Warning: Contains spoilers for Suicide Squad #2
While not entirely a household name yet, Suicide Squad), the self-proclaimed agent of peace is already proving to be exactly the kind of asset the merciless Amanda Waller has always dreamed of—one willing to fight literally any adversary in his path to victory. And in issue #2 of Robbie Thompson and Eduardo Pansica's Assault on Arkham storyline, he even knocks out a Kryptonian in a single punch without any hesitation.
Born Christopher Smith, the young diplomat came to Washington D.C. hoping to bring about an end to world conflict. When that didn't work out, Superboy.
Although the Suicide Squad is known for hiring supervillain inmates for their covert missions, Waller is trying something a little different this time by capturing Superboy and forcing him to fight alongside her villainous agents. Unfortunately for Waller, she has underestimated Superboy's conscience, and the Boy of Steel quickly goes off-book in order to rescue a handful of guards from a poisonous cloud of Joker venom. The Squad still succeeds in its mission, but they lose two teammates due to Conner's moral impulses. Waller punishes the boy with a Kryptonite charge that nearly kills him, but Peacemaker has no intention of letting him off that easy.
Right after being brought back to life with a hypodermic needle to the heart like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, Superboy is then decked hard in the face by Peacemaker. Taking advantage of the Kryptonite still coursing through Conner's veins, the new Squad leader makes his point very clear with just a single punch—insubordination of any kind will not be tolerated on his team. This likely won't be the last time Superboy suffers abuse at the hands of Peacemaker, as the brutal brawler callously refers to him as an "absolute waste of space" despite being saved by the half-Kryptonian only moments earlier.
It's no surprise why DC is hyping up Peacemaker so much, as the company has big plans for him in live-action format. Not only will he appear in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad film (played by John Cena), he will also appear in a spinoff show on HBO Max. Based off the trailers, Cena will be portraying the antihero as a hyper-macho vigilante with dark, but witty, delusions of grandeur and a violent streak that he attempts to off as patriotism. Knocking out Superboy because he had the audacity to save innocent lives is very on brand for Cena's Peacemaker, and also fits perfectly with the gratuitously violent overtones that Thompson and Pansica have set up in their run of Suicide Squad.
