LGBTQ superheroes (and supervillains) are thankfully becoming commonplace in the DC Comics universe. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy have entered into a sapphic love affair, and characters like Captain Cold, Mr. Terrific and Batwoman all proudly wave their Pride flag while battling various baddies. Suicide Squad 2 saw numerous changes to the ominous lineup, with John Cena’s Peacemaker getting his own HBO Max spinoff. While Cena’s frequently shirtless shots and tongue in cheek humor have garnered a great deal of attention, it’s the scene (spoiler alert) where Peacemaker battled his father and nemesis The White Dragon that was a true game changer. Battling banter commenced, with The White Dragon saying to his superhero offspring in part “I knew when you shaved your body like a woman. I knew when you slept with the whores of polluted blood! And men!”
As for why Peacemaker officially became part of the LGBTQ community, that credit falls squarely on John Cena’s stunningly broad shoulders. Peacemaker creator James Gunn told Empire Magazine (via SlashFilm) “Peacemaker is an interesting character because he’s so f*****-up in so many ways, and then in other ways, he is kind of weirdly forward-thinking,” Gunn explained. “John does improv all the time, and he just turned Christopher Smith into this hyper-sexualized dude that is open to anything sexually. I was surprised by that. But I thought, ‘I guess it makes sense that this guy isn’t one-dimensional.'”
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Gunn went on to say that “We see in the show that he doesn’t have any issues with sexuality,” Gunn said, acknowledging that the series dropped more than a few hints about Peacemaker’s bisexuality before confirmation arrived in the penultimate episode. “As long as you’re not f****** animals — that he’s not into. But besides that, he’s pretty open. And yet other things he’s completely close-minded on.”
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So let’s see him take this somewhere in Season 2. We can already see he’s headed into something with Harcourt. It’s predictable to be queer-baited & then have it go nowhere. Personally, I would have liked him and Vigilante to be a couple, if it wasn’t for the fact that Peacemaker has good in him, whereas V is a straight-up sociopath. Peacemaker deserves better. They could f*** though. 😉
I would’ve normally ignored this because honestly it feels dumb to try and fuel but I, as a bisexual person, just want to try and educate/help out. Just because a man, who is bisexual, ends up with a woman (or vice-versa), does not mean it is queerbaiting. That’s the whole point of bisexuality. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t still love men (or bi women don’t still love women). They could very well have him be with Harcourt, or make the smart decision to let Harcourt stay single as the other option sends a darker message about female characters who get mad about constantly being pursued.
I suspect people call this queer baiting because it’s a barely there ‘gay portrayal’ as so many often are (see Dumbledore in the HP books, movies and even in Fantastic Beast movies so far, or the big gay portrayals in Beauty & the Beast or Jungle Book). And yes, gay is not the same as bi, I’m just providing examples most will know or at least be able to look up. But the same thing happens with bi coded characters – one exception would be Legends of Tomorrow, which I think is in line with your point. Sara can and is definitely bi even if she ends up with Ava, married or not. Likewise Con Job’s characterization on the DCW.
I haven’t seen all of Peacemaker, but I would call his a barely there ‘reveal’ and definitely not ‘Big Screen.’ IF they had shown the Adrian/Chris threesome on The Suicide Squad, then sure, okay, but this is post-interview reveals about Dumbledore save that (as with Fantastic Beast) they are padded out by the HBO series with a possible threesome that’s more akin to MF/MF with another guy around at the same time, and an off-hand two word insult that’s more vague than anything else.