Spider-Man: No Way Home both have parodies of Alex Jones' InfoWars site. The American conspiracy theory website has repeatedly published stories proven to be fake, resulting in many social media platforms banning its content entirely. Thanks to fake news shows in both No Way Home and Peacemaker, the MCU and DCEU now have satirical versions of InfoWars in their respective franchises.
J. Jonah Jameson's journalistic attacks on Spider-Man have been an iconic part of the character's comic book history for decades, and No Way Home cemented Jameson's inclusion in the MCU with his outlandish conspiracies. Jameson infamously latches on to a part of the truth without investigating it further, he pushes questionable supplements during his show, and he wholeheartedly and instantly believed Mysterio's accusations against Peter Parker at the end of Far From Home, trying to find more supposed proof of Spider-Man's villainy to share with the public. Peacemaker episode 1 incorporated a more comedic and subtle example when Christopher Smith visited his father and a conspiracy theorist on the TV argued that liberals were disguised aliens. This was far from Peacemaker's only instance of the media twisting facts.
First and foremost, "fake news" commentary in both No Way Home and Peacemaker was meant to grapple with the nature of hero work. Superheroism necessitated having one's every move scrutinized, and No Way Home and Peacemaker addressed how easily insidious misrepresentation could twist one's public image. In any story, the label of hero and villain depends entirely on where a person is standing. Both Peter Parker and Christopher Smith understand this, and while Peter struggles to respond to leaked information about his identity in No Way Home, Chris is more proactive in his approach to the media. In Gunn's The Suicide Squad movie, he immediately turns on an ally who threatens to release evidence of the U.S. government's involvement in illegal activities. Such exposure would have greatly hurt America's image and negatively affected the country's future, which was more important to Peacemaker than the truth.
This debate between what is true and what is right is one that Spider-Man and Peacemaker both have had to face, but Peacemaker more directly tied its commentary to real life. When announcing the series, James Gunn said that "Peacemaker is an opportunity to delve into current world issues through the lens of this superhero/supervillain/and world's biggest douchebag." True to his word, the first target for Peacemaker's Task Force X team, who was a climate change advocate, prompted a discussion meant to comically parallel real conversations about whether climate change was real or a hoax. Accusations about "fake news" have taken center stage in recent years, especially surrounding the last few American presidential elections, and such controversies have clearly influenced the DC series. Being American is an integral part of Peacemaker's identity, as evidenced by his pet eagle and costume's red, white, and blue color scheme, so it makes sense that the show would address the ways in which media could alter facts, even if indirectly.
Spider-Man: No Way Home and Peacemaker both contain InfoWars parodies as commentary on misinformation, specifically that which ruins a hero's public persona. Christopher Smith and Peter Parker have two very different approaches to their public image, as Peter seemed happiest operating out of the limelight with very few people aware of his alter ego, whereas Chris was very concerned with how he was perceived by others. Even when just gazing at an X-ray of his chest, he requested an updated version with increased contrast in order to better highlight how well he took care of his body's minor muscle groups, even though only he and his doctor would ever see it. Regardless of these differences, both the MCU and DCEU seem set on critiquing misinformation in the media.
