Peacemaker’s season 2’s orgy scene fails a test The Boys totally nailed

If there’s one thing I know about John Cena, it’s that he’ll gladly strut around in tighty whities or bare his naked ass at every opportunity, and Peacemaker season 2 wastes no time proving it in episode 1 with an outrageous superhero orgy. Halfway through the episode, we see Christopher Smith (Cena), a.k.a. Peacemaker, is feeling down. He’s just been rejected by James Gunn’s Justice League equivalent, the Justice Gang, and also struck out with his former handler Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland). His solution? Smoke dope and snort booger-sugar into a match-cut that lands him in the middle of hosting an orgy in his living room.

The whole thing feels sudden and unnecessary, even if it’s mostly played for a quick laugh. The scene is so random, I briefly wondered if it was a hallucination, until black-ops tech guy John Economos (Steve Agee) peeks into Chris’ window and confirms to his own handlers that the “group sex” is very real. Did the orgy participants slip in from another dimension? Did they just show up for the cocaine? Who knows? Either way, it feels inconsistent with Peacemaker’s world and more like a tacked-on attempt to ride an unusual superhero trend.

Ever since The Boys blew the doors open with its infamous “Herogasm” episode in season 3, superhero sex has become a recurring gag with diminishing returns. Many of these sexcapades feel like a flex against Marvel Studios’ infamously prudish take on intimacy. But what made the sex humor work in The Boys wasn’t just the shock value or marketing buzz, it was the fact that the show’s world is built on irreverence: a worst-case mirror of ours where apathy bottoms out and debauchery peaks. (That same logic even fuels the steamy dorm-room chaos in its college-set spinoff, Gen V.)

In The Boys, the gag works because it’s woven throughout the episode as a full set piece and an annual event within the narrative, not just tossed in for a quick laugh like in Peacemaker. While the original DCU backdrop of Peacemaker season 1 had its own brand of sexual adventure and chaos, the new season’s random orgy feels less consistent with the world James Gunn is rebuilding around his 2025 movie Superman.

Group sex hasn’t always been treated as a punchline in superheroes and sci-fi storytelling. Netflix’s original series Sense8, about eight people across the globe with quasi-superhero abilities thanks to their psychic link, used it as a sensual expression of self-acceptance, love, and connection. A season 1 orgy challenges one central character’s sexual identity and liberates others in his group, while showcasing how these “Sensates” can bridge the distance between them through heightened experiences or emotions. The series also closes with another celebratory orgy, marking the heroes’ victory over the villains and their newfound freedom to live as they please. I had to visit an actual porn site to find a clip of Sense8’s first orgy, which is played artfully, whereas I could effortlessly find clips of Herogasm on YouTube, likely because it’s played for jokes.

The trope seen in Sense8, where a science fiction scenario leads to erotic breakthroughs, is often referred to as the “Free-Love Future”, where monogamy breaks down, sometimes for better or worse, and everyone is free to sleep with everyone else as a basic right. In shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who, group sex often signals societal progress or depicts worlds where people are free to live without judgment. It can also highlight a descent into loveless debauchery, like in Brave New World.

The Boys clearly leans into the latter. While a Peacemaker orgy could have worked as a tongue-in-cheek nod to societal freedom, it instead lands in a messier, more exploitative portrayal of group sex, filled with drug use and a sad, unfulfilled Peacemaker. In a world where metahumans have existed for 300 years (per Superman’s opening exposition), you’d think society would be chill about sex (why not have sex unabashedly when a kaiju could flatten your city tomorrow?) It would certainly say a lot more about the new universe Gunn is reimagining. Instead, the orgy lands as a confusing gag that’s more baffling than funny. Maybe it’s just a nod to HBO’s long-established interest in catering to “the perv side of the audience,” and pushing creators to pack their shows with naked people, even if that means awkward moments like the famous Game of Thrones-esque sexposition dump.

The eight-episode second season of Peacemaker premiered on HBO Max on Aug 21. Further episodes roll out on Thursdays through Oct. 9.