James Gunn captivated audiences with the season 1 musical intro to Peacemaker, where the whole cast performs an absurd 1980s rock-inspired dance sequence with deadly serious faces. A video of the sequence set to Wig Wam’s “Do Ya Wanna Taste It” has accumulated more than 20 million views on YouTube. So Gunn sought to match that energy in Peacemaker season 2 with a new opening dance sequence, set to Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord.”
Fortnite sought to tap into the excitement of the Peacemaker season 2 debut in August with the launch of a Peacemaker cosmetics set and a “peaceful hips” emote based on the first few seconds of the intro performed by Peacemaker (John Cena). However, Epic Games announced on Sept. 28 that it was disabling the emote and issuing refunds as it tries to ascertain the intentions behind the dance moves in light of the big twist in season 2 episode 6, “Ignorance Is Chris.”
[Ed. note: Major spoilers ahead for Peacemaker season 2, episode 6, “Ignorance Is Chris.”]
The intro references some elements of the plot of season 2, where Peacemaker visits another dimension where his brother Keith (David Denman) and father Auggie (Robert Patrick) are still alive. Both characters appear in the intro dancing with an alternate version of A.R.G.U.S. agent Emilia Harcourt. Episode 6 confirms a fan theory that this other world is Earth-X, a DC Comics universe where the Nazis won World War II.
That reveal led to increased scrutiny of the opening choreography. While all the dancers go through a series of odd, stiff movements, Cena flaps his arms in a way that makes them briefly form the shape of a swastika before he starts thrusting his hips and twirling Holland. This moment is part of the Fortnite emote, and it’s understandable that Epic Games doesn’t want players dancing their way into Nazi iconography.
There’s another moment in the intro where Cena flexes with one arm and then thrusts out his other in what could be interpreted as a Sieg Heil salute. All of the denizens of Earth-X replicate the original swastika-like arm gestures in their portion of the dance, providing further evidence that choreographer Charissa Barton may have very intentionally hidden clues about the season’s plot twist in her moves.
Update (Oct. 1): Epic Games says it plans to alter the Peacemaker “Peaceful Hips” emote in a future update after discussions with Warner Bros.
“We’ve worked closely with our partners at Warner Bros. Games to confirm there were no creative intentions to connect the Peaceful Hips Emote and the current Peacemaker storyline,” the company wrote on its Fortnite Status X account. “To avoid any confusion, we’re modifying the Emote choreography in next week’s update. If they prefer, players can return the Emote without using a ticket.”
