‘Peacemaker’ Star John Cena in Season 2, ‘Brawl Stars’ with SpongeBob
Actor John Cena recently lent his talents to a marketing campaign for Supercell’s mobile game ‘Brawl Stars’, introducing a collaboration with Nickleodeon’s ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ to mark the cartoon’s 25th anniversary.
Although it was a seemingly strange star choice to promote the Paramount-Supercell team, Cena explained Variety how his passion for mobile gaming and his history with the WWE make him a good fit to lead the promo for the ‘SpongeBob’ tie-in.
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s strange at all. I think about every four seconds I’ve heard a statistic about SpongeBob being talked about on social media,” Cena said. “So that’s even before the WWE level. It’s just one of those characters that resonates with multiple generations. So while I’ve never been involved in the ‘SpongeBob’ world, nor has SpongeBob ever won a steel cage match, I think the personalities and the shows have had such a long time behind them. They are all very big, they are very overwhelming, they appeal to everyone. It’s humor that kids can get, that adults can get, they’re multi-generational brands. So in that respect we drive on similar circuits. I think there are a lot more similarities than you would think.”
Supercel/Paramount
General Manager of the “Brawl Stars” brand at Supercell Frank Keienburg says their choice was about “an opportunity to tap into the nostalgia and celebrate the enduring appeal of these two beloved icons.”
“SpongeBob Squarepants has a history of breaking the fourth wall and featuring celebrities throughout the history of the franchise,” Keienburg said. “For our part, we wanted to add another unexpected layer to our partnership, while bringing on board someone who is a long-time fan of Supercell games and loved by our fans. “Many of our players grew up watching ‘SpongeBob’ and followed John’s journey as a WWE wrestler and actor, and we love his energy.”
As for how the crossover between Supercell and “SpongeBob” will work in “Brawl Stars,” Cena teased a massive overhaul of one of his favorite games from now until October 2.
“Over the next month, ‘Brawl Stars’ will be a whole new world,” Cena said. “It’s almost like SpongeBob’s universe has been invaded. So if you are a famous player, it’s cool to bring out new challenges and new power-ups. That is a process of trial and error. You might lose a few testing the waters, but hopefully you’ll get the hang of it and start kicking things around a bit. There are some great new characters and new gameplay.”
When Cena isn’t hard at work promoting the new ‘Brawl Stars’ collaboration with Bikini Bottom, he’s filming Season 2 of James Gunn’s ‘Peacemaker’ – but he’s keeping tight-lipped about plot details or when the Max series returns.
“We are busy. That’s the safest answer I can give without someone knocking on my door and telling me I’m fired,” Cena said. “Personally, I’m very happy, so I hope this translates to everyone anticipating it.”
He actually shares a little more when he presses how long the wait has been, especially regarding James Gunn and Peter Safran’s takeover of the DC Universe at Warner Bros. Discovery since season 1 of “Peacemaker” aired in early 2022.
“What you have to understand and keep in mind is that I am the guy who plays Peacemaker,” Cena said. “So when we come out with a show and it’s the No. 1 show on Max and finally we take a character that should be dead, we bring Peacemaker back to life, and people enjoy the universe and want to see more of it it – but then you have a shift in the structure of who’s in charge at DC. James and Peter both called me and said, ‘You know what, we want to take some time to get this right. But it will take some time.’ So it was crazy to know that we did something that people want, they want more of it, let’s do it again. And everyone says, ‘No, wait, we have to do a few things first. And we have this whole plan, and it’s all going to work together. So as long as you trust us, everything will be fine.” And it seems like forever ago, now that we’re filming every day, it seems like it’s just around the corner that we’re watching season 2.”
