Clearly, if the Sons of Liberty might be simply decimated by an out-of-costume Chris Smith, as we noticed in the latest episode of Peacemaker, then they’re no bother for Superman. However the Sons had been launched at a time when DC was attempting to inform extra grounded, related tales in regards to the Man of Metal. Most of the key concepts from these authentic Sons of Liberty tales really feel ripped the headlines: the Sons of Liberty are a variation of the right-wing paramilitary teams that popped up on the time, whereas the reveal {that a} Liberty founder was collaborating with the fictional nation of Qurac mirrored the actions of Oliver North through the Iran-Contra scandal. These tales, together with an unrelated storyline occurring on the identical time with a street-level hero referred to as Gangbuster, compelled Superman to rethink the American Method for which he stood.
Entertaining because the tales had been, they did make for an odd match for Superman. That may be why, when the Sons of Liberty had been reimagined as a extra violent right-wing terrorist group after DC’s smooth reboot Rebirth, they had been pitted towards C-list hero the Ray.
The Sons of Liberty make much more sense as antagonists for Peacemaker. In his authentic incarnation at Charlton Comics, Peacemaker ultimately labored with a company referred to as the Pax Institute. Though offered as benevolent—in the identical means that Chris’s dedication to peace by means of violence was offered with out self-conscious irony—it’s not exhausting to see the Pax Institute as a terrifying shadow governmental group just like the Sons of Liberty, which is strictly how Grant Morrison offered it within the 2014 riff on Watchmen, The Multiversity: Pax Americana. In mainline DC Comics, Chris is the son of a Nazi struggle legal and later finds redemption by means of the Peacemaker Challenge and later the intelligence group Checkmate (assume A.R.G.U.S. however with extra pageantry).
For the DCU model of Peacemaker, the Sons characterize a highway not taken for Chris. The affect of his white supremacist father Augie might have simply led him down a highway the place he might have joined a model of the Sons of Liberty, turning into their Agent Liberty. As a substitute, he’s been attempting to vary his methods and develop into a greater man. Then once more, the way in which he brutally dispatches the Sons within the newest episode of Peacemaker means that he isn’t as removed from these methods as he could have thought.
Most of all, the Sons of Liberty characterize hope for Chris Smith. If even a nothing character like Agent Liberty can be part of the Justice League, then perhaps there’s hope that Peacemaker might be accepted, if not on the Justice League then perhaps the Justice Gang.
