James Gunn Explains Why He Cut a Hitler Joke From PEACEMAKER Season 2
Peacemaker Season 2 has been delivering some wild and surprising storylines, but one joke didn’t make the cut. James Gunn recently revealed that he decided to remove a Hitler gag from the latest episode of his hit DCU series.
Fans have been following John Cena’s Chris and the 11th Street Kids as they stumble into an alternate reality ruled by Nazis. Chris, in his usual clueless fashion, thought this new world might actually be a decent place to live until the horrifying truth was revealed at the end of Episode 6.
During Peacemaker: The Official Podcast, Gunn explained why he axed a particular sequence that pushed the Hitler imagery a little too far.
Jennifer Holland, who plays Emilia Harcourt, shared, “They actually had a bunch of the guys shave Hitler mustaches, and they had to keep these on them for days while we were shooting.”
Gunn then elaborated, saying, “Harcourt says to Peacemaker, ‘You don’t notice the copies of Mein Kampf on every desk?’ And then she points to these guys standing next to the copier and says, ‘What about all those stupid little mustaches?’ And there are all these guys with Hitler mustaches. The lame little mustaches looked too cartoony for me, so I cut it.”
The scene might have leaned too heavily into parody, which explains why Gunn thought it was better left on the cutting room floor.
Still, fans who watched Episode 7 know that Hitler references are all over the place in this reality, even without the mustache gag.
The first seven episodes of Peacemaker Season 2 are now streaming on HBO Max, with the big finale arriving October 9, 2025.