John Cena's Acting Journey: From The Marine To Peacemake

Robert Patrick addresses how much John Cena has grown as an actor since their first collaboration. John Cena’s first major movie was The Marine (2006), where he played Sergeant John Triton opposite Patrick’s gang leader character, Rome. The Marine was panned in its reviews and has a 17% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Almost two decades later, Cena and Patrick reunited after being cast in Peacemaker. Cena plays the titular character, Christopher Smith/Peacemaker, while Patrick plays his father, Auggie Smith/White Dragon. Despite Auggie’s death in season 1, an alternate dimension introduces a new version of the character in Peacemaker season 2.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Grant Hermanns for the return of his charitable Love Ride event, Patrick recalls how Cena “didn’t know what he was doing” when they were filming The Marine. Now, Patrick commends Cena for having “risen so well” and compares him to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who went from being a bodybuilder to an action star who excels at humorous performances.

He now believes that Cena has “unlimited” potential and notes how their previous acting history enhanced the dynamic between Chris and Auggie, even though James Gunn was not initially aware of this connection. Check out Patrick’s comments below:

And it’s neat for me to have sat back and watched John Cena, doing the first movie with him, where I’m his antagonist in The Marine, and to see the growth of him as an actor. Back then, he didn’t know what he was doing, and John was the first one to admit it. He was going around to people on set, “What can I do to be better?” He’d ask anybody that, and with an attitude like that, it’s obviously why he’s risen so well and become a prominent actor today. The interesting thing, too, you think about it like with how Arnold was the bodybuilder and created that look for action star. Bruce Willis was the antithesis of that, he was the average Joe. And then Sly with Rambo was a fit guy, but with Rocky, there was the whole bodybuilding aspect of the superhero portion of his career as well. And then John, having been a wrestler with a bodybuilder’s build, he’s got that physique that would, obviously, push his career into a specific direction. And, I think now with Peacemaker, to a certain degree, John’s career is a lot like Arnold’s, in that he went for humor. So, it’ll be interesting. I think it’s unlimited with John. That guy’s amazing. There’s not a day I went into the makeup trailer he didn’t have a book in front of him. It was easy for[us], I think, that was built into the history of Auggie Smith and his son, Chris, was the fact that John and I had a chemistry, we had a history, and we fell back on that. James just stumbled upon that. He didn’t know anything about it.

Peacemaker‘s reviews consistently praise Cena’s performance, including the balance of heart, emotional vulnerability, and humor he brings to the character. Unlike The Marine, both seasons of the series have received acclaim, with season 1 receiving a 93% critical score, followed by season 2’s 94% score.

Reviews and fan reactions to Peacemaker, season 2, episode 7 were particularly complimentary to Cena and Patrick, as critics and fans praised them for delivering some of Chris and Auggie’s most emotional and devastating moments yet in the entire show.

It is largely because of the DC series that Cena is now seen as “a prominent actor” and not just as a WWE star who has appeared in movies and shows. Cena has a number of confirmed projects releasing in the coming years, including the long-delayed Coyote vs. Acme, the action-comedy film Matchbox, and the comedy movie Little Brother.

While there are no current plans for Peacemaker season 3, Gunn has confirmed that Chris will return in future DCU stories, especially after Peacemaker season 2’s cliffhanger ending, and it has been speculated that he will be in 2027’s Man of Tomorrow movie. Regardless of Peacemaker’s DCU future, though, it is now well established that John Cena is a respected actor who can take on a wide range of roles.