PEACEMAKER (post-Flashpoint)
Real Name: Christopher King
Class: Parallel Earth (Earth-4) human technology-user
Occupation: Superhero
Group Affiliation: Pax Americana
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Washington, D.C. (Earth-4)
First Appearance: Fightin' 5 #40 (Charlton) (December, 1966)
Powers: Peacemaker was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, and firearms expert, proficient at sniping. The Peacemaker wore body armor, and was equipped with billyclubs, drones and a jetpack.History: (The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1) -A man named Harley discovered Algorithm 8, a solution to world peace, and the revelation of the structure of the universe. He came up with a plan to execute the algorithm, but to do so he need an America inspired by real life superheroes, in with all their gaudy colors and wish fulfillment seen in the comic books. He created the persona of Peacemaker, a man who loved peace so much he’d fight for it, and assigned it to Christopher King. As Peacemaker, King was equipped with high-tech weapons and armor. Harley, now governor, had Peacemaker make his debut in 2005, effortlessly stopping a terrorist attack on President Bush. In 2008 Harley was elected President, and formed the Pax Americana, a super team to bring peace to America. Peacemaker had suggested the name Justice League of America, a reference to a popular comic book, but Harley promised them that their team identity had been perfectly crafted. Harley explained his grand scheme to Peacemaker, who shared what he knew to his lover Nora O’Rourke. Captain Atom had created a mobius strip that could solve Algorithm 8, a cure for world peace, but Harley had to die to accomplish his goals. He chose Peacemaker to be his executioner. O’Rourke was murdered shortly after Peacemaker unburdened to her. In 2015 President Harley was shot dead by Peacemaker. Harley had planned his own sacrifice, and was working on a scheme of redemption that relied on Captain Atom being able to restore him from the dead. Vice-president Eden took control of America, and declared the superhero dead. Peacemaker was brought to the interrogation room, and given a savage beating by Sarge Steel, refusing to explain his action.
Comments: Created by Joe Gill & Pat Boyette.
The characters of Watchmen were originally intended to be the Charlton Comics heroes, recently acquired by DC. When Alan Moore was unable to use them due to editorial decree, he created analogs. The story of Pax Americana is a homage to Moore’s work, with the cast of Watchmen now replaced by the aforementioned Charlton characters.
PEACEMAKER I
Real Name: Christopher Smith
Class: Human technology-user
Occupation: Mercenary, President and chairman of the board, Smith Enterprises, Ltd. and Pax Institute
Group Affiliation: Checkmate
Known Relatives: Elizabeth Lewis Schmidt (mother, deceased), Wolfgang Schmidt (father, deceased), unnamed great-grandfather (deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Geneva, Switzerland
First Appearance: Fightin' 5 #40 (Charlton) (December, 1966)
Powers: Peacemaker was a master combatant, a sureshot with firearms, and an expert pilot. Peacemaker usually flew a modified Hughes AH-64 Apache assault helicopter when traveling long distances. He used a mini-jet backpack which allowed him to fly. He had a vast array of weaponry and war machines maintained in a cavern beneath his chateau on the shore of Lake Geneva. Peacemaker wore a battlesuit that provides resistance to damage and a belt which held explosive pellets, nerve gas, ammunition and a miniature tool kit. Peacemaker wore a helmet equipped with cybernetic circuitry that controlled his jetpack and allowed for remote-control over his various aircrafts. The helmet also contained an all-band radio transmitter and an ultrasonic stun beam.History: Christopher Schmidt was the son of Austrian munitions manufacturer Wolfgang Schmidt and American children's book author Elizabeth Lewis. When Christopher was a child his father was exposed as a member of the Nazi Party who ran a Polish concentration camp during WWII. Rather than be tried for war crimes, Wolfgang committed suicide, an act witnessed by five-year-old Christopher. Elizabeth took Christopher to America, changed their name to Smith, and settled in her native Baltimore. Christopher was traumatized by his father's suicide, becoming rebellious and aggressive. Despite this he was also driven to academic and athletic achievement. His drive came from the idealized fantasy of his father, who, dressed in Nazi regalia, would appear to him at night and push him to work harder. This fantasy never left Christopher, even when he enlisted in the army during the Vietnam War. Urged by the voice of his father, he led an unprovoked massacre of a Vietnamese village. He was tried and convicted by the military, and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment.
