Actor John Cena surprised audiences when he made his debut as Peacemaker in James Gunn’s DC film The Suicide Squad. The movie was a major success for the DCEU, and characters like Peacemaker blew up in popularity. So much, in fact, that Peacemaker now has his very own TV series on HBO Max. Interestingly, however, there were a variety of Marvel and DC roles that John Cena was actually denied in the past. While he’s hit a home run with Peacemaker, it clearly took some time for John Cena to be trusted with portraying a superhero character. Now he’s opened up about some of the roles he was rejected for in the past.
While speaking with Josh Horowitz for the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, he went into detail over the roles he was rejected for before landing Peacemaker. It’s especially interesting that he tried to land a role not just with DC, but Marvel as well.
Here’s what he said:
I talked to @JohnCena about all the superhero roles he lost out on, from Shazam to Cable. Thankfully it all led him to Peacemaker. pic.twitter.com/yqSMM83iVk
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) January 14, 2022
Indeed, it appears that John Cena lost the opportunity to play characters like Shazam for DC and Cable for Fox’s Deadpool 2. Nevertheless, it seems like Peacemaker was a role made for the actor. Especially with the incredible release of the new HBO Max series, fans just can’t get enough of the character.
It’s unknown what other roles John Cena could’ve been rejected from getting to play, but it’s surprising to see what he has tried to audition for. John Cena clearly had a desire to get into the superhero genre, and after so many attempts, he finally reached his goal. It’s a great story and makes watching The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker that much more enjoyable. He’s clearly happy playing in the DC sandbox, and fans are clearly happy watching him give it his all. Hopefully there will be plenty more to come.