HBO's Peacemaker rocked the audience's worlds with its opening credits sequence, portraying the main cast delivering a funky dance to director James Gunn's unique taste in music. However, as cool and unique as the dance sequence seems, it's not actually the first superhero series to be so revolutionary. Netflix's Supercrooks featured a similar opening sequence just this past year, necessitating a comparison between the two that leaves superhero fans with more to jam out to than ever before.
Peacemaker rocked audiences with an opening title sequence last week that still has the internet abuzz. Starting with a spotlight on lead actor John Cena, who portrays the titular Peacemaker, what unfolds is the goofiest dance with the straightest of faces as the cast gradually grows to join him. Eventually, the entirety of the Peacemaker cast is jamming out to a full-on dance number to the 2010 hit "Do Ya Wanna Taste It," by the Norwegian rock band Wig Wam.
And although the style and the music are different, there are more than a few similarities to the Supercrooks title sequence that debuted last year. Itself set to the Japanese band Towa Tei's song "Alpha," which debuted on the band's 2011 album "Sunny," the Netflix series also shows its main cast dancing to the tunes as they're steadily introduced over the course of the credits. Such introductory sequences help establish the respective series as both fun and self-aware, letting audiences see a lighter side to their characters where they are just enjoying themselves.
There are of course a few stark differences. While Peacemaker is live-action, showing the actors undergoing the robotic dance moves, Supercrooks is an animated work that familiarizes audiences with the sleek animation style as much as everything else. Supercrooks also takes a more straightforwardly cool and attractive approach to the idea, whereas Peacemaker contrasts the silly and stilted nature of the actors' dancing with their straight-faced non-expressions.
Yet, both achieve a similar goal in hinting at the story, action and humor that has yet to come and setting the emotional tonality of each series. Both shows are not wall-to-wall laughs of nonstop comedy, nor are they the self-serious dramas mired in rumination and emotionality. While largely action-based and comical, what really sells the sillier moments is the audience's connection to the characters and buying into their reality. Each series may be larger than life, and their intros empty streets or lit-up sound stages may seem well removed from the day-to-day of their viewers. But there is something so intimate about seeing fictional characters dancing that makes them feel all the more believable.
And, of course, there's the larger commonality between the introductory sequences in that neither one was strictly necessary. In a day and age of streaming, where so often viewers jump right past the opening credits, each goes out of its way to make the experience an enjoyable must-watch. Stopping to rewatch a title sequence seen several times before is not an easy thing to get audiences to do. But both Supercrooks and Peacemaker show just how refreshing it is when a TV series embraces how useful those sequences can be at establishing their characters and worlds.
To see how Peacemaker's intro compares to Supercrooks', the series is streaming now on HBO Max.