Several years later he was offered early release in exchange for participation in a classified Pentagon program named Project: Peacemaker, designed to create a secret military elite to combat terrorism. Christopher excelled in training for the program, but Project: Peacemaker's funding was cut before it was completed. Its New Mexico facilities were deactivated, but through a bureaucratic snafu, Christopher was given his freedom. His mother had died while he was in prison so he saw no need to return to America, and returned to Austria to assume control of his father's business empire. Feeling that warfare had ruined his life, he dissolved Schmidt Munitions and converted the business to manufacturing household appliances. Christopher also founded the Pax Institute, a Geneva, Switzerland organization dedicated to the pursuit of peace and caring for the victims of warfare. He then started his own Project: Peacemaker, with himself as the self-appointed peacekeeper. As Christopher Smith he would combat war as an international negotiator, but as Peacemaker he would fight fire with fire.
Peacemaker operated on his own until his identity was discovered by Valentina Vostok's Agency. She threatened to make him serve the rest of his prison sentence unless he joined the Agency. He consented, although he disliked having Vostok as his keeper.
(Vigilante I #36-38) - Valentina Vostok ran the secret government Agency despite orders from the President to disband. She employed Peacemaker, who went off the reservation to take on the Lebanese People's Liberation Army. who'd hijacked a plane in NY. General Peterson told her Peacemaker was mentally unstable believing the souls of those he killed entered his helmet and having arguments with them, and a liability who should be taken care of. Peacemaker boarded the plane, shooting three of the terrorists, but Vigilante, who'd heard about the situation on the police band, arrived to make sure Adrian Chase, his predecessor who was on the plane, was okay. He grabbed Peacemaker, not knowing if he was one of the good guys or not, and Peacemaker flipped out, shooting him to death before departing. Adrian blamed himself, and took on the mantle of Vigilante again to kill Peacemaker. One terrorist Jhamed, escaped in the confusion, and Peacemaker went looking for him. Valentina tried to cover up Peacemaker's actions, and when her agents spotted Adrian wearing the Vigilante mask she decided to take care of him if he compromised her Agency by going after Peacemaker. Valentina sent Agency members in a helicopter to retrieve Peacemaker, but he shot them down, and debated killing Valentina if she kept interfering in his mission. Jhamed was set to leave on a ship, shielded by terrorist allies, and Valentina had recruited Vigilante and his ally Lt. Stein to help with the Peacemaker situation. Vigilante went in blasting, killing a number of the terrorists, and Valentina chastised him, saying that Peacemaker would never show up during such carnage. She was wrong, as Peacemaker was present, and believing she brought Vigilante there to kill him he pointed a gun at her, and Vigilante drew his gun on him. Stein reminded them that they still ahd terrorists to deal with, and Vigilante and Peacemaker begrudgingly teamed up to systematically kill them. Jhamed fled the ship, and after an argument Vigilante killed him. Peacemaker was furious that Vigilante took what he saw as his kill, and they started brawling. A journalist was nearby, and recorded the fight. Peacemaker unmasked Vigilante, and Adrian Chase's secret identity was broadcast to the world. Valentina's agents broke up the fight with a hail of bullets, but both men slipped away, vowing to continue their fight to the death another time.
(Vigilante I #41) -Peacemaker vented to the voices in his head the disappointment he felt at leaving Vigilante alive, calling him a cold-blooded murderer and failing to see the irony. His paranoia and delusions drew a connection between Vigilante's handler Lt. Stein and PLO terrorist Achmed. He was convinced the two were one and the same, and decided to return to America to kill him.
