Peacemaker is the name of a series of fictional characters originally owned by Charlton Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. The original Peacemaker first appeared in Fightin' 5 #40 (November 1966) and was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Pat Boyette.[1]
The Peacemaker first appeared as a backup series in Charlton Comics' espionage-team title Fightin' 5 #40 (November 1966).[2] When that series was canceled with issue #41, Peacemaker received his own title lasting five issues cover-dated March to November 1967, with Fightin' 5 as a backup series and later a low reprint run on the Modern Comics imprint. Some of penciler-inkerPat Boyette's artwork for a projected sixth issue later appeared online. Following Charlton Comics' demise in the mid-1980s, DC Comics acquired The Peacemaker and released a four-issue mini-series (January–April 1988).
Fictional character biography
Christopher Smith
Pre-Crisis
The Peacemaker is Christopher Smith, a pacifist diplomat so committed to peace that he is willing to use force as a superhero to advance the cause.[3] He uses an array of special non-lethal weapons and also founded the Pax Institute. Most of the villains he goes up against are dictators and warlords.[4]
The post-Crisis version of Peacemaker differs greatly from the pre-Crisis version of the character. Smith learns that his peace-through-violence efforts were the result of a serious mental illness brought on by the shame of having a Nazi death camp commandant for a father, Wolfgang Schmidt. He believes his father's spirit haunts him continually and criticizes his every move, even as he tries to live down his past.[6]
Becoming a particularly deadly vigilante who would kill at the slightest provocation, he begins to believe that the ghosts of the people he killed, or who were killed in his vicinity, are collected inside his helmet and can offer him advice and commentary. For a time, the Peacemaker serves as a U.S. government agent under the auspices of Checkmate, a special-forces unit, hunting down terrorists until his own behavior becomes too extreme. Peacemaker plays a part in the Janus Directive and battles the Adrian Chase / Vigilante.[7] Although he is seen as a helpful ally, some of the other heroes think that he is too extreme to be helping them out. He eventually crashes a helicopter to destroy tanks controlled by the supervillainEclipso and is reported dead.[8] His soul shows up in the realm of Purgatory in the Day of Judgment series. A team of heroes has shown up to recruit the soul of Hal Jordan. The guardians of Purgatory do not like this and Peacemaker, along with other dead vigilantes, rally and provide enough of a distraction so the group could return to Earth.
Another individual appearing in the 2006 Blue Beetle series has claimed both Smith's name and the Peacemaker identity, both things confirmed by several hints, such as his catchphrase of "loving peace so much, he'd kill for it", spoken by villain Tia Amparo / La Dama to define him.[9] However, divested of his trademark helmet, he was shown using the 'Mitchell Black' identity before settling again on his real name.[10] A year prior to his meeting with the Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes), during a fight against Intergang, he found himself in a Bialyan pyramid that happened to be the same one the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett, found the scarab in years before. While inside, he accidentally came into contact with alien technology that allowed him to receive the scarab's database in his mind, explaining the inability of the Reach to control Garrett and Reyes. The Scarab was taken away with only a partly functioning AI with the higher instructions, including the ones needed to control the host, left in the pyramid and downloaded into Smith's mind.
Sensing the connection, he sought out Jaime, initially to see if the boy would become a threat but eventually becoming a reluctant partner. Upon witnessing Jaime's rebellion, the Reach implanted Peacemaker with a scarab himself,[9] which was dormant until a Sinestro CorpsPower Ring contacted the AI and assigned him control of Space Sector 2, including the Reach Empire. He was sent to kill Jaime, but Jaime interfaced with Smith's scarab and helped him face his inner fears. Gathering enough courage for a last stand, Smith forcibly cut the scarab from his spine, leaving him injured but not dead.[11] He helped defend Jaime's family from a Reach attack, and has continued to serve as a sort of mentor to the third Blue Beetle. At the conclusion of the Blue Beetle volume, Peacemaker leaves El Paso. Before he departs, he bids farewell to Jaime and advises him to learn to become his own man.
Another operative using the name Peacemaker appeared in Justice League International #65 as a member of the "League-Busters".
Mitchell Black
Mitchell Black, a surgeon, was recruited by the "Peacemaker Project", an organization unaffiliated with the Pax Institute and the US government's "Project Peacemaker". Black would reappear in the miniseries titled The L.A.W., reunited with the other heroes acquired from Charlton. As a team, they investigated a powerful being targeting military facilities.
On Earth-Four, Christopher Smith is the son of an unnamed diplomat who built a special body armor and fought in troubled areas as Peacemaker.[14]
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline, Peacemaker is among the Earth-Four heroes who were mind-controlled by Psycho-Pirate into attacking Azrael, Blok, Flash, and Martian Manhunter at the time when the Harbinger sent them to rescue Earth-Four's superheroes. After Psycho-Pirate was defeated, Peacemaker and his fellow Earth-Four superheroes agreed to help them fight the Anti-Monitor.[15] Peacemaker of Earth-Four is among the superheroes that took part in the fight against the Anti-Monitor during the event when the Multiverse was created.[16] Peacemaker would later find himself on New Earth after the Multiverse was folded into it by Spectre.[17] Peacemaker of Earth-Four was among the superheroes who fought the Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons. He was unable to get to Green Arrow of Earth-Two in time as he is killed by one of the Shadow Demons. When Peacemaker was falling after a Shadow Demon came in contact with his gun enough for an explosion to happen, he was saved by Halo. After the Anti-Monitor was defeated, Peacemaker of Earth-Four faded from existence.[5]
Kingdom Come
The Peacemaker makes a minor appearance in flashbacks in Kingdom Come #2 as a member of Magog's Justice Battalion.[18]
In the final issue of the 2006 - 2007 series 52, a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities. Among the parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-4". As a result of Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-4, including Peacemaker and the other Charlton characters. The names of the characters are not mentioned in the panel in which they appear.[20] Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-4.[21] The Earth-4 Peacemaker also appears in Multiversity: Pax Americana #1.[22]
The Christopher Smith incarnation of Peacemaker, based on the DCEU version, appears in Mortal Kombat 1 via the "Kombat Pack" DLC, voiced by John Cena.[30]
References
^Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 228. ISBN978-1-4654-5357-0.
^Morris, Jon (2015). The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half Baked Heroes from Comic Book History. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Quirk Books. pp. 178–179. ISBN978-1-59474-763-2.
^Wells, John (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 133. ISBN978-1605490557.
^Markstein, Don. "The Peacemaker". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
