Peacemaker Season 2 Review: John Cena New Season is a ‘Wildly Creative’ Masterpiece, Say Critics

The show, which serves as the official start of the new DC Universe, is being praised for its powerful R-rated action and John Cena’s career-defining performance.

August 16, 2025: The second season of Peacemaker, which people have been looking forward to for a long time, will be back on Max on Thursday, August 21. The first reviews are very positive. The new DC Universe had a big triumph when the show got a pristine 100% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Many said it was a worthy follow-up to the first season, which was quite popular.

The official synopsis says that in Season 2, Peacemaker finds himself in a different environment, which makes him face his painful past and take charge of his destiny. Critics are praising how Gunn employs this multiversal plot to explore the main character’s mind more deeply. This makes it an important entry point for the new DCU, which officially started with the movie Superman.

The Wrap praised John Cena, saying, “Pro wrestler Cena nails this season’s emotional and moral complexities with the skill of an Actors Studio graduate.” Critics said that Cena’s acting is meant to show “longing, regret, determination, and ever-so-tentative joy in subtle yet unerring ways.” Awards Buzz also remarked that the new season was “furiously interesting” and that each new piece of the jigsaw “feels like it opens multiple new doors.”

The show still has its trademark R-rated humor and strong action, but it also has a much darker and sadder tone. A reviewer for Games Radar said that even though this change was made, “there’s still a lot of fun to be had with the 11th Street Kids.” Some reviews did, however, say that some of the old characters get less screen time in favor of new ones, like Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr. and Tim Meadows.

The first reviews agree that Peacemaker Season 2 is more thoughtful and emotional than the first season, but it still has the same kind of crazy action. One critic from Inverse said that the program is meant to be easy for new fans to get into, like a clean slate for someone who just seen Superman.