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James Gunn came to prominence as a superhero director with 2015's Guardians of the Galaxy, but his first foray into the genre came five years earlier. 2010's Super was an independent film that blended superhero iconography with a stark tale of mental illness, physical assault, and gruesome death. It's easily the darkest film I've seen in the genre - but a crucial scene from Peacemaker season 2, episode 2 may just top Super's inherent horror.
Before we get into it, be aware that we'll be discussing spoilers for Peacemaker season 2, so if you want to stay totally fresh, make sure and turn back now.
Last chance, Peacemaker season 2 spoilers ahead
While it may seem a far cry from James Gunn's bright and hopeful Superman movie, the director got his start making gross-out horror movies for low-budget indie studio Troma, best known for the Toxic Avenger franchise.
Those sensibilities have followed him through many of his superhero movies, including, of course, the notoriously gruesome The Suicide Squad, Creature Commandos, and Peacemaker. But it's Super, in which Rainn Wilson takes on the role of a hallucinating vigilante in a homemade costume who beats people with a wrench, that most seamlessly blends the madcap horror of his early career with the superhero action of his more recent movies.
Super is just about the most harrowing superhero movie I've ever seen, with a level of unbridled violence that is only barely hidden behind a colorful sheen that makes the movie's most gut-wrenching moments even more impactful.
However, there's a scene in Peacemaker season 2, episode 2, written by Gunn and directed by Superbad filmmaker Greg Mottola, that's so far beyond anything Gunn has presented before that I was legitimately taken aback by the overwhelming sense of emotional dread it stirred up in me.
In the scene, Peacemaker enlists Vigilante to help him dispose of the body of his alt-reality doppelganger, who he accidentally killed at the end of episode 1. Vigilante brings an assortment of bone-saws, leading to an absolutely mind-boggling scene of Peacemaker essentially dismembering himself, right down to dropping his own head on the floor before throwing each part into an incinerator.
Watching this scene is exactly the kind of nigh-traumatic thrill that fans have come to expect from Gunn's stories, but the added layer of imagining how bizarre it must have been for Peacemaker actor John Cena to bloodily dispose of a replica of his own body adds another dimension of eye-widening angst.
The whole scene is also played without jokes - aside from Vigilante's bizarre excitement - with Gunn and Mottola leaning directly into the drama of such an unthinkable scenario and leaving viewers with pits in our stomachs.
With two episodes of Peacemaker season 2 out now, the series has shown no signs of slowing down, instead ramping up to new levels of intensity. New episodes of Peacemaker season 2 premiere every Thursday on HBO Max. You can also stay up to date on all the upcoming DC movies and shows in the works with our handy listing.
