Living cartoon John Cena to battle actual cartoon Wile E. Coyote
Cena is set to star in cartoon legal comedy Coyote Vs. ACME
It’s not especially novel to note that John Cena has the face of a big, cheerful cartoon character. Cena’s ability to contort himself into extreme expressions of sadness or delight has been a big part of his rise as a comedy star over the last few years, with both sides of the equation getting full display in HBO Max’s recently renewed Peacemaker.
Now he’s set to pit that rubbery mug against a literal Looney Tune, with Warner Media announcing today that the former wrestling star will be starring opposite Wile E. Coyote in a new live-action/animation hybrid movie, Coyote Vs. ACME.
Per Deadline, said film is based (extremely loosely, we’re going to guess) off of a 1990 New Yorker story by Ian Frazier, which imagines Mr. Coyote finally getting fed up and suing the ACME Corporation for all the defective rocket sleds, spring shoes, and myriad explosive devices that have backfired on him over the years. (The main joke—and it’s a good one—being the description of all those absurd cartoon shenanigans in the driest legal language Frazier can muster.)
Cena is set to play one of the main antagonists of the piece, the lawyer representing ACME in the ensuing suit. (And the former boss of the “billboard lawyer” Wile E. hires to represent him.) And, like, yeah: We have absolutely no problem with the thought of John Cena getting mad at a variety of cartoon characters while they take the witness stand to testify about ACME’s various mail-order monstrosities.
Coyote vs. ACME is being directed by Dave Green, who most recently helmed the second Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Out Of The Shadows, back in 2016. The script is being written by Samy Burch. Cena, meanwhile currently stars on Peacemaker; the show’s first season finale will air this Thursday.