Peacemaker may be nearly a month beyond its season finale, but the truly unique series is still fresh in the minds of countless fans who still haven’t gotten their fill of profanity, gory superhero action, and some wicked glam rock. Luckily for those who may have let the show begin to fade from their consciousness, series creator James Gunn has at least one more surprise. He just posted a nifty little reel showing off some of Peacemaker’s impressive visual effects, and it’s just about as cool as a man hugging an eagle.
Posting the video on Twitter, as is tradition for all his biggest announcements, Gunn must have been particularly proud of how Peacemaker turned out visually, because the short VFX reel spans most of the series in only a couple of minutes. Previous spotlights and callouts have given props to the show’s stars, like John Cena (Christopher Smith/Peacemaker), Danielle Brooks (Leota Adebayo), Freddie Stroma (Adrian Chase/Vigilante), Chukwudi Iwuji (Murn), Jennifer Holland (Emilia Harcourt), Steve Agee (John Economos), and Robert Patrick (Auggie Smith/White Dragon). But this one gives all the glory to the awesome (and often brutal) digital effects brought to life by the show’s VFX crew.
Almost anyone watching will notice how much blood and gore is present in the video. It’s a Gunn production, after all. But what’s interesting is how much work goes into those shots, like digitally enhancing a practical model of a certain character’s exploded face to make it even more gnarly. Viewers also get a glimpse behind-the-scenes at some stunts seen in the show, particularly featuring Nhut Le’s Judomaster.
One tragic truth that the video busts wide open is that Eagly, Peacemaker’s best friend who is also an eagle, is fully CGI. That’s right, there was never a real eagle on set, not even for Cena to hug during those tender moments. But considering how fans pretty much immediately fell in love with Eagly, that’s got to be a testament to the team’s expertise. The folks at Weta Digital, who famously worked on the effects for The Lord of the Rings movies, can be credited with bringing that lovable featherball to life. Meanwhile, voice actor Dee Bradley Baker (known for voicing the clones in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and virtually every other animated production) used his talent for animal sounds to take on Eagly’s audio aspect.
A lot of ground gets covered in a short amount of time, from the shocking (and kind of sad) Butterfly takeover of the police station to Economos’ big darn hero moment by way of a chainsaw and a gorilla. It’s a particularly interesting look into what goes into fine-tuning a show like Peacemaker. Visual effects don’t always get the appreciation they deserve, so it’s nice to see this little shout-out.
With effects this good, Gunn and his crew have their work cut out for him if they want to outdo themselves for Peacemaker season 2. Maybe they should have Eagly fight a giant wasp or something. Everybody hates wasps, right?
Peacemaker is available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: James Gunn/Twitter
