Dave Bautista on John Cena getting the DC Universe role written for him

Last week, writer/director/producer and co-head of Warner Bros DC Studios’ James Gunn revealed that he originally created the current film & television version of the Peacemaker character for his friend and Guardians of the Galaxy collaborator Dave Bautista.

Fans of John Cena’s portrayal of Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, in 2021’s The Suicide Squad, this year’s Superman (spoilers for a monthes old film I guess, sorry not sorry), and two seasons of HBO’s Peacemaker series made note of this piece of trivia. But that was it, because it’s hard to find any fans of comic book adapations/superhero fiction who don’t love Cena in the role.

And that includes our greatest wrestler-turned-actor*. Bautista told ComicBook.com this week that…

“It was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t do that, because I have to say, I have to be honest, there’s no way that I would have been able to do that role like John. He’s just perfect for it, you know, and I wouldn’t have done it justice, and it wouldn’t have been as successful.”

The impending-WWE Hall of Famer also confirmed Gunn’s story about how Cena ended up with the role (leaving out the part his friend James included about how DC wasn’t paying what Netflix was)…

“I really wanted to do that part. He [Gunn] wrote that part for me, and it was meant for me, and it just became a scheduling thing where I just couldn’t do it, because I was doing Army of the Dead. And so it was a scheduling issue that we just could not figure out.”

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But Bautista continued to emphasize how all the past, current, and future projects involving Peacemaker will be better for having Cena in the role:

“I’m saying that with a bit of envy, you know, I would love it — I just wouldn’t have been able to do the same thing that John does to bring to that character. It wouldn’t have been the same. It wouldn’t have been as good. I can honestly say it wouldn’t have been as good.”

We will get to see The Animal do his thing in some comic book-y movies soon. He has the lead in a post-apocalyptic thriller called Afterburn that hits theaters today (Sept. 19), and is finally playing one of his dream roles as Kurgan opposite Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe in the upcoming Highlander reboot from director Chad Stahlenski (John Wick).

_{* We’ll re-evaluate the rankings about we see The Smashing Machine. Dave may have to update his, too…}