John Cena competed in his final-ever WWE match this past weekend, and the Peacemaker star's focus is now going to shift entirely to his Hollywood career.
In many ways, 2021's The Suicide Squad put Cena on the map. He'd delivered some good performances before then, but as Christopher Smith, it felt like the 17-time WWE Champion had, under the watchful eye of filmmaker James Gunn, reached a new level.
Cena reprised the role in HBO Max's Peacemaker TV series and delivered superb performances in both Season 1 and Season 2. However, it turns out his take on the character could have been vastly different.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly (via ComicBookMovie.com) for the site's "2025 Entertainers of the Year" tributes, Cena revealed the note he received from Gunn that took Chris from a "very angular, more drill sergeant, regimented, by-the-book military man" to a "douchey, bro-y Captain America."
"Easiest anecdote is the first day of shooting as Peacemaker. In meeting James for the role, he wanted to do a brief character check to see if I was what he thought people said I was," he recalled. "And I passed, but between the time I got the job and my first day on set, I tried to over-prepare to have an idea of what the character is, to make sure my lines are memorized, to get as fluent as I can with the product that I want to produce."
"We did a few takes, and James just didn't like what I was doing. I try to move through space and be as coachable as I can. I'm not perfect, and sometimes that's difficult."
"He stopped, came over to all of us. In front of everybody, he said, 'Don't do this. Just be a douchey, bro-y Captain America.' That's an easy note for me to take," Cena continued. "The difficult part about a simple note was, I had to abandon all the prep work. I just did it, and I think that's a great description of how much faith and trust I have in James."
"That's where Peacemaker was born. Peacemaker would've been a very angular, more drill sergeant, regimented, by-the-book military man if it wasn't for James Gunn."
Cena is expected to reprise his role as Chris in Gunn's upcoming Man of Tomorrow movie. Peacemaker Season 3 isn't planned as of now, but this character still looks set to be a big part of the DC Studios co-CEO's plans for the wider DCU.