Peacemaker (2025) Series Premiere Review - “The Ties That Grind”
From its very first moments, James Gunn makes it clear that Peacemaker isn’t just a spin-off – it arrives clutching the weighted ambitions of DC’s freshly debuted universe in one hand and the jagged remains of an antihero’s trauma in the other. In “The Ties That Grind,” Christopher Smith’s chaotic debut episode, Gunn leans into his trademark blend of absurdity and sincerity, inaugurating a chapter that is both uproariously grotesque and unexpectedly moving.
The episode launches with a “Previously in the DCU” prologue utilizing a combination of new footage featuring the Justice Gang and old footage borrowed from the 2022 incarnation of Peacemaker which existed in the now-defunct DCEU, placing this new series squarely within the same universe that began with Superman and taking place one month later as this universe’s second live-action entry. It’s smart, funny, and clears the air: this isn’t a legacy continuation of a three-year-old miniseries, but a new incarnation with fresh stakes.
Our antihero enters the frame emotionally fractured. After a failed audition for the Justice Gang (featuring cameos by Hawkgirl, Guy Gardner, and Maxwell Lord), Chris spirals – his pain and rejection laid bare in the most James Gunn way: a drug-fueled, full-frontal orgy. It’s explicit, concerning, hilarious, and undeniably purposeful. As Steve Agee described it, his “most graphic day” on set, and it ultimately demonstrates Peacemaker’s emotional collapse. This isn’t debauchery for shock’s sake – it’s a naked performance of desperation, of a man trying to escape the weight of loss through anything but healing.
Then enters the Quantum Unfolding Chamber, the TARDIS-like portal introduced in Superman. Chris stumbles through a door into another world, a life that might have been – the version where his father, Auggie, is alive, where his brother Keith didn’t die, and where Peacemaker is a cherished hero. This sliding-doors fantasy isn’t escapism; it’s a reckoning. He’s not running from guilt – he’s chasing who he might have been.
What soars in “The Ties That Grind” is the tonal balance. Yes, it delivers outrageous visuals and shocking jokes, but it also carries emotional gravity: a guilt-ridden man confronted with “what if” and forced to choose between fantasy and growth. The multiverse isn’t a distraction – it’s a crucible, pressing Chris toward the only heroic path available: facing what he’s done and moving forward.
Beneath the absurdity, Gunn is asking the kind of simple, brutal question that makes superhero stories worth caring about: Can a broken man rebuild himself? I, for one, can’t wait to watch him try.