Chris Smith made his live-action debut in 2021's The Suicide Squad, with a post-credits scene setting the stage for the villain to return in his own HBO Max TV series, Peacemaker.
That redeemed the former Task Force X member in the eyes of fans, proving there was much more to Rick Flag Jr.'s killer than initially met the eye. John Cena has done some of the best work of his career as the anti-hero, but James Gunn didn't always have him in mind.
Talking to Howard Stern, the DC Studios co-CEO confirmed that he wrote the Peacemaker character with Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista in mind.
"It was Dave Bautista. He's a good friend of mine," the filmmaker shared. "Obviously, he plays Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, and I wrote the character of Peacemaker for him, and we offered him the role, but he was offered two movies, and we weren't paying him a lot, and so he had to go where the money was."
At least one of those movies is thought to be Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead. It's wild to think how different things might have been had Bautista ended up playing the DCU's Peacemaker, and he missed out on a big recurring role by declining a low-paying gig in The Suicide Squad.
Gunn later said that he'd "always been a fan" of Cena's, and appears to have no regrets about casting another professional wrestler as Chris Smith.
Last year, Bautista was asked about potentially joining James Gunn's DCU. "For forever, it was Bane. When I was younger, I wanted to play Bane; it was like a dream role for me," he shared. "And I got to a point in my career where I just felt like I was just too old to play Bane. I think the physicality of it, at this point in my career and my life, I just wouldn't be able to do the character justice."
The Dune star added, "And then I saw somewhere online that someone posted something of me playing Lex Luthor; an older Lex Luthor. I kind of became obsessed with that idea. Obviously, they moved on from that idea, so at this point, I'm struggling to find my place in the DC universe. But I'd really be up for anything."
You can hear more from Gunn on what might have been with Peacemaker in the player below.