I know it's dangerous to assume. But I still assume James Gunn isn't just trolling fans with his posts on King Shark and The Suicide Squad. The DC movie is in pre-production now, and set to start filming in September in Atlanta for its August 2021 release date.
UPDATE: Per an August 24, 2019 Deadline report, comedian Steve Agee will be voicing King Shark in The Suicide Squad. If true -- and this isn't coming from James Gunn or DC so feel free to wait for confirmation -- it would mark a James Gunn reunion for Agee after he played one of the Ravagers, Gef, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
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King Shark is not confirmed to be involved, but he is reportedly in The Suicide Squad, and at one point it looked like Michael Rooker might play him. Rooker appeared to shoot down that rumor, which could mean 1) he isn't playing King Shark, but someone else is, 2) he's still playing King Shark and was just trolling fans, 3) King Shark isn't in the movie at all.
The first news about DC Comics supervillain King Shark/Nanaue being in The Suicide Squad came in March 2019 through a Collider report on the characters they heard would be in the movie. The site emphasized that nothing was confirmed, but the characters mentioned were Ratcatcher, King Shark, Polka-Dot Man, and Peacemaker. At the time, Collider's sources said James Gunn wanted Dave Bautista for Peacemaker. Then Variety said Bautista had to pass due to his busy schedule, and that's how John Cena's name got involved for Peacemaker.
At that time of Collider's initial report, Idris Elba was still expected to replace Will Smith as Deadshot. As we know, things changed since then and now Elba is playing a different mystery character. The Suicide Squad was initially thought to be a "total reboot" -- since that's what producer Peter Safran said -- and then Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, and Viola Davis were reported to be returning as Harley Quinn, Rick Flag, Captain Boomerang, and Amanda Waller. James Gunn wouldn't clarify whether his movie was a reboot or a sequel to Suicide Squad, since it sounds like those terms are too simplistic for his plan.
Reports came out that David Dastmalchian was cast as Polka-Dot Man, with Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher. In May, TheWrap reported that Michael Rooker would re-team with his Guardians of the Galaxy director for The Suicide Squad in the role of King Shark. However, Rooker seemed to dispute that report with a caption of "DA...........NOT!!!"
That left fans questioning whether King Shark would even be in The Suicide Squad, since there had been so many back-and-forth reports about the actors and characters. However, James Gunn has gone out of his way to keep King Shark in the conversation. In early August, he showed off the King Shark birthday cake he was given given at The Suicide Squad production offices:
And just the other day, James Gunn posted about a King Shark-ade game Microsoft gave The Suicide Squad staff during production.
Lucky production team! James Gunn doesn't just post about every DC or Suicide Squad member, so I'm reading these as hints that King Shark may be a big deal in his movie.
If John Cena does play Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad, that could leave King Shark open for Dave Bautista. I'm not completely convinced Bautista wouldn't make time for a James Gunn movie after all of his post-Disney firing support. Or maybe Michael Rooker is King Shark and he was just trolling us. Could Idris Elba play King Shark or do you think they moved him from Deadshot to one of these other options?
James Gunn is not known to be shy on social media when it comes to answering fan questions or correcting rumors, but he may also want to preserve the surprise of what characters and stars WILL in fact be in his DC Comics movie.
It's probably fitting for The Suicide Squad to have so many question marks, since it's been a series of surprises every step of the way. David Ayer was going to direct a sequel to his Suicide Squad, and then that didn't work out. James Gunn later signed on to direct The Suicide Squad from his own script.
All we know is The Suicide Squad will have a "fucking phenomenal" villain, per Kevin Smith's gossip, "explosions and falling structures," per James Gunn himself, and maybe not Batman, although can we even say that definitively after what Gunn said here? I won't be shocked if Robert Pattinson makes an appearance. The Batman comes out in June 2021, two months before The Suicide Squad.
The Suicide Squad currently has a release date of August 6, 2021, so there's plenty of time to clarify who is playing what character. Plus, when actors start showing up to the set to film, we'll probably get some hints.
