The popularity of Peacemaker continues to rise in the DC Universe, and now the antihero made famous by John Cena is returning with his best friends for a miniseries from the brand. The newly announced Peacemaker Presents: The Vigilante/Eagly double feature! sets the title characters on a standalone adventure, taking place between Seasons 1 and 2 of the Max TV series.
The publisher announced the new project during the “Jim Lee and Friends” panel at New York Comic Con, along with first details, cover art and preview pages for the upcoming story. As the name implies, The five-issue series stars Eagly, Peacemaker’s avian companion, and his friend and ally Vigilantein separate (but connected) stories. With the Eagly side of the story entrusted to Rex Ogle and Matteo Lolli, and the Vigilante story coming from Tim Seeley and Mitch Gerads, James Gunn is also on board as a story consultant, with the storyline giving fans a glimpse of where the second season of Peacemaker will be directed. Check out the first pages and plot synopsis below:
In Eagly’s story, we see exactly where Christopher has been: in Alaska, outdoors, getting some fresh air, with his true best bird friend, Eagly. On their small plane ride, they and the other passengers are gassed and knocked out. When they wake up, they are hunted for sport by a dangerous group of supervillains… a far cry from the peaceful vacation Chris had in mind! But little do the hunters know that they have bitten off more than they can chew…
In the Vigilante story, Adrian goes to Peacemaker’s house to drink beer and blow things up, but finds Chris and Eagly gone. Immediately assuming they have been kidnapped or worse, the Vigilante prepares for a wave of revenge against the local criminal community. Meanwhile, Chris and Eagly are on a romantic vacation in Alaska, with Chris completely forgetting to ask Adrian to come… or even tell him he’s gone!
What the ‘Eagly/Vigilante double feature’ means for Peacemaker fans
The comic series picks up immediately after the first season of Peacemaker
There was a time when such a spotlight being placed on “Peacemaker” Christopher Smith might have seemed like a long shot, before James Gunn The Suicide Squad and monitoring Peacemaker the series made John Cena’s incarnation of the character one of DC’s fastest-rising stars. With both projects being a hit with fans and critics, and Cena humanizing Peacemaker for a new generation, the comics have seen the character (in an incarnation very similar to Gunn and Cena’s version) rise to prominence as well. For writer Rex Ogle, this means an opportunity to once again tell a story that involves, as he puts it, “a desperate optimist.”
“When [DC editor] Katie Kubert asked me to do a short for DC’s Strange Love Adventures, I was happy to write a Peacemaker story. So to dive back in and play with this iconic antihero again (and this time in a miniseries!) is a total dream. Part of what makes him so great is that, at his core, Peacemaker is an incurable optimist. He wants the world to be a better place, not just for himself, but for others. He doesn’t always seek to achieve peace in the right way, but he brings an incredible lightness to the violence that is already ever-present in our world. And sometimes we need to laugh at what’s bad – so we don’t break down and cry…
“I write a lot of books and comics for middle grade and young readers, which I love. But there’s nothing like going back to my comic book roots to work on something where I can unleash my inner creative beast. Writing Christopher Smith allows me to do just that – go crazy – not just with some old-fashioned violence, but with humor and unnecessary nudity. Peacemaker allows me to live the dream of writing stories I wanted to read as a child.”
Our Take on DC’s New Peacemaker Comic Series Ahead of Season 2
Will Vigilante and Eagly return with Peacemaker?
While Peacemaker it was John Cena’s time to shine. There’s no denying that Eagly and Vigilante were also essential to the show’s success, and Peacemaker Presents: The Vigilante/Eagly double feature! is betting on exactly that fact. So with the public waiting Peacemaker Season 2 arrives, or even has an official release date, the timing couldn’t be better to promise a new adventure starring the entire trio of characters.
With the creative team promising to maintain the same energy, irreverence, action, and sense of humor that made the character and series such a refreshing win for DC’s live-action adaptations, TV and comic book audiences should overlap. Especially with the promise (albeit without many details yet) that the comic series will help lead the way for the next season, the ‘double feature’ should give fans a clue as to what to expect when Peacemaker returns in 2025.
Peacemaker Presents: The Vigilante/Eagly double feature! begins its five-issue run in March 2025, carrying DC’s 17+ content descriptor (for mature readers).