John Cena’s name is among the A-lister professional wrestlers working decades in the World Wrestling Entertainment creating a persona loved by most professional wrestling fans. His attitude, connection to fans, and in-ring performance elevated his successful WWE journey.
John Cena made his Hollywood debut in the 2021 movie F9 of the Fast & Furious franchise. He will reprise his role in Fast X. Later, he got into playing DC antihero Peacemaker in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, further reprising the role in his solo show based on the character. The show received critical accolades and instant popularity among fans for being hilariously entertaining.
John Cena Tried His Luck for a Big Superhero Breakthrough
Despite his immense popularity, John Cena had to work hard for being in a superhero movie aiming for a big breakthrough. Reportedly, the wrestler-turned-actor has auditioned for the role of Shazam in DCEU and Cable in the Marvel film Deadpool. Later, Zachary Levi played Shazam while Cable was played by Josh Brolin in Deadpool 2.
“I can’t tell you how many superhero roles I’ve been rejected for. Shazam is certainly one. I think like a child, so Shazam was super interesting to me…And when I read the script, a lot of times, like… this is the thing, I don’t chase ‘I want to do this,’ I always have to read it,” Cena told The Happy Sad Confused podcast host Josh Horowitz.
Even after rejection, Cena admitted that he kept trying, “There was a brief try at the Deadpool universe, rejection. There were a few in the Marvel universe, rejected. But you know, I keep trying,” the actor said. Eventually, his hard work paid off after landing on the commercially successful action-adventure Fast & Furious franchise after the departure of his fellow wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson from the series. Later, the actor became DCEU’s funny and elegant Peacemaker.
Landing on DCEU’s Pacemaker
John Cena’s WWE character was quite similar to Peacemaker, they are both funny, sometimes aggressive, and loaded with attitude. Cena admitted that he maintained his former in-ring characters while in the business and doing the same for the Peacemaker, wearing the Peacemaker costume in almost every interview. “I would be in all interviews in the John Cena outfit of a ball cap, T-shirt, shorts and wristbands,” the actor said adding that people began to associate and become familiar with that character.
“I operate under the construct of opportunity will find you and just be ready to answer the door when it does,” Cena told Esquire Middle East. He also said that the quest to seek opportunity is not easy.
“I’m not sure I was James’ first choice for Peacemaker. And I don’t care. Because I eventually was asked, and when asked you do the best you can deliver.”
“I have a huge gun as a compensation issue, a bright costume because I don’t want to blend in and I wear a toilet seat on my head. My slogan is, I love peace enough to kill men, women and children to defend it. That’s an oxymoron in itself. So as you can see, I’m pretty f*cked up,” he added.
James Gunn’s Peacemaker is both funny and elegant but always ready with a twist of turning into something dark.
Also read: “People are tired of seeing him win”: WWE Legend Claimed John Cena’s $80M Wrestling Fortune is a Lie
Getting a Solo Show After the Film
The reprisal of his character on the HBO Max show was partly the product of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic lockdown, the show’s creator James Gunn was stuck inside while the character inspired him to write the show. Initially, Gunn wrote the show just for fun after wrapping up The Suicide Squad.
“This series was a thought after the movie was done. The pandemic situation was tough on every one of us, but I’m grateful that James had some time alone with his thoughts, because he was able to use his twisted brain and come up with a narrative for Peacemaker, but it all happened after the fact. So it’s not like I got an opportunity from the beginning. I was never like, ‘yo, I’m going to parlay this into a spin off.’” Cena said.
Further, Cena said that Gunn has called him out of the blue and was about to ask him for playing the role again but the actor did not let him finish his sentence and said “yes” immediately. The Peacemaker actor also said that usually he read the script before committing to a role but the experience working with Gunn was so great that it did not require anything of the sort to accept the role.
Peacemaker is streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Esquire Middle East.
