Peacemaker weird superpowered helmets explained by James Gunn

From a distance, Peacemaker is clearly recognizable by a few details: His red, white and blue getup; a glowing dove on his chest, symbolizing that he cares so much about peace that he would kill for it; and a voice that really projects all his horrible opinions and theories out into the world.

Perhaps key to his looks is his silver helmet, which is quite striking for a former black ops assassin. As we will see in episode 1 of peacemaker, it comes with its own baggage and power (although the comics never really gave it much depth).

Why Peacemaker wears a silver helmet in the comics

Image: Tod Smith/DC Comics

Although some people have picked up the Peacemaker mantle over the years, the most important one (and the one James Gunn seems to have both his on The Suicide Squad

A mid-80s reboot of the character redefined his motivation. Paul Kupperberg and Tod Smiths peacemaker The miniseries revealed that he believed his dead father’s ghost haunted him and criticized his every move as he tried to fight for peace to redeem his father’s Nazi history. He also came to suspect that the spirits of those he had killed (and those being killed around him) were gathering in his helmet and commenting on him.

Additionally, the comics’ Peacemaker Helmet sometimes has a number of “useful” features that seem more general-purpose than peacemaker‘s Single Gimmick Chrome Dome: In addition to the ultrasonic beam, the helmet has a fuse for an RDX bomb, a laser beam, pocket radar, voice duplication equipment and “underwater mode” abilities.

While the helmet sometimes looks more like a sleek bullet helmet, it’s often (like The Suicide Squad noted) shaped very much like “a toilet seat”, with a huge lip around its head – exactly how it looks on the peacemaker Show.

Why Peacemaker wears a silver helmet on the show

Photo: HBO Max

In episode 1, “A Whole New Whirled”, Peacemaker trades his helmet for a ride home from the hospital. Don’t worry – it won’t be long before he gets a new one from his dad. His father Auggie is something of a tech genius who has built a surreal lab that seems to stretch on forever and no fewer than 10 helmets for Chris to grab and go.

As outlined, each helmet has a different combat ability: it could grab one that has x-ray vision or that allows them to breathe underwater. One of them allows for a full-body force field, and then there’s the sonic blast as well. At the end of the episode we see the latter helmet in action as it emits a shockwave that guts the woman attacking it.

At least (as we have seen in The Suicide Squad) it protects his head from bullets. But of course, it’s not as simple as just its useful benefits.

“He’s a guy who really, really wants to be loved,” James Gunn tells Polygon. “And one of the ways he does it is by wearing a mirror ball helmet, bright red shirt and tight white pants.

“And it’s not working for him, that’s the sad part.”

peacemakerThe first three episodes of are streaming now on HBO Max. New episodes appear every Thursday.