James Gunn Puzzled by Controversy Over Fortnite’s Peacemaker Dance Emote

In late September, Epic Games withdrew a Fortnite emote inspired by the opening dance from James Gunn’s Peacemaker season 2 after viewers raised concerns that the choreography could be interpreted as resembling a swastika. The controversy followed a plot beat in which John Cena’s character discovers an alternate reality where the Nazis won World War II and a white-supremacist regime shaped society. The emote was later returned to the game in an altered form. Fortnite · Peacemaker season 2 · coverage.

Steve Agee, who plays the beleaguered tech operative John Economos, told Polygon that DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn — the show’s writer-director and the filmmaker behind the Guardians of the Galaxy films and the 2025 Superman — was mystified by the reaction. DC Studios story · Superman review.

“I talked to James about this just about a week and a half ago,” Agee said. “He told me he was completely perplexed. Our choreographer, Charissa Barton, didn’t have the scripts when she created the routine — she didn’t even know Nazis were part of this season. Any likeness to a swastika was accidental.”

Agee drew a direct line between the season 2 opener — set to Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord” — and the show’s first-season intro, whose eccentric choreography became a viral moment and even helped revive interest in Norwegian rock band WigWam. Season 1 intro · Billboard on WigWam.

“If you watch season 1’s moves, they’re odd in the same way,” Agee explained. “They aren’t conventional — they’re strange body positions and little gestures. Season 2 amplified that style. Charissa created the routine without the scripts and actually saw the episodes for the first time when they aired.”

He also described the season 2 sequence as a much larger production. “We filmed it over two days. The first one was shot in a small school gym in a single day; season 2 was on a major soundstage at Trilith Studios with big lighting rigs and an LED backdrop. It was a bigger undertaking, but at its core it felt akin to the original in how we learned and shot it.”

Barton’s method was granular: she taught small groups only their brief snippets — often just a four-second section — recorded them on phone video, and sent that footage home so each performer could practice their piece. “We learned tiny sections,” Agee said, “she’d film you and send the clip for rehearsal, though I’ll admit many of us probably didn’t practice a ton.”

Despite the oddness of the moves, Agee found season 2’s routine a touch easier. “Both songs are weird to dance to,” he said. “‘Oh Lord’ is poppier and a little simpler to move to; WigWam’s track is more rock-forward. I’m no dancer, so they were both challenging — not because of the music so much as my own lack of skill.”

Both seasons of Peacemaker are streaming on HBO Max.

Source: Polygon