Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice Leagueis an interesting project, as it sees Rocksteady going in a bold new direction with its DC games. With Rocksteady having a great track record due to its work on theArkhamseries, fans are confident in the upcoming co-op game, likely winning fans over on its colorful cast of characters in the process. Of that cast, though, Flash and Aquamanadversary King Sharkis perhaps the most intriguing.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice Leaguesees King Shark, real name Nanaue, as the tank member of Task Force X. Wielding massive guns in addition to his huge set of sharp teeth, the humanoid sea creature looks like he’ll be a blast to play. He will also be making an appearance in James Gunn’s movieThe Suicide Squad, although he looks quite different from his in-game counterpart based on what has been shown so far. Oddly enough, the in-game version looks truer to the comics, boasting an intimidating appearance that the friendly-looking King Shark from the movie seems to be lacking. While there could be a few reasons for this, it is hard to argue againstSuicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s King Shark being superior in terms of looks.
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An Unfinished Design And Two Different Mediums
One possible explanation for King Shark looking better in Rocksteady’sSuicide Squadgame than he does in the James Gunn movie is that the film is unfinished. WithKill the Justice League’s reveal trailerbeing a standalone CGI creation, Rocksteady was able to give players a clear idea of what the character will ultimately look like in the game, or at least aim to, showing off its version of King Shark in full detail. With James Gunn’sThe Suicide Squad, on the other hand, only a single photo and extremely brief clip of the character have been shared. As such, it is entirely possible that the design looks better on-screen when the movie releases.
Another way to justifyThe Suicide Squad’s King Shark not looking as strong as other versions of the character is that it is simply harder to make the character work in live action. While the CW version ofThe Flashdid a decent job with itsversion of King Shark, it was very clearly a CGI creature and hardly believable.The Suicide Squadcould be falling into a similar trap, as the concept of a man-shark hybrid is pretty over the top. With the character considered for the originalSuicide Squadmovie but swapped for Killer Croc purely because the Batman villain was easier to translate to the screen, the character simply being easier to pull of in a video game is a solid explanation.
Two Different Interpretations
While it is possible thatThe Suicide Squad’s King Shark is lacking due to the challenges of filmmaking or unfinished looks at the character being shared, a more likely scenario is that James Gunn and Rocksteady simply have different visions of the character. While Rocksteady may be going for a traditional version of the Shark God’s son, having WWE superstarSamoa Joe’s King Sharkact in a way that feels right to those familiar with the comic book version of the character, James Gunn could be doing something fresh with King Shark.
TheSuicide Squadsequel has been described as “a gritty 70s war film combined with James Gunn’s signature characters and comedy,” with the final word in that breakdown potentially being the key difference between the movie’s King Shark and the one in the Rocksteady game. The husky, cheerful exterior of Gunn’s King Shark may not be fitting of someone setting out to kill members of The Justice League, but if the character is used largely as comedic relief, the cuddlier look could make sense. Possibly used as acharacter like Groot fromGuardians of the Galaxy, stomping baddies when needed but mainly being a cute figure meant to put a smile on the face of viewers, Gunn