King Shark (The Suicide Squad) Papercraft by Aybek Oxmonaliev x DavidA3D

24 Nov, 2021

Suicide Squad (2016) did receive a lot of criticism, but the film was a huge success in terms of revenue. As a result, Warner Bros. is confident to work on its standalone sequel, entitled The Suicide Squad. Interestingly, the film was directed by the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy series, namely James Gunn.

At the end of March, Warner Bros. and Gunn have finally released the trailer for The Suicide Squad. The trailer features many new characters that didn't appear in the previous film. There is one character in the form of a half-shark that steals the attention in the trailer, namely King Shark. Despite appearing brutal in the trailer, King Shark has a fairly cute appearance.

Before seeing the appearance of King Shark in The Suicide Squad, let's look at the facts about this DC villain!

1. Real name Nanaue, King Shark first appeared in the comic Superboy #0 which was released in October 1994.

The character created by Karl Kesel is described as a half-shark human born in Hawaii. His father is a shark god named Chondrakha, while his mother is a human whose name is unknown. King Shark did appear for the first time in Superboy #0, but his appearance in the comic is arguably very short.

In Superboy #0, an organization called Silicon Dragons frees King Shark from prison to hire him. Instead of thanking him, King Shark killed the person who freed him. The appearance of King Shark in Superboy #0 was also made mysterious, even his face was not shown in its entirety.

After DC Comics teased King Shark in Superboy #0, the villain finally appeared fully and later became the main villain in the comic Superboy #9 which was released in November 1994.

2. Debuting in the form of a white shark, DC transforms the King Shark into the form of a hammerhead shark.

As you can see in the image in the first point, the King Shark appears in a form that is more like a white shark on its debut. However, when DC Comics rebooted through the comic arc The New 52, DC decided to change the appearance of the King Shark by making it more like a hammerhead shark.

Not only in comics, but DC also changed the appearance of King Shark in the animated film Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014). In the film, the King Shark doesn't look like a shark at all. The villain is even more like a large human with somebody's features like a shark. His face was also put on a metal mask that made it impossible for him to bite carelessly.

3. As a half-shark, the King Shark has extraordinary physical strength and the ability to breathe underwater.

Unlike real sharks that can only live in water, the King Shark is capable of living the life of an amphibian. He can breathe both on land and water. Since the appearance of the King Shark is more inclined to sharks than humans, this villain also has very strong and super sharp teeth, making it able to tear its victims' bodies apart easily.

In addition to sharp teeth, the King Shark is also endowed with claws that are no less sharp, which of course can be used as weapons. With terrifying teeth and claws, the King Shark is also more and more terrifying with its incredible physical strength. Plus, he has a very strong immune system and can regenerate his lost body tissue.

4. Besides the Suicide Squad, King Shark also joins two other DC supervillain teams.

Shortly after being defeated by Superboy during his debut in the comics, King Shark was then forced to join the Suicide Squad. King Shark and the rest of Task Force X are tasked with destroying the Silicon Dragons. In order not to run away, Amanda Waller put a bomb belt on the body of King Shark.

The bomb threat didn't scare King Shark at all. After destroying Silicon Dragons, King Shark then commits treason and makes the bomb belt he wears explode. Amazingly, King Shark was able to survive the explosion of the bomb. Not only in Suicide Squad, but King Shark has also joined two other supervillain teams, namely the Secret Society of Super-Villains and Secret Six.

5. Before The Suicide Squad, King Shark first debuted live-action in The Flash series.

The origins of King Shark in The Flash are told differently from the comics. Not as the son of the god of sharks and humans, King Shark was originally a human named Shay Lamden in The Flash series. As a result of the S.T.A.R. Failed Labs, Shay transforms into a half-shark. In this series, King Shark in human form is played by Dan Payne. After transforming, the voice of King Shark is filled by David Hayter.

6. King Shark almost appeared in the first Suicide Squad film.

During a question and answer session on Twitter in July 2016, the director of the first Suicide Squad film, David Ayer, revealed that he had planned to feature King Shark in his film. However, Ayer failed to present King Shark because the director had to use CGI technology to realize the villain in his film.

Based on these considerations, Ayer finally decided to bring Killer Croc into the film. For information, Killer Croc's appearance in Suicide Squad uses prosthetic makeup.

7. King Shark in The Suicide Squad is played by two actors, namely Sylvester Stallone and Steve Agee.

At the DC FanDome event in August 2020, directors James Gunn and Warner Bros. announced the lineup of characters and actors who will appear in The Suicide Squad. At that time, Gunn announced that Steve Agee would play King Shark. However, after the first trailer for The Suicide Squad was released, Gunn even announced that Sylvester Stallone was the voice of King Shark.

Eits, don't be confused, guys. King Shark in The Suicide Squad was played by both actors. Agee played the actor who did the motion capture for King Shark, while Stallone served as the voice actor. You can even hear Stallone's voice as King Shark in the trailer for The Suicide Squad.

In addition to announcing the voice of King Shark, Gunn also revealed the reason why he used the white shark design instead of the hammerhead shark. Gunn said he originally planned to make a King Shark in a hammerhead shark design. However, the hammer shark's eyes that are far apart make the King Shark look strange when he interacts with other characters. That's why Gunn ended up using the white shark design.