DC Studios co-head and Peacemaker creator James Gunn is known for writing strong female characters, but the filmmaker has now explained why he's never been a fan of the "perfect female badass" trope we see so often in comic book/action movies and shows.
While Peacemaker's Emilia Harcourt is obviously a formidable fighter and a powerful female presence, the show - season 2, especially - makes it very clear that the former A.R.G.U.S. agent is a flawed person who is dealing (so far, unsuccessfully) with some major issues.
"As a female, you don't always get to play very three-dimensional, complicated characters," Jennifer Holland said on the latest episode of Peacemaker: The Official Podcast. "Either women are really mean and terrible or they're really nice, sweet and lovely. You [Gunn] add a lot of dimension to your characters."
"They're all people," Gunn responded. "There are differences between the sexes, obviously, but we're way more alike than different. When I came into [Hollywood], the female characters were always just perfect for the most part. As time went on, the quote-unquote 'female badass' started to occur. I also didn't necessarily like that because they weren't badasses like Star-Lord's a badass or Deadpool's a badass. They didn't have personalities. They were still perfect badasses. So, being able to allow flaws in those characters was, to me, the coolest thing you could do."
What do you make of Gunn's comments? Do you think characters like Emilia Harcourt have enough depth to avoid the usual "female badass" stereotypes?
Season 2, episode 2 of Peacemaker is now streaming.
Critics were only provided with the first five episodes for review purposes, and Gunn recently explained why.
"I am the one who's keeping the three episodes away from everybody because there are too many surprises in those last three episodes," he revealed. "Especially 6 and 8, they are just crazy, my favourite things I've ever done of anything."
Will David Corenswet's Superman make a cameo? That's the prevailing theory, but there's a chance Gunn will take the opportunity to reintroduce some characters from The Suicide Squad.
"The new season follows Christopher 'Chris' Smith, aka Peacemaker, the vigilante Super Hero as he struggles to reconcile his past with his newfound sense of purpose while continuing to kick righteous evil-doer butt in his misguided quest for peace at any cost.
In season 2, Peacemaker discovers an alternate world where life is everything he wishes it could be. But this discovery also forces him to face his traumatic past and take the future into his own hands.”