James Gunn Almost Cast A Marvel Movie Star As Peacemaker Before John Cena

Curtis Bonds Baker/HBO Max

John Cena has shown that he’s actually a pretty darn talented actor on James Gunn’s hit HBO Max series “Peacemaker,” which follows the titular down-and-out superhero as he tries to fix his life after the events of the 2021 film “The Suicide Squad.” While he’s a complete jerk who feels almost irredeemable in “The Suicide Squad,” in “Peacemaker,” Cena shows some real vulnerability, and we get to know Christopher Smith, A.K.A. Peacemaker, as a complicated man and not a monster. It feels almost impossible to imagine anyone else in the role, but on an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Gunn revealed that originally he had a different wrestler in mind to play Peacemaker, and it was someone he had worked with previously on a Marvel project. 

Gunn told Stern that originally, he wanted Dave Bautista to play the helmeted hero who wants “peace at any cost,” and while Bautista is a phenomenal performer, it’s kind of tough to imagine him playing the slimier parts of Peacemaker’s personality. Maybe that’s something that developed as Cena and Gunn worked together on the character, but Bautista just feels a little too pure to play Peacemaker.

Dave Bautista was Gunn’s first pick to play Peacemaker

Marvel Studios

On The Howard Stern Show, Gunn revealed his original plan for casting the character, and while he wanted Bautista, things still ended up working out: 

“It was Dave Bautista, who’s a good friend of mine. Obviously, he plays Drax in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and I wrote the character of Peacemaker for him and we offered him the role, but he was offered two other movies and we weren’t paying him a lot, and so he had to go where the money was and I had always been a fan of John since ‘Trainwreck’ especially. I thought he was so, so funny in that movie that I met with him. We talked. We became instant, instant friends, and then since then, you know, I’ve worked with him more than any other actor because I’ve done two season of ‘Peacemaker,’ ‘Suicide Squad,’ and we’re gonna be doing more together. So, he is a fantastic guy, a fantastic actor.”

Bautista is probably the best actual actor to come out of World Wrestling Entertainment, but it’s hard to imagine him playing Peacemaker all the same. He’s great in movies like “Blade Runner 2049” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” but he doesn’t seem to have the same filthy sense of humor as Cena. (His turn in “Blockers” was the moment I knew Cena had real comedic chops, and it’s been great to see him embracing them.) 

There’s always a chance for Bautista to play another character in Gunn’s DC Extended Universe, and maybe we’ll even see him face off against Peacemaker as some wild DC baddie one day. Until then, at least Cena is absolutely killing it.