‘Peacemaker’ review: John Cena is a big, dumb hero in a helmet in this fun ‘Suicide Squad’ spinoff

A spinoff of director James Gunn’s reboot of “The Suicide Squad,” which came out just six months ago, the HBO Max series “Peacemaker” might be the closest thing to a comic book adaptation that appeals to my sensibilities. It’s ridiculous and knows it’s ridiculous, with a fully R-rated Saturday morning cartoon sensibility that refuses to take itself too seriously. With John Cena in the title role — a ding-dong with muscles who nonsensically proclaims, “I made a vow to have peace no matter how many people I have to kill to get it” — the show is big, dumb, rollicking fun. I like it a lot.

I think it’s also worthy of some skepticism in the way it positions toxic masculinity as something childlike and even endearing when epitomized by Peacemaker, and also, conversely, a thing that more than anyone else in this story. It’s a deft and cynical bit of spin delivered in such enjoyably comedic packaging you may not notice it at first. The show is self-aware and doing a lot of this overtly — of course you’re meant to laugh at his oafishness, which prompts eye rolls rather than alarm bells from those around him — but I’m interested in digging down another layer and thinking through the ways this framing intentionally paints a person like this as harmless and sympathetic, even.