguity in ways that feel genuinely alive.

But The ambition sometimes outpaces execution, and it was cancelled before resolving its mythology. Watching it requires accepting incompleteness as a permanent state.

Lodge 492018

A comedy-mystery about two broke guys stumbling into a secret society. It's warm-hearted where it could be cynical, funny without being mean, and committed to its oddball characters.

But The plotting is genuinely whimsical and trusts viewers to be patient. It was cancelled early, so closure is limited. The tone drifts considerably across its run.

Preacher2016

Gleefully irreverent adaptation of the comics about a preacher gaining godlike power and going on the run. It's violent, blasphemous, weird, and consistently committed to making you gasp and laugh in the same scene.

But Its reverence for shock value sometimes matters more than coherent plotting. The finale disappointed a lot of devoted viewers. It's determinedly profane in ways that become the point itself.

Better Call Saul2015

Both are rigorous character studies of men defined by violence and loyalty to the wrong things, searching for redemption they're not sure they deserve. Peacemaker is explosive where this is internal, but they're both convinced that understanding how someone became who they are is more interesting than judging them for it.

A prequel that becomes its own masterpiece by trusting that watching a good person become a criminal is inherently fascinating. The writing is meticulous, the character arcs devastating, and it treats its premise with total seriousness.

But It's relentlessly slow and contemplative—the opposite of Peacemaker's velocity. Watching someone's moral corruption requires patience and tolerance for quiet dread.

Werewolf by Night2022

Both are properties from enormous franchises that deliberately opt out of respectability to make something messier and more fun. They share a gleeful confidence that you don't need prestige to matter, just genuine commitment to the weird thing you're making.

A black-and-white Marvel special shot like a pulp horror film, joyfully unconcerned with the MCU's prestige. It's genre filmmaking that loves its own weirdness and commits fully to making something tactile and strange.

But It's only fifty minutes, deliberately grainy, and refuses to explain itself in modern exposition-heavy ways. The brevity and formal strangeness will feel like a tease to some.