I always saw Peacemaker as a metaphor for interventionism, or at least James Gunn’s version of him. His famous catch phrase reveals why, “I cherish peace with all of my heart. I don’t care how many men women and children I have to kill to get it”. His philosophy, ironically Machiavellian, is built on the idea that the ends justify the means, yet James Gunn keeps showing how hollow that grounding really is. If subtle foreshadowing is anything, the main refrain of the intro to the first season is “blind to what you’ll soon become, the mirror lies the whole world’s wrong..”.

A lot of how Peacemaker, Chris Smith played by John Cena, ticks goes back to how he was raised. His father, Auggie Smith, was not a pleasant man and held some rather very unpleasant world views. Being raised in such a harsh and brutal environment normalised violence for him, while seeding a deep disdain for it. At the end of the day he craved a normal childhood which he was denied. That is how he ends up as a government contracted “vigilante”. The lack of empathy, and emotional maturity in general, that was instilled in him becomes somewhat of a defining characteristic

Logically, his entire worldview is a contradiction. His means corrupt his supposedly moral ends. Normally in everyday lives, we can get away with being somewhat utilitarian as long as we meet our goals. That becomes rather tricky when your ultimate goal is to establish peace. His intentions and outcomes never align, and that failure becomes the point. Peacemaker works as a critique of interventionist ethics because it shows how easily good intentions lead to disaster. Especially once they go unquestioned, and we have arguably had a lot of examples of it failing in real life as well, rather spectacularly at times. As the age-old saying goes, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”.

The show captures this rather well in a line near the end, with which the writers no doubt knew what they were doing. Economos when reflecting on the 11th street kid’s (Peacemaker’s team) impact says, “When have we ever done anything that’s been good for the people?” That single line sums up the problem. For all the talk about peace and justice, the “Peacemaker(s)” actions almost seem contrary to their stated goals at times. That meta observation certainly isn’t irrelevant in today’s world.

The entire Peacemaker arc consists of a movie and two seasons. In the second season he finds himself in a world where the third Reich won World War Two. He doesn’t initially realize it and that’s scary enough. It’s a subtle stab at the notion of  being careful what you wish for (and how) because this alternate dimension had everything he wanted, along with a lot of consequences he didn’t. Near the end when Peacemaker is made to see the error in his ways he tries to make his escape from this alternate dimension. His father in the alternate dimension, who happens to like him, drops what I believe is the best quote in the series. Someone tries to pin the moral failings of his world on him, and he quips, “I didn’t create the problems in my world. I don’t agree with them. I applaud you if your world is perfect and you fight every injustice you ever see. Is that what you do?” I think this line is a subtle nudge to contemplate moral complacency and its consequences. 

The final lesson is both modest and uncomfortable. It begs the question, are our good intentions actually bound to bring good consequences?