Peacemaker's History
Early Life
Christopher is the son of Austrian industrialist Wolfgang Schmidt, and American author Elizabeth Lewis. He was born in New York City, but raised in Austria.
His father committed suicide in 1955 after secrets about his past in the war came to light. He had commanded a Nazi concentration camp in Poland, and had war crimes on his name. Christopher, five years old, witnessed the event, which traumatized him. The trauma would define his life, and his relation with his father.
Elizabeth returned to the United States with her son and changed her name to Smith. Christopher had difficulty fitting in, and became rebellious and aggressive. He began to see visions of his father in an SS uniform, speaking directly to him. Wolfgang urged Christopher to excel in academia to be worthy of his legacy, and he did.
Vietnam War
The day he turned 18, Christopher enlisted in the army. The war was in its final days when Sergeant Smith was assigned for his first tour.
After an error from military intelligence and urged on by the voice of his father, Christopher Smith inadvertedly massacred a village full of innocent people. As he was in charge of the unit, he was made the sole scapegoat. A court-martial sentenced him to 20 years to life in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. His mother died while he was in jail.
Project: Peacemaker
Christopher Smith was given a parole, provided he worked with the US Government on Project: Peacemaker, an elite, secret police force that fought terrorism. Urged on by the voice of his father, Christopher accepted and excelled in his training. The program was shut down before it could start, but Christopher was freed anyway.
Christopher returned to Austria to head his father's business. He changed the main production lines, from ammunition and weaponry to household appliances. Now a millionnaire, he lived the life, and eventually settled in Switzerland. He founded the Pax Institute in Geneva, a charity dedicated to helping war victims. In the capacity of chairman, he started his own Project: Peacemaker. His goal of peace he wished to achieve in two ways: in his civilian guise with the charity, and as the masked Peacemaker. Peacemaker, a one-man-army with high-tech weapons, became an important part of his life, and his father's spirit kept harassing him to become more and more extreme. His mental illness also became worse, as he thought the souls of those he could not save lived in his helmet.
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Peacemaker battled the Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons in Philadelphia alongside the Cyborg, the Vigilante, Wildcat, and Son of Vulcan. During the battle, Peacemaker suffered a debilitating head injury. The damage to his brain may have pushed him over the edge into insanity.
Government Service
After the Agency figured out his secret identity, Peacemaker was shanghaied into service. Agency chairman Valentina Vostok used his services, and saw to it that he went to therapy with Dr. Bridgette D'Abo to temper his psychological problems.
After the Agency was dissolved, Peacemaker briefly worked for Checkmate. After that, Amanda Waller recruited him in the Shadow Fighters. Their mission was to rescue a girl in Parador. The Shadow Fighters faired badly against Eclipso, who had taken over the country. While piloting a helicopter, Peacemaker was brought down. The entire team was reported killed in action.[3] Smith's apparent spirit showed up in Purgatory during Day of Judgment.
One Year Later
Years later, now much more mentally stable, a somehow resurrected Christopher Smith stumbled upon the tomb of Kha-Ef-Re when he was fighting Intergang. He discovered some alien tech belonging to the Reach. He courageously downloaded the Reach's infiltrator program into his mind. After seeing the horrible images of what an infiltrator could do, he set out to El Paso to see the person the programming was meant for, Jaime Reyes.
