Key Takeaways
- The Peacemaker TV series, starring John Cena, has a dark comedic tone and intense action scenes.
- Arrow actor Stephen Amell felt his character was unfairly attacked in one episode of Peacemaker.
- Amell defends Arrow’s legacy and his portrayal of Green Arrow, despite criticism from Peacemaker.
Peacemaker has a dark comedic tone that doesn’t sell to all viewers, including one actor whose character in the Arrowverse received cheap shots from the titular character. The actor felt that their show wasn’t treated well.
Peacemaker, starring John Cena as Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, premiered in January 2022. The TV series served as the spin-off of the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. It follows Smith’s adventures after he survives near-fatal injuries and gets recruited by a black-ops team for covert missions. The show has irreverent humor, intense action scenes and character-driven drama. However, one Arrow actor didn’t think the show attacking their character on the CW was funny.
Stephen Amell, who plays Oliver Queen aka Arrow or Green Arrow, in the CW’s TV series Arrow, reacted to one episode of Peacemaker where Cena’s Smith dissed several DC superheroes, including Green Arrow. Smith claimed that Green Arrow “goes to brony conventions dressed as the back half of Twilight sparkling with a four-inch wide butthole drilled into the costume.” In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Amell said the jab against his superhero character was unnecessary. “That was a little unnecessary. I didn’t f***ing appreciate that at all,” he said. “Okay. I am just going to come right out and say this. There was just such…between the movies and Peacemaker a little bit…our show was kind of treated like s**t. I get it, we’re on the CW, I get it, it’s TV.”
Amell added that people would think of the recent iteration of DC as the Arrowverse and not about the Snyder Cut. According to the actor who played Green Arrow for a total of eight years, across the eight seasons of Arrow, their show was not given the proper credit and respect, and he wasn’t happy about it considering all the efforts they exerted for the project. So, he asked the people to refrain from talking nonsense about Arrow. “We got crapped on for years, and years, and years, and this just seemed excessive. I’m not actually mad, but I just remember hearing that and just being like, ‘F*** those guys,’ like seriously,” he added. “I’m up here. I’m working just as hard as anyone else. Do you know how hard it is to play a superhero with no superpowers for 23 episodes a year? It’s really, really, really hard, and I’m not looking for a prize but, like, maybe don’t s**t on our show.” It wasn’t the first time he responded to the Peacemaker’s diss against Green Arrow. When James Gunn’s TV show started streaming in 2022, journalist Andy Behbakht flagged the joke to him on X, formerly Twitter, after the former noticed the jab against Amell’s character. “Haven’t seen it. Too busy showing Cena what professional wrestling should actually look like on TV,” Amell, who played as a wrestler on Starz’s Heels drama series at the time, responded in a since-deleted post on X, per Entertainment Weekly.
It’s understandable why Amell is protective of his character. He has been part of Arrow for nearly a decade and his portrayal of Green Arrow defined the character and even laid the foundation for the broader Arrowverse, which spawned several TV series, including Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman in the CW network. Despite the success of the CW’s lineup of DC TV shows, they were never embodied in the DC Extended Universe. Although Amell felt that many disliked Arrow, the series was actually great, the quality of the storyline just declined after three or four seasons. Nevertheless, it was excellent overall and had earned solid supporters for its nearly 10-year run on TV. Amell is a talented and versatile actor. He will remain the best Green Arrow in the Arrowverse for his fans.
Source: Chris Van Vliet
