It’s the most joyless dance in TV history — and that’s exactly why it works. At FanExpo Denver, Peacemaker star John Cena pulled back the curtain on the now-iconic opening credits sequence that took the internet by storm in early 2022. With deadpan faces, awkward gyrations, and a glam metal banger blaring in the background, the intro to James Gunn’s superhero satire became an instant cult favorite. But as Cena revealed during a panel hosted by Collider’s Maggie Lovitt, the cast didn’t exactly get it at first.
“I’ll give you a tale of two cities. So the dance sequence was written in the original script of the original [pilot], and it was written as you see it — like we go through this crazy collaborative dance where we have no expression, and again, we’re breathing heavy, and you still see no expression.”
According to Cena, the whole thing sounded ridiculous on paper — and honestly, it felt even more ridiculous while filming it, but despite early skepticism, the cast eventually warmed up to it. Rehearsals began, footage came in, and something clicked.
“And for two days, we thought it was the stupidest thing. And everybody was like, too cool for school. But they eventually got some tapes where we all went along and we all did practice. You know, did the stuff.”
John Cena Says More Dancing Is Coming in ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2
The result was an opening that captured the strange, heartfelt, and completely un-self-conscious tone of Peacemaker — and gave viewers a reason to never skip the credits. The dance went viral, with fans recreating it across TikTok and YouTube. Even critics praised it as one of the best TV intros of the decade. With Peacemaker Season 2 on the horizon, after Gunn finished his work on Superman, Cena teased that the dance tradition isn’t going anywhere — and this time, the returning cast is fully onboard.
“Season 2, man. You can tell that new members of the [cast] are like [disgusted, confused tone] what is this dance thing? While the Season 1 members of the cast are like [excitedly] what is THIS dance thing?”
He ended with a note of thanks to the fans who embraced the meme-worthy opening from the beginning, and who made the moment so iconic:
“So I really appreciate you guys enjoying the dance so much, because, gosh, we put our heart and soul into Season 1. Man. Did we prep for Season 2? We got to do so many dances.”
Peacemaker Season 2 will premiere on August 21, 2025. Stay tuned at Collider for more from Fan Expo.
