Who Is White Dragon in Peacemaker? (Origins & Powers)

DC’s Peacemaker series has finally arrived and although this fun-filled bag of chaos has yet to offer us its full slate of episodes, there’s more than enough for us to analyze from the very start. Peacemaker brought back some familiar faces but it also introduced some new characters to the plot. One of them is Auggie Smith, Peacemaker’s father, who is also the supervillain White Dragon. In this article, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about the White Dragon from the Peacemaker series.

In DC’s Peacemaker series, the character of White Dragon is actually Auggie Smith, Peacemaker’s father. In the series, he is played by Robert Patrick. The series’ version of the character is a white supremacist and is somewhat different than the original comic book version of the character. As of yet, we have to see just how big of an impact the character is going to have on the plot of the series.

The rest of this article is going to bring you everything we know and everything you need to know about the character of the White Dragon in the HBO Max Peacemaker television series. This article is going to be your ultimate guide to the character and his role in the series.

Who is Peacemaker’s dad, the White Dragon?

In the first episode of the Peacemaker television series, Robert Patrick’s Auggie Smith is introduced as the Peacemaker’s cunning and racist father. When Christopher Smith comes back to his family home to retrieve Eagly, his sidekick, we are introduced to his father, a conservative old man, a racist, and someone who expects his son to kill “commies”. We don’t know where that came from, really, since the Cold War has been over for several decades, but hey – why not!?

In the second episode of the show, we see Auggie Smith end up in prison for the crimes that Christopher Smith did, which is part of Argus’ plans and machinations. All seems fine and dandy until we actually see that Smith Senior has a large, cult following in prison, as he is “outed” as the supremacist supervillain White Dragon. This sets up a very political plotline as the Peacemaker investigates Project Butterfly, which seems to be connected to the White Dragon.

More information will be revealed in the forthcoming episodes, in which we are going to see just how big of an impact the White Dragon is going to have on the plot of Peacemaker.

Who is playing the White Dragon in Peacemaker?

Auggie Smith, the White Dragon, is played by veteran actor Robert Patrick, known for his roles in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The X-Files. Patrick decided to become an actor at the age of 26. Not finding a job in Hollywood, he left to work for the Filipino cinema and made a series of films between 1987 and 19881.

Doing his stunts himself, he was seriously injured during a shoot and ended up returning to the United States. He initially found only a few small roles but got his breakthrough in 1991 via his interpretation of the T-1000 (a killer robot with the ability to change shape until it becomes completely liquid) in the second part of the Terminator saga.

Although having only a dozen lines in this film (just like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the first part), the terror he inspired made a lasting impact. His other notable films include Andrew Bergman’s Striptease in 1996, James Mangold’s Cop Land in 1997, Robert Rodríguez’s The Faculty in 1998, The Goats of the Pentagon, and Lovelace in 2013. He also played agent John Doggett in The X-Files.

White Dragon: Origins

The character of the White Dragon is somewhat different. In the comics, White Dragon is actually a stock name used by several supervillains traditionally associated with white supremacy. The name is understood to be a reference to the Ku Klux Klan. William Heller was the original Dragon, a neo-Nazi in powerful armor. Heller was a member of the Aryan Empire, the Fourth Reich and the Suicide Squad.

His successor was Daniel Ducannon, an enemy of Hawkman. Chop-Chop also briefly used the alias as a hero, fighting the Japanese invaders in his native China. White Dragon was created by John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell and first appeared in Suicide Squad #4 (1987). Here, we are going to talk about the original White Dragon – William Heller.

William James Heller grew up in a wealthy family. As a child, he was friends with Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot (you would not really call them friends). As an only child, he grew up a spoiled loner. One day his family got into a race riot and his parents were both killed. Heller moved in with his grandfather, who had supported the Nazis during World War II.

Under his grandfather, the boy developed from a conservative to a racist. When his grandfather died, he left his entire fortune to Billy, who used it to fund several neo-Nazi groups and white supremacists. Later he founded his own white supremacist group called Aryan Empire. To achieve his goals, he took the name William Hell and became a masked vigilante.

He delivered black, Latino, or Asian criminals to the police while sending white criminals to the nearest Aryan Empire headquarters. Black Orchid monitored the man and the Suicide Squad was sent to take him down. Later, Heller emerged in armor and under the name White Dragon. He joined the Fourth Reich and tried to wipe out the descendants of the original Justice Society. He was defeated and imprisoned by Hawkman.

White Dragon was later recruited by the Suicide Squad. From the beginning, he rebelled against Amanda Waller and even tried to kill her during a training exercise, but his armor was booby-trapped to electrocute him to ensure his obedience to Waller and Task Force X. White Dragon sided with the General (Wade Eiling) when he tried to overthrow Waller and kill the rest of the squad. As the two groups clash, Twister uses her illusion powers to take out Heller.

Meanwhile, the General fights Multiplex, and a thrown Duploid lands on Twister, breaking her concentration. This gives White Dragon the edge he needs and he incinerates Twister. Twister’s death, however, has enraged her friend Plastique, who viciously attacks Heller by breaking a hole in his mask, causing an explosion in Heller’s armor that kills him instantly.

Ultimately, it is not known whether Auggie Smith is just a successor of William Heller within the DCEU, which means that Heller actually exists in the DCEU continuity or a completely new character that is a full replacement for Heller in the DCEU canon.

White Dragon: Powers

As far as his powers are concerned, William Heller has no superpowers at all. Some later iterations of the White Dragon did have them, but as far as Heller is concerned – he’s just your regular supervillain. He is an exceptionally skilled marksman, but he’s still not even near the likes of Deadshot or Bloodsport; how he compares to the Peacemaker has yet to be seen.

His other “power” are his excellent hand-to-hand combat skills, but even in that category, he doesn’t compare to the likes of Deathstroke, Bronze Tiger, or Bane. White Dragon is, thus, a normal supervillain whose ideological madness is what actually makes him so dangerous.