Quite a bit can change after 65 years of fighting for peace. Since making his recent big-screen debut in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad the spotlight has begun to shine on Peacemaker, a previously obscure Charleton Comics vigilante. Peacemaker was created by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette in 1966 for Fightin' 5 #40 Charlton Comics as a companion story to the titular team's adventures.
While visually he may seem to be just the same as when he was created, Peacemaker has actually gone through several transformations throughout his career. With a solo HBO Max show on the horizon as well as a new solo series by Garth Ennis coming in January of 2022, it's the best time to become invested in this lunatic in a toilet bowl helmet.
10 Changing Hands
Like fellow comic strip heroes Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, The Question, and Nightshade, Peacemaker was originally published by the now-defunct Charlton Comics. His solo series was canceled after 5 scant issues, but Peacemaker would return in the multiverse shattering Crisis On Infinite Earths. After DC bought Charlton, as well as several other companies, they would fold their new characters into the main universe via the machinations and complications of the Anti-Monitor to celebrate their 50th anniversary. It wouldn't be long until Peacemaker's origins and history were retconned to fit into the New Earth.
9 Insane In The Membrane
When introduced in the 1960s during the Silver Age of comics, Christopher Smith was a respectable and sociable pacifist who secretly breaks his vow of non-violence to ensure the peace he loves. However, when reintroduced in the Vigilante solo series by Marv Wolfman and Keith Pollard, Peacemaker is portrayed as an out-and-out lunatic who believes the souls of the victims of his lethal assaults are contained within his iconic helmet. This would continue in his own series, however thus far in Suicide Squad by Robbie Thompson and Eduardo Pansica Peacemaker has yet to reference any voices in his head.
8 Judge, Jury, And Executioner?
Christopher Smith makes many an attempt to show the world that he uses non-lethal weapons when battling his foes. This is almost always unintentionally undercut by the carnage he creates by blowing up secret bases and redirecting missiles into enemy jets. By the time he was brought into the DC universe proper, he had no issues with gunning down his enemies in cold blood. What works most brilliantly about this is how it ties into the overarching theme of Peacemaker trying and often failing to live up to the ideal he aspires.
7 Daddy Issues
In The Peacemaker #4 from 1966 it's explained that Peacemaker's father was a renaissance man who served both in the military. This and his mother's scientific mind are implied to influence Smith's upbringing and eventual expertise.
As elaborated on in his 1988 mini-series by Paul Kupperberg and Tod Smith, Peacemaker's father was revealed to have been a Nazi in World War II and ran a concentration camp that executed 50,000 Jewish people. After witnessing his father commit suicide in front of his eyes, Smith becomes haunted by a hallucination of his father that he eventually begins to project onto his enemies.
6 Riches To Rags
Cristopher Smith lived in a lovely château accompanied by several servants and assistants who aided in his crusade against evil. By the time of his reintroduction, it is revealed that all of his servants are plants from higher powers attempting to keep a leash on the infamously unstable pacifist. Fast forward to modern times and Smith seems to have no real support system or home base, save what he is provided by organizations like Checkmate and the Suicide Squad. Considering his unreliable narrative, it's difficult to tell what facts about the current Peacemaker are true and are simply delusions.
5 The Perfect Tool For The Job
While the current appearance of Peacemaker in DC relies primarily on escrima sticks and conventional weaponry, the '80s and '60s versions of the character would often employ science fiction devices such as jet packs, lasers, and super jets. However, one tool that has remained a staple part of his arsenal is his wonderfully silly helmet. From providing ultrasonic frequencies that disrupt missiles and mute noise to a crest-mounted laser for tight situations, his helmet is always a safe bet when it comes to getting out of tight spots.
4 Best Frenemies
As mentioned above, Peacemaker was first introduced into the Post-Crisis DC Universe in the Vigilante solo series. This version of Vigilante was actually the second person to use the mantle; the original being a cowboy-themed champion of the people most famously showcased in the animated series Justice League Unlimited. Vigilante and Peacemaker would battle multiple times, the first of which ends with the death of the second Vigilante, Adrian Chase.
Peacemaker would also often be teamed up with his Charlton Comics friends as cute nods to their shared lineage, but his manic actions would often drive wedges between them. It wasn't until the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle series by Keith Griffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner where Peacemaker finally mellowed out and took a mentor-like role to the new young hero.
3 Pretenders To The Throne
Christopher Smith is the definite article when it comes to being a keeper of the peace, but he is not the only character to have flaunted that mantle. The first and easily the most out of left-field is an unnamed operative wore a very 90's looking reinvention of the classic Peacemaker suit and claimed to be part of the League-Busters.
In the limited series L.A.W. by Bob Layton and Dick Giordano, the classic Charlton characters are reunited with a brand new Peacemaker, Mitchell Black, as they battle the evil Avatar. Sadly, Mitchell would be killed not long after during Infinite Crisis. Christopher Smith has returned as Peacemaker in the current Suicide Squad series.
2 Some Kind Of Suicide Squad?
Peacemaker's first adventure with Task Force X was during the event known as The Janus Directive, which would sadly end with his death at the hands of Eclipso.
In 2006's Blue Beetle, Pacemaker would make a miraculous and off-panel return to the world of the living before rejoining the Squad in 2021. In this series, he takes a literal lead role as the team captain of the group and comes into constant conflict with Amanda Waller. Having worked alone for most of his 60-year history, it seems it will take some time for him to become a true team player.
1 As Seen On TV
In both James Gunn's The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker HBO Max series, it's clear the most powerful influence on the show is the 1980's Vigilante series and Peacemaker mini. Eschewing the biker role model of Blue Beetle and the more deranged hallucinogenic moments from his most popular outings, the show seems to be focusing more on Peacemaker's toxically masculine perceived shortcomings. This ties neatly into the father issues his comic counterpart often dealt with, and more importantly portrays the biggest difference in his stories since his first appearance in 1966.
The original stories don't make much sense. A man who loves peace and pacifism so much that he's willing to fight for it is an obvious contradiction that the original series never really dealt with. However, his Post-Crisis and modern incarnations have used their self-aware knowledge of that contradiction as a focal point, making the character far more than another action hero. James Gunn seems to be following this same thread to make something less stale and more true to humanity.