John Cena is increasingly becoming known and recognized for his onscreen work as an actor in the DCU as Peacemaker/Chris Smith. He first played the character in The Suicide Squad (2021). Later on, he reprised the role in the HBO Max streaming series Peacemaker, whose second season premiered on Aug. 21.
At FAN EXPO Chicago 2025, Cena was one of the featured guests. During his Saturday panel on Aug. 16, he answered a plethora of fan questions. Most of them concerned the wrestler’s retirement tour with the WWE. But a few fans asked about his work as an actor — primarily as Peacemaker.
John Cena versus Peacemaker
When a fan asked Cena how a fight between the 17-time WWE champion John Cena and Peacemaker would go, he didn’t give much of an actual answer.
“The best I can do to answer this is watch episode 1 of Peacemaker season 2,” Cena replied. “It kind of happens, so be on the lookout for that.”
The 48-year-old actor was referring to the fight Peacemaker has with an alternate universe Peacemaker in the season 2 Peacemaker premiere. Eagly wakes up Chris in the middle of the night, insisting on going out flying. Given the cold temperature, Chris refuses to take his pet eagle outside. But he lets Eagly go flying around in an interdimensional closet that provides access to other universes.
When Chris is looking for his pet, he finds him squawking and lingering at a door. Chris uses the code for his own closet door and enters this other universe — one where his brother, Keith, is alive and fights crime alongside himself and their father, Auggie.
Later in the Peacemaker season 2 premiere, Chris returns to that alternate universe. There, the three men have a good relationship where they support one another, reminisce on past family memories, share drinks, and say “I love you.” That universe is vastly different from the main one, so it makes sense that Chris goes back there after a troubling day. But he’s eventually caught by that universe’s Peacemaker.
The two fight and end up in the interdimensional closet space. The other Peacemaker is equipped with a helmet and suit. The primary Peacemaker is just Chris, dressed in normal civilian clothes with no weapons or technology on hand. So it’s no surprise that the other Peacemaker has the upper hand for most of the battle. But the primary Peacemaker wins in the end. He activates the alternate Peacemaker’s jetpack to avoid being killed, accidentally killing his alternate self in the process.
The fight wasn’t really a depiction of how WWE wrestler John Cena would fare against the fictional Peacemaker. But the showdown between a civilian skilled in combat versus an equipped antihero makes it a fair comparison. Based on Cena’s answer at FAN EXPO Chicago, Cena would presumably win in a fight against Peacemaker by using his brain and not simply relying on his brawn.
The power of Peacemaker
One fan asked Cena about the evolution of his acting career, stating it took years until roles were written to suit wrestlers. Cena was amused by the question, lightheartedly taking it as a commentary on the first 10 years of his acting career not being good. And he agreed, because he said that’s how he felt about his initial years as an actor.
The shift in Cena’s acting came when he “put as much passion into that as (he) put into wrestling.” He recalled how, as a WWE wrestler, he’d be “locked in” for that job, so he needed to take that same approach with movies.
Later in his FAN EXPO Chicago panel, Cena reminisced about the first beach scene in The Suicide Squad (2021), where the group of antiheroes first assembled in the field. He called that part his favorite one to film from the movie, but it had nothing to do with the actual content or subject matter of it. Rather, Cena enjoyed filming that scene because of he learned the core principle of “be coachable.”
“Peacemaker changed my life — James Gunn changed my life,” Cena said.
The Peacemaker actor reflected on how he came up with all these choices on how to approach his character, like how Chris thinks and reacts. But when it came to bringing those choices to life, Gunn wasn’t a fan. Instead, he said Gunn told him to “just be a douche-y, bro-y Captain America.”
“I’m so glad for that moment, because I failed,” Cena said. “I got great advice from somebody smarter than me, and after that, I gained a mentor and somebody who saw something in me.”