Peacemaker Creator James Gunn Courageous Response to Racists Labeling Him ‘Polarizing’

Peacemaker had a significant twist that had fans’ heads spinning. You know that feeling when your favorite show drops an episode so wild it has the internet absolutely losing its collective mind? That’s precisely what happened when Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 6 delivered “Ignorance Is Chris” – an hour of television that had fans simultaneously applauding and clutching their pearls.

The Earth-X Bombshell In Peacemaker 

James Gunn, the DC Studios mastermind who’s never been one to play it safe, just served up one of the most gut-punching episodes in superhero TV history. And honestly? He’s not apologizing for it. Picture this: Chris Smith (John Cena) thinking he’s found his perfect universe, only to discover it’s Earth-X. In this twisted reality, the Nazis won World War II, and the American flag sports a swastika instead of stars and stripes. Yeah, it’s as heavy as it sounds.

The episode didn’t just drop this revelation and run. It forced viewers to confront the uncomfortable reality of what that world would look like, primarily through the eyes of Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), who experiences the terror of existing in a place where her very presence evokes fear and panic. 

Gunn told GQ’s Alex Pappademas, “The show delights me. I really do whatever I want with Peacemaker. We take chances. We go to places where I think other people are afraid to go.” And boy, did they ever go there. Here’s where it gets interesting – Gunn revealed there was “a lot of pushback from various sources within the structure” regarding this particular episode.

Translation: some executives were sweating bullets over airing an episode that tackled Nazis and racism head-on. But Gunn? He stood his ground like a quarterback in the pocket with a 300-pound linebacker charging at him. Per BleedingCool, Gunn said,  “Let’s not be bashful about this. Let’s just do the story that we want to do, and I don’t want to have to pull punches with it,” he said, showing the kind of creative backbone that’s become his trademark.

When Network Suits Get Nervous

When asked about the backlash, Gunn dropped perhaps the most mic-worthy quote of the year: “I have a few racists that have called me polarizing, but I’m okay with being polarizing and letting racists fall to the wayside.” That’s not just a response – that’s a declaration of war against the kind of lowest-common-denominator storytelling that plagues too much of television today. Gunn essentially said, “If racists don’t like my show, I’m doing something right.”

Walking the Tightrope Between Humor and Horror: The real challenge? Balancing the show’s signature irreverent humor with the deadly serious subject matter of racism and Nazi ideology. It’s like trying to juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle – one wrong move and everything goes to hell. “We’re dealing with racism and at the same time, there’s humor in this episode,” Gunn explained. “

“You’re dealing with something very delicate and yet we’re not being delicate about it—but I don’t think we’re not being delicate in a non-thoughtful way.” The key word there is “thoughtful.” This wasn’t done for the sake of shock value. When Gunn finished writing the episode, his first call was to Danielle Brooks. “I sent it to Danielle Brooks, and we had a big conversation. I wanted to make sure she was okay with everything,” he revealed.

As if wrestling with alternate Nazi dimensions in Peacemaker wasn’t enough, the episode also brought back Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, complete with some dialogue that had fans creating wild theories. Rick Flag Sr. (played by Frank Grillo), tracking down Luthor at Belle Reve for help in finding Peacemaker, added another layer to an already complex narrative.

Final Thoughts

The episode also revealed something fascinating about viewer perception. Gunn observed that many viewers, particularly people of color, immediately noticed the absence of non-white background actors in the Earth-X scenes, while others missed it entirely. It’s a subtle but powerful example of how different lived experiences shape what we see and don’t see. Peacemaker continues to prove that superhero television doesn’t have to be sanitized corporate product. Sometimes the most heroic thing you can do is hold up a mirror to society’s ugliest truths – even if some people don’t like what they see staring back at them.