The DCEU’s Superman Poop Fetish Is Deeper Than You Realize

Peacemaker episode 5 has a Superman poop fetish joke with far deeper roots than many viewers likely would have guessed. The recent release of the new DCEU series on HBO Max brings forth a lot of new things into the franchise, from the more violent aspects rarely seen in the mainstream films bar the likes of The Suicide Squad, to new figures that those not familiar with the comics may not have heard of. One of the more surprising decisions in the series is to allow Peacemaker to volley a series of increasingly intense insults and accusations about mainstream DC superheroes throughout the show, especially when his standing as a superhero is put into question. He accuses Aquaman of having sex with fishes when told that Aquaman is more famous than him, and he similarly insults Batman childishly for his “No Kill” rule.

Peacemaker has been one of the most unexpected stars of the DCEU. John Cena’s questionable superhero initially appears in The Suicide Squad, where he is revealed to be a secondary antagonist when he kills Rick Flag to hide evidence of the US’s wrongdoing. With Peacemaker seemingly killed by Bloodsport at the end of the film, the post-credit sequence reveals his survival, with Peacemaker following up from this point and revealing what happened after the vigilante recovered from his injuries. Given Christopher Smith is a regular human whose only abilities come from years of combat training from his cruel father, it makes sense that Peacemaker is bitter enough at superheroes who either have powers or are simply more successful than him – but this isn’t the only reason that seems to be behind him stating that Superman has a poop fetish.

One particularly fourth-wall breaking reason appears to have at least slightly played into the insult. Co-creator Joe Schuster – the man who designed Superman’s iconic costume and symbol – secretly also created fetish art for a period of time. Despite his work on what many now know as a comic book icon, Shuster didn’t reap much of its financial rewards, and his declining finances convinced him to start accepting commissions for erotic and horror books. With this in mind, Peacemaker’s jab at Superman can be seen as a meta reference to one of his creator’s pasts, which has inadvertently become a part of Superman’s comic legacy.

This said, there are also explanations for this strange comment in-universe. Christopher’s opinions on Superman may have heavily been poisoned due to his father’s bigotry, given that his racist ideology likely made him blindly hate the Kryptonian. The White Dragon’s backwards views could well have shaped Christopher’s perception of metahumans growing up, especially those of other planets and races, and especially of Superman. All this would explain why he genuinely seems to believe that Superman has a poop fetish, as he has other similarly childish beliefs from lies his family taught him, such as believing in the existence of “butt babies” because his brother convinced him some children are born by being excreted.

As it always is, there’s more to something than meets the eye. Just like how there’s more to Superman than is often understood, there’s more to this throwaway joke by Peacemaker as well. This theme of peeling back a layer and exploring beneath the surface is something that will probably be explored deeper in the future of Peacemaker and the rest of the DCEU – although it’s certain it’ll often be concealed in surreal lines as well.

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