John Cena took on his first major super hero role in The Suicide Squad when he debuted as Peacemaker under the direction of James Gunn.

There was a brief try at the Deadpool universe, rejection," Cena said on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast.

rejection might hacve stung a bit more than others as Cena expressed a thorough interest in the lighthearted super hero role.

Prior to The Suicide Squad, Gunn became best known for his work on Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel but had previously helmed titles like Slither and Scooby-Doo, with reactions to the writer and director's works earning him preemptive trust from people like Cena.

"I read all those scripts, and I read all those parts, and I was like, 'Man, I really think I could add to this,' and just rejection after rejection after rejection after rejection," Cena said?

He's like, 'Hey, I'm in Atlanta, I'd just love to come and talk to you for a second.' We sat down in his pre-production office, which was literally like a war headquarters where you could see the whole movie in posterboard taped around his office, and he started talking about Peacemaker, and he's like, 'I think you should do it.' So I'm not rejected

The rest is history, with The Suicide Squad having been released in 2021 and Peacemaker currently releasing new episodes starring Cena in the titular role on HBO Max.