Peacemaker Director Reveals Role Was Originally Meant For A Different WWE Star

John Cena has had his fair share of acting roles with success in the Fast & The Furious franchise, Blockers, Trainwreck, and more. None have done as well for Cena as his role in Peacemaker portraying the titular superhero.

The role of Christopher Smith/Peacemaker was given to Cena when James Gunn did the 2021 movie, The Suicide Squad, which served as a standalone sequel to the 2016 Suicide Squad film.

Gunn would make an appearance on The Howard Stern Show and spoke about how Cena was not originally planned for the role of Peacemaker, with a different WWE legend being the plan.

“I love the @DCpeacemaker show more than anything else I’ve ever done.” @JamesGunn chats about the returning @HBOMax series and shares who was originally supposed to play the lead superhero before John Cena put on the chrome helmet. pic.twitter.com/9DBRc8WIGo
— Stern Show (@sternshow) September 10, 2025

"It was Dave Bautista, who’s a good friend of mine. Obviously, he plays Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. And I wrote the character of Peacemaker for him and we offered him the role, but he was offered two other movies and we weren’t paying him a lot, and so he had to go where the money was."
James Gunn, The Howard Stern Show

Filming for The Suicide Squad began in September 2019. Bautista had just finished filming for Dune and Army of the Dead around that time, before heading on to film Thor: Love and Thunder and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

John Cena's Future In Hollywood

John Cena confirmed his WWE retirement tour back at Money in the Bank 2024, stating he would be done with in-ring action by the end of 2025. This has seen some highs and lows, including a long-awaited heel turn, a record-breaking 17th World Championship run, and more.

Cena's final match will take place on December 13th, 2025, at Saturday Night's Main Event from Washington, D.C. Once this is done, it can be expected that Cena will continue his work as Peacemaker and other Hollywood roles.

Peacemaker specifically has been a huge success for Cena and DC Entertainment, with the first two seasons being critically beloved and a spin-off series starting to come from it.

.@JohnCena and Brock Lesnar will go to war one last time at #Wrestlepalooza 😤

🎟️: https://t.co/Q0O2SZdREB pic.twitter.com/57J6G1znkd
— WWE (@WWE) September 6, 2025

Cena's next match is set for Wrestlepalooza, where he will be facing the returning Brock Lesnar. Will the 17-time World Champion overcome the Beast, or will Cena be taking another loss on his road to retirement?

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