Peacemaker Season 2 Drops 2025’s Funniest Line — And Cements Vigilante as DC’s Deadpool

Peacemaker came back this year — retcon and all — and brought one of James Gunn's most deranged delights with it: Vigilante. And because season 2 loves chaos, we get two of him. Somehow, that turns into the purest, dumbest, most heartwarming laugh I had in 2025.

The moment: Vigilante vs. Vigilante-2

Peacemaker season 2 leans into the multiverse bit hard. Everyone meets an alternate version of themselves; some of those collisions are actually rough. The best one is not. In episode 6, the 11th Street Kids crack open a portal to this interdimensional zone called the Quantum Unfolding Chamber — and they do it in Adrian Chase's basement, through that totally-not-creepy secret room he has.

The door opens. Another Vigilante wanders in. Adrian pulls a gun. The other guy yanks off his mask and drops the quickest explanation imaginable.

'It is me! I am you from another dimension. My keys worked to get in here!'

'Are you fucking kidding me?'

Then, together: 'We Spider-Man-memed!'

Yes, they literally point at each other like the meme. And yes, that means Spider-Man is a known fictional character in the DCU. Nerdy, ridiculous, perfect.

The scene keeps going — they immediately bond, compare notes on hobbies, and gossip about Peacemaker-2 — but the instant recognition and that line reading sold it for me. I have replayed their first 10 seconds together at least 50 times. Freddie Stroma flips from murder face to golden retriever in about two beats, and the grin hits teeth-first. It is aggressively wholesome from a guy who, let us be honest, is written with very antisocial vibes. Best joke of the year.

Which Vigilante are we dealing with here?

On the page, Adrian Chase is a district attorney who moonlights as a no-nonsense crimefighter — basically DC's attempt at the Daredevil archetype. In Gunn's DCU, he plays more like DC's Deadpool cousin: chatty, cheerful, brutally efficient, and notably asexual. Season 2's multiverse detour just doubles the absurdity.

Stroma's take, and why it works

Freddie Stroma has said the character really starts with James Gunn's scripts, and then it is on him to layer in whatever is rattling around inside Vigilante's head. That freedom to invent weird inner logic is all over moments like the basement meet-cute, and it is why the joke hits so cleanly.

Fun casting wrinkle you might not know

It is hard to picture anyone else as Adrian now, but the role originally went to Chris Conrad (yep, Julie's boyfriend in The Next Karate Kid, and Johnny Cage in 1997's Mortal Kombat Annihilation). Back in 2021, Conrad exited Peacemaker over creative differences after shooting five episodes — including part of the finale. James Gunn has been polite but blunt about it: super talented guy, just not aligned with where the show was going. Stroma first came in to do ADR on some of the masked Vigilante scenes and ultimately reshot them entirely.

Season 1 reminder of the brand of stupid we are talking about

My favorite Vigilante beat from season 1 is still the car scene where Peacemaker scrolls Adrian's Google history and finds a search for Taylor Swift sexy butt. Adrian calmly explains he searched that because he wanted to look at pictures of, well, Taylor Swift's sexy butt. The delivery is the joke.

Other 2025 comedy beats that wrecked me

• The Naked Gun, the snowman bit: Director Akiva Schaffer somehow had never seen either Jack Frost movie — not the horror one with the knife-wielding snowman, or the family film where post-Batman Michael Keaton dies and comes back as a snowman. The obliviousness makes the gag even funnier.
• Final Destination Bloodlines, Erik's epiphany: An ad-libbed 'Is that why he always wanted to play catch?!' lands way harder than it has any right to in a Final Destination movie.
• One of Them Days, the loan scene: Dreux and Alyssa try to get financing, and the banker absolutely loses it — full-on tears — after seeing his credit score. Painfully relatable, brutally funny.
• Weapons, the seven hot dogs: Setting out seven dogs for three people is a weird flex until you realize it is a nod to a Whitest Kids U'Know sketch, a quiet tip of the cap to Zach Cregger's late friend Trevor Moore.

The short version

Peacemaker season 2 toys with the multiverse, and somehow the cleanest, most joyful payoff is two Vigilantes discovering each other in a basement. It is silly, meta, and delivered with sniper precision by Stroma. If you know, you know. If you do not, you are in for a treat.

Peacemaker season 2 is streaming now on HBO Max.