SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 2, Episode 1 of “ Peacemaker ,” currently streaming on HBO Max.

When James Gunn first premiered “Peacemaker” in 2022, the spin-off series for his 2021 feature film “The Suicide Squad” stood apart with its blue-collar, human-scaled, TV-MA-rated lens on a superhero story. The first season followed the titular lead, a.k.a. Christopher Smith ( John Cena ), as he transformed from an emotionally stunted, morally flexible killing machine into a complex hero filled with remorse for his past bad deeds. Along the way, the show deployed prolific profanity and extravagant blood and gore, but more to the point, it approached its characters not as high-achieving heroes as struggling fuck-ups barely scraping by in the armpit o

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