The first trailer for The Suicide Squad (2021) was released over the weekend and fans could not possibly be more excited for the latest DC Comics film adaptation! Based on the reception to the trailer, the anthropomorphic aquatic monster King Shark looks to quickly be turning into everyone’s new favorite and it isn’t hard to see why.
Fan-favorite writer-director James Gunn recently took to Twitter to discuss the character and some of the choices that went into making King Shark the adorable gigantic meat-eating machine that we can look forward to seeing later this summer in The Suicide Squad. Gunn discusses how he decided which design to go with for the character who is literally a humongous humanoid shark monster with the mind of a child who tends to eat first and ask questions later. King Shark’s cerebral innocence and simple one-track mind for “meat” end up making the monstrous character undeniably adorable.
In order to avoid the “oohs” and “aahs” from the audience that they may take away from adorable characters like Baby Groot in his Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise over at Marvel, Gunn tried to lean in the other direction with King Shark. Rather than make him cute or even musclebound, Gunn gave him a “dad-bod“. As Gunn explains:
I was insistent on the dad-bod from the beginning as I didn’t think King Shark would have such mammalian body structure.
King Shark’s comic book counterpart has had several different looks throughout the years, most recently he sported a look modeled after a hammerhead shark. Gunn wanted to try and adapt this version, but it proved difficult to shoot with his eyes on the sides of his head, never mind that his head would have been much wider and harder to film. Because of this, Gunn settled on a more classic design for the character based on a great white shark.
Then, of course, there are the men behind the character, with comedian Steve Agee bringing the character to life through some motion capture technology and action movie icon Sylvester Stallone providing King Shark’s deep baritone voice. Stallone may seem like an unconventional choice at first, but he looks to be bringing some truly magical childlike wonder to the character.
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad is set to release both in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6, 2021. The film stars Margot Robbie (Birds Of Prey), Idris Elba (Thor), John Cena (Peacemaker), Joel Kinnaman (Robocop), Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man), Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead), Alice Braga (Predators), Mikaela Hoover (Lucifer), Viola Davis (Suicide Squad), Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Jai Courtney (Terminator Genysis), Pete Davidson (The King Of Staten Island), Sean Gunn (Guardians Of The Galaxy), Mayling Ng (Wonder Woman), Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who), Jennifer Holland (Brightburn), and more!
Are you excited for The Suicide Squad to release later this year? How adorable is King Shark? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for more updates on The Suicide Squad.
