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James Gunn's follow-up to Suicide Squad has an absolutely massive cast list. While a few member of the cast from the first movie are returning, several more are not. Instead, we're getting just a wild number of new characters. So where did James Gunn even start? As it turns out, he started with King Shark. The writer/director of The Suicide Squad recently revealed that after deciding which characters he wanted to see back, like Harley Quinn and Amanda Waller, his first new addition was the massive shark voiced by Sylvester Stallone.
Apparently the first new member of the Suicide Squad was King Shark. James Gunn recently told Den of Geek that one thing he knew he wanted early in the creation of the story was an animal character, and that king Shark fit that idea perfectly. According to Gunn...
I knew that I wanted to use an animal, and I knew that King Shark was a member of the Squad in the newer comics. I liked the concept of that character. So King Shark [was my first addition].
Of course, one then has to wonder why it was that James Gunn knew he wanted an animal character in The Suicide Squad. It's likely he just thought that it would make for an interesting character. I mean, King Shark is perhaps already the most popular new character based on the trailers alone, and maybe Gunn had an idea that watching a massive bipedal shark eat people would be as hilarious as it apparently is, and he wanted that in his movie.
The Suicide Squad will arrive on HBO Max for a limited time upon its release. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.
Although, it's also possible that King Shark will play some important role in the main plot of The Suicide Squad, and James Gunn knew he wanted some sort of animal character because he had an idea of the story he wanted to tell, and a character like that was necessary. The idea that the entire plot may hinge on a pidepal shark that eats people may sound insane, but then it really just sounds like a James Gunn movie.
King Shark took a team effort. The character's physical movements are based on motion capture work done by actor Steve Agee, who also plays the role of John Economos in the movie. King Shark's voice is provided by Sylvester Stallone. James Gunn says he specifically wrote the character for Stallone, who appeared in a small role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 for Gunn.
Whether King Shark is a vitally important character or just an entertaining one, whether or not King Shark ultimately survives the film at all, we'll have to watch it to find out. We'll finally be able to do that when The Suicide Squad opens in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6.
