The original Charlton version

The Charlton Year
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Christopher Smith grew up the only child of an army officer turned statesman father and a research scientist mother. His skill at flying fighter aircraft, interest in science and wealth came from them both. Smith, himself, became a pacifist diplomat working as a U.S. Peace Envoy for the Geneva Arms Conference.

While trying to nullify an international madman named Bork, Smith discovers simple diplomacy wouldn’t work. Smith loved peace so much that he was willing to fight for it. When more diplomatic means failed, Smith adopted the identity of Peacemaker to use more extreme tactics in his quest for peace. Using his hobby as a master weapons builder, Smith crafted a costume and developed numerous non-lethal weapons for his Peacemaker identity. Bork confronted Smith in the air by firing missiles at him. Smith managed to redirect those missiles and blew up the jet bomber Bork was in. From that point on Smith would use the Peacemaker identity whenever he felt it was needed.

Smith operated from his private chateau in the Swiss Alps. The cliffs below his home secretly concealed his activities as the Peacemaker.

 

DC: A New Beginning

Peacemaker comes to DC on Earth-4

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Peacemaker, along with other Charlton heroes acquired by DC, was introduced into the DC Universe by means of the Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series. In the epic adventure that destroyed DC’s Multiverse the Charlton characters were revealed to have existed on Earth-4. Their Earth along with Earth’s 1, 2, S and X were the only surviving Earths, which ended up converging into a singe “New” Earth.

Peacemaker played a small role in the series, fighting beside heroes of all five Earths against the Anti-Monitor. Peacemaker’s last appearance in the series had him fighting the Anti-Monitor’s Shadow Demons. Unable to save the Earth-2 Green Arrow, Peacemaker was caught by surprise when a Shadow Demon touched his gun. The gun exploded in Peacemaker’s hand, causing him great and agonizing injuries. However, Peacemaker seemed to survive and his next appearances began to reveal DC’s reboot of the character.

Peacemaker was now Christopher Schmidt, only son of Austrian munitions manufacturer Wolfgang Schmidt and American children’s book author Elizabeth Lewis. Christopher’s toddler years were pretty typical for a child of his social and economic class. However, Christopher’s life quickly changed as his father’s past was soon revealed when WWII documents obtained by the were opened. Wolfgang Schmidt had been an officer in the Nazis’ elite SS corps. and responsible for the deaths of over 50,000 innocent lives. Knowing his arrest was imminent, Wolfgang committed suicide right in front of Christopher on his 5 birthday

His mother Elizabeth, wanting to erase the taint of evil her husband soiled her with, quickly relocated from to her native with Christopher and legally changed their last name to Smith. The death of his father and constant upheaval at such an early age left Christopher severely traumatized. Christopher became unruly and a bullying throughout his adolescent years. When he turned 18 he enlisted in the military, which seemed to have a positive influence over him. In a couple of years he was recognized as an exemplary soldier.

His unit was sent to where he continued to serve with distinction and was promoted to sergeant. During the tenth month of his tour Christopher lead a scouting mission on a small village suspected of harboring enemy North Vietnamese troops. For no apparent reason Christopher fired upon the village inhabitants, killing old men, women and children. Christopher was court-martialed and sentence to life imprisonment at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.

Near the end of his second year of imprisonment, Christopher was offered a pardon if he joined Project: Peacemaker, a top-secret, high-tech, independent anti-terrorist squad. Eight months into the program Project: Peacemaker was shut down and quickly became lost in the bureaucratic shuffle. Christopher was able to walk out of the base and disappear without incident. A year later, Christopher reappears in , running his father’s businesses and heading the Pax Institute (a non-profit organization devoted to the interest of peace and providing social services to victims of terrorism the world over). The experience of the program steered Christopher to achieve its prime directive: the combating of terrorism. He took the Peacemaker name for himself and established a new costume identity.

mental state is questioned

Christopher’s sanity became increasingly unstable and his actions more violent. He began hearing the voice his father Wolfgang and believed the souls of those who fell victim to terrorism resided in his helmet urging him towards more violence and retribution. Christopher loved peace so much he was willing to kill for it. Attempts to stop his violent tendencies or control them came from the top-secret government bureau lead by Valentina Vostock called the Agency.  However, Christopher could not be contained and he began creating enemies to fight. Harry Stein and the Vigilante (Dave Winston) were two such “enemies” Christopher pursued. The Agency once again stepped in, but not before Christopher killed the Vigilante.

Despite his instability the Agency attempted to make him a field operative. They were able to recondition him so that the souls speaking to him within his helmet disappeared and he was given a live psychologist named Dr. Bridgette D’Abo, in which to resolve his fears. Around this time, Vostock relinquished command of the Agency to Harry Stein, who recreated it into a new organization, dubbed Checkmate, in relation to its chess-inspired command structure. Christopher continued to work for the newly reformed organization.

Christopher was next recruited by Amanda Waller (of the Suicide Squad) to join the Shadow Fighters, who’s mission was to free the South American country of Parador taking over by Eclipso. The first attempt failed with Eclipso killing many heroes, in which Christopher was one of them. His soul, however, lived on in purgatory, and made an appearance in Day of Judgment helping a group of heroes return to Earth.

Skills and Abilities
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Christopher possesses the physical strength and stamina of a man who engages in intense physical exercise. He’s a master of various hand-to-hand combat techniques and is a skilled gymnast. A superb marksman, Christopher is also a proficient weapons maker and pilot.

Equipment

Peacemaker's arsenal

Beneath Christopher’s Chateau, just outside , lies the base that holds Peacemaker’s armament and transportation vehicles.

Peacemaker II

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Mitchell Black was once a doctor practicing in . He performed a risky operation on a child’s pulmonary system despite the religious objections of the parents. Unfortunately the child did not survive due to post operative complications. The hospital suspended Black’s privileges and ordered a full investigation of the incident. In the end, the AMA board of inquiry revoked Black’s license to practice due to his misconduct.

Black would next be recruited by the secret organization known as the Peacemaker Project to be one of their Peacemaker agents. In return for his services the anonymous governors of the Project would reinstate his medical license and allow him to leave the organization. Under the tutelage of Salt, a former resident of Nanda Parbat and now a top administrator of the Peacemaker Project, Black is trained for combat. For short period later Black worked as part of the L.A.W. (Living Assault Weapons),  in order to stop Judomaster’s sidekick, Tiger, now Avatar and his attacks on the war makers of the world. When Black and the others put a stop to the Avatar’s plans, the governors of the Peacemaker Project refused to reinstate his license. They concluded, much to Black's dissatisfaction,  that his work was not yet over as more hostile forces were still out there that threatened global security.

Mitchell Black later died when he was shot through the chest by Prometheus in Infinite Crisis.

Christopher Smith

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Christopher Smith returns to aid the newest Blue Beetle, Jamie Reyes. Though he claims he is Mitchell Black, we later learn that he is actually Christopher Smith somehow returned. He explains that a year earlier, while fighting Intergang, he found himself in a pyramid that happened to be the same one in which the original Blue Beetle Dan Garrett found the Blue Beetle scarab. In that Pyramid, Chris came into contact with technology from the alien race THE REACH. Chris accidentally downloaded the database that was missing from the Scarab that Jamie had.

Chris worked with Jamie for a while, fighting super-villains and the Reach in . Eventually, Chris was implanted with a Scarab himself, and was subsequently approached by a yellow ring during the Sinestro Corps Special War.