DC Brings in James Gunn Favorite for Future State: Suicide Squad

Full spoilers for Future State: Suicide Squad #1 below! In the pages of Future State: Suicide Squad, the titular team gets a major face lift from the members that have appeared on the team for the past few years, that is when we finally get to see them. Most of the issue features the "Justice Squad" a team billed as seemingly the successors to Task Force X whose members include various villains disguised as the Justice League, but as we learn in the end this isn't Earth-1 but actually Earth-3 and the Suicide Squad have been sent there to retrieve Amanda Waller and bring her home, and their leader? None other than Peacemaker.

The character has previously not had a history on the Suicide Squad team but was first linked to the team after it was confirmed that John Cena will play the character in the upcoming feature film from writer/director James Gunn in addition to his own TV series on HBO Max which is currently in production. As the Future State issue reveals, Peacemaker is leading the team in the comic series which also includes Black Manta (who dies), Cheetah, Evil Star, Lor-Zod, Mirror Master, and a random Parademon.

The issue concludes with the team preparing to extract Waller after the "Justice Squad" leaves to take part in a new mission. What is interesting though is the implication that this team is from the primary earth of the DCU. It will be interesting to see if this line-up persists through the ending of Future State and sees the Peacemaker still serving as the team leader in the next version of the Suicide Squad when the series gets its own solo title once again.

Previously speaking about the upcoming Peacemaker TV series he's working on, Gunn said: "Peacemaker is an opportunity to delve into current world issues through the lens of this superhero/supervillain/and world's biggest douchebag. I'm excited to expand The Suicide Squad and bring this character from the DC film universe to the full breadth of a series. And of course, to be able to work again with John, Peter, and my friends at Warner Bros. is the icing on the cake."

Cena will star as Peacemaker, a man who believes in peace at any cost — no matter how many people he has to kill to get it, in the HBO Max series and in The Suicide Squad, which is scheduled to be released in theaters and on HBO Max by Warner Bros. Pictures on August 6, 2021.