James Gunn Comments on DCU Batman vs. Peacemaker Fight (& John Cena Responds)

John Cena‘s Peacemaker already fired shots at the DC Universe’s Batman over the Dark Knight’s “coterie of supervillains” like Joker and the Riddler. In the James Gunn-scripted season 1 episode “The Choad Less Traveled,” peace-keeping vigilante Christopher Smith almost came to blows with a neighbor who suggested that Peacemaker isn’t a superhero like Batman because he lacks a rogue’s gallery. (Peacemaker’s villains are “six feet under,” the anti-hero countered.) After some more off-color remarks about the “candy-ass” caped crusader’s no-kill rule, the neighbor replied, “With an attitude like that, you’re definitely a supervillain.”

With Peacemaker season 2 taking place in the new DCU canon — there are connections to Creature Commandos and Gunn’s Superman movie, including appearances by Justice Gang superheroes Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) — Gunn revealed a Peacemaker-Batman throwdown is officially on the table.

“James Gunn just said he wants to see me fight Batman. That’s what he said,” Cena said during a panel at CCXP Mexico 2025 over the weekend. To that, Gunn added, “And lose.”

“I don’t mind losing a fight,” the WWE Champion said. “I’m a 17-time champion. I don’t know if you know this stat, but that means I had to lose it 16 times. So I don’t mind losing a fight at all.”

RELATED: DC Studios Co-Chief James Gunn Teases the DCU Batman: “He Already Exists in This Universe”

The third installment in what Gunn dubbed the Tighty Whities trilogy (consisting of 2021’s The Suicide Squad, 2022’s Peacemaker season 1, and 2025’s Peacemaker season 2), the new season of the HBO Max series is set a couple of years after Peacemaker and team — the tight-knit 11th Street Kids, which includes Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), John Economos (Steve Agee), Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), and Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) — saved the world from the body-snatching alien Butterflies in the Peacemaker finale.

Season 2 follows Christopher Smith’s attempt to be taken seriously as a superhero among the metahuman community, like Superman (David Corenswet) and Batman (who Gunn has confirmed already exists and is active in the DCU).

“At the end of the day, Superman’s a great hero. He puts himself on the line. Batman, dark guy, he’s got some demons, but trying to do the right thing,” Gunn said on stage at CCXP.
“But Batman’s got nothing on Peacemaker in terms of the demons. He’s really a troubled soul. In this season, I think in some ways, it’s more about Christopher Smith than it is about Peacemaker. I don’t know if I think of him as a hero.”

When Gunn asked Cena if he thinks of Peacemaker as a hero, the actor replied, “He’s a hero for me. Peacemaker saved my life. You literally brought Peacemaker back from the dead. Peacemaker’s a hero for me, I can say that.”

“I did. I one hundred percent planned on killing Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad,” Gunn noted, referring to Smith’s near-fatal shootout with rival Task Force X member Bloodsport (Idris Elba). “But I liked working with John so much, I’m like, ‘It’s just a flesh wound.’”

Peacemaker season 2 premieres August 21 on HBO Max.