(Vigilante I #42, 43) - Valentina and Lt. Stein finished a congressional hearing about the Agency when the Peacemaker confronted them, opening fire and accusing Stein of infiltrating the Agency as a terrorist. Valentina slowed him down in hand-to-hand combat, and Stein hotwired a car so they could flee. They went to a government safehouse, but Peacemaker, disguised as a janitor, found them and started shooting again. Government officers responded, and Peacemaker was forced to flee. Agents hit the streets to find Peacemaker, but he'd been watching the building and chose that moment to strike again. He refused to listen to reason from Valentina and Stein, but they were saved by the newly arrived Vigilante. They knocked out Peacemaker, and Valentina told the MP to lock him in a cell after a thorough search, reminding them how dangerous he was.
(Showcase '93 #6-11) - Peacemaker had sworn to reclaim his family's land in Poland after the communists ere gone, and he made a trip to see his great-grandfather's house. He encountered guards, who chased him off, telling him a corporation was leasing the property. Peacemaker used his jetpack to fly past the guards onto the property, and encountered a half-reptilian Kobra operative, who he gunned down. His father's ghost appeared to him demanding he defend his family's rightful property and shouted that the reptiles were half-breed mongrels. Peacemaker did his best to block out his father's hateful speech, but Kobra became aware that someone was on his property and sent more reptile soldiers. Peacemaker was outgunned, but was saved by the mercenary Deathstroke, who'd decided to make a courtesy call on a fellow merc. They were forced to make a strategic retreat in a helicopter, but were pursued and crashed in Germany. Peacemaker had a near meltdown arguing with his dead father, who berated him for leaving the family estate, and told him that if he had a choice he wouldn't have a son. The mercs gunned down two more reptilian soldiers, and Deathstroke studied their facial structure and recognized them as kidnapped children that he'd been hired to find. They brought the reptile to Peacemaker's home in Geneva and had Peacemaker's assistant examine it. Kobra sent the assassin Deadshot after them, but they subdued him. The reptile regenerated and attacked Dominique, but Deathstroke beheaded him. Peacemaker profoundly apologized to Dominique for involving her in his troubles, but she was nonplussed. The mercs offered to hire Deadshot to kill Kobra, but he told them it would kill his business. Deathstroke and Peacemaker knew Kobra worshipped chaos, and told Deadshot he was probably planning on killing him too. Deadshot was skeptical, but told them that would change things. Kobra sent his soldiers to kill the lot of them, and Deadshot was convinced that he should team up with the mercs. They sent him after Kobra hile they snuck into the Prague Electronics Trade Fair, where Kobra's cover company Cortex International was selling high-definition televisions made of radioactive material that would sap the ill of anyone who watched them. Deathstroke and Peacemaker were captured by Kobra's bodyguard Gennifer Devereaux, but were saved by Katana, who was also investigating Kobra. They pursued Kobra to his Japanese base, but were attacked by the brainwashed Dr. Light. Light presented her prisoners to Kobra, and he ordered her to execute them, but her moral code helped her shake off the brainwashing. The heroes defeated Kobra and blew up his headquarters, but Kobra escaped in a sub.
(Eclipso #11-13)-Peacemaker and a band of superheroes went on a mission to kill Eclipso, god of vengeance. The mission turned into a route, and Peacemaker was murdered by Eclipso.
(Day of Judgment #3) - Peacemaker was sent to Purgatory when he died. When several heroes traveled to Purgatory to find a new host for the Spectre, Peacemaker and many other heroes volunteered, but Green Lantern Hal Jordan was chosen. Keeper angels tried to keep Hal from returning to Earth, but Peacemaker and the other fallen heroes fought the Keepers long enough for Hal to leave and save all of creation from Asmodel.
Comments: Created by Joe Gill & Pat Boyette
In the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe Peacemaker I lived on Earth-4
Peacemaker was originally published by Charlton Comics, which DC obtained the rights to in 1983.
Peacemaker received profiles in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #17, Who's Who Update '87 #4 and Who's Who in the DC Universe #5.
Peacemaker had a cameo in Vigilante I #50.
In Bizarro Comics #1 Mr. Mxyzptlk beamed information about all of Earth’s superheroes into Bizarro-Superman’s mind, hoping to teach him how to be a proper hero. Afterwards Bizarro had images of various heroes, including Peacemaker, wandering through his head.
All characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com