Peacemaker wrapped up its first season last week and has plenty of DC fans talking. James Gunn of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad fame continues to prove he is one of the most interesting and consistent creative forces in the world of comic book adaptations, as he takes arguably the most unlikeable character from The Suicide Squad and gives him an arc full of the storytelling beats he has become known for: parental issues, facing trauma and pain but finding family in friendship and pathos through mutual understanding.

However, not everyone is a fan of Gunn's new show. As the internet is wont to do, there are plenty of opinions on Reddit on the show's quality. Admittedly a lot of them are very positive, but some are less so.

The following article contains spoilers for the first season of Peacemaker.

Too Much Swearing (r/CharacterRant)

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While Gunn made a name for himself in the MCU and was therefore restricted by family-friendly ratings, his work before Guardians was very adult indeed. He made the horror-parody Slither, but perhaps was best known for the Rainn Wilson starring Super which is an interesting precursor to both Guardians and The Suicide Squad as it dealt with a man who decides to become a costumed vigilante in real life.

So him returning to more adult-focused fare makes sense for long-term fans. However, some didn't particularly enjoy this, especially when it comes down to the amount of swearing the characters do. To quote u/VonKaiser55: "Its like every time they speak they have to say 's***, f***, b****, etc.' Im perfectly fine with cussing but i feel it just gets distracting because no one says curse words that f****** much lol."

The White Dragon — A Redneck Supergenius? (r/PeacemakerShow)

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One of the best parts of the Peacemaker series is that it allows Gunn to dive into the titular character (portrayed by John Cena) fully, and show the audience why he is the way he is. Gunn lets us into his world with an honesty and intimacy he didn't have time for in The Suicide Squad. We learn that one of the biggest contributing factors is his upbringing, in particular his relationship with his father, Auggie.

Auggie — played brilliantly by Robert Patrick — is the definition of a tough father. He also happens to be an extremist racist, taking on the superhero mantle of "The White Dragon." While this isn't an issue, what does have some fans confused is his apparent abilities — most prominently his intelligence. u/crowopolis argues that a man with the intelligence to build a quantum folding space and a suit of armor that is Iron Man-esque is a disconnect from the drunk redneck who took bets on backyard fights between his boys.

Character Problems (r/CharacterRant)

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As is typical of a Gunn project, Peacemaker is about more than just the titular wall of muscle. He is teamed up with a bunch of misfits, like his "best friend" Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), and the A.R.G.U.S. agents that form the strike force responsible for Operation Butterfly, like the tough no-nonsense Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) or the conflicted Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).

The problem is, some fans don't find this collection of misfits as instantly charming as, say, the characters in some of Gunn's earlier work, such as the team in Guardians. This might be a result of the focus being on Peacemaker rather than a more team-based narrative, but u/VonKaiser55 takes issue with the characters, citing the fact the leader of the team Clemson Murr (Chukwudi Iwuji) feels a lot like Amanda Waller in his characterization, and Harcourt is an uncaring "asshole."

Gunn Disrespects SnyderVerse (r/SnyderCut)

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One of the running gags in Peacemaker is the constant references to internet-spread conspiracy theories about various members of the Justice League. Whenever the subject of one of the more accomplished crime-fighters in the DC Universe comes up, Smith inevitably has a story about them, mostly involving fetishes and odd sexual behaviors.

Unfortunately, some of the more irony-impaired corners of the DC fandom have taken this as a slight against the work of filmmaker Zack Snyder and his "vision" for the DCEU. Taking to reddit to express their frustrations, there are comments like this from u/Timophydrake: "They making jokes in a field of dead bodies, aquaman is again the butt of every joke which is what Zack and Wan tried to avoid ever happening again, aquaman is also taking shit from peacemaker who is a villain and from Barry, people don't generally talk like that and superman just floating there doing absolutely nothing and being a silhouette."

"Get Woke Go Broke" (r/KotakuInAction)

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While a few denizens of the internet have made diverse casting into a sticking point over the past few years, the fact is that as a whole Peacemaker is pretty far from politically correct. While there are moments where Smith does get called out for his more problematic behaviors, ultimately the show revels in being provocative.

This is what makes some users take on proceedings as being "woke" pretty hilarious. It seems that all it takes to be painted with that brush is the mere presence of female or diverse actors in your show. For example, user u/toolsfortools says: "Maybe I'm just sensitized to this stuff but it was hitting all of the "checkboxes". You know... Peacemaker and Vigilante are stupid, redneck dad watching Alex Jones and being racist."

Everyone vs Peacemaker (r/CharacterRant)

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One of the defining traits of Gunn's team-ups is the antagonistic relationships the characters have before they form a team together. After all, if everyone is super friendly with each other, to begin with, it doesn't leave the characters with much room to grow into these friendships and learn to trust one another.

Some people on reddit didn't like the approach Gunn took in Peacemaker to this however. A few felt like the rest of the team was sort of piling on to Peacemaker, with user u/VonKaiser55 writing: "is the team being complete assholes to peacemaker? I remember them saying that peacemaker was a problem which made me confused because he seemed to be doing what they told him to do. He may be an asshole sometimes but he gets shit done. They seem to just unnecessarily attack him for situations he couldn't really control."

CONTINUE READING: Peacemaker Ending Explained: Friends or Peace, Which Comes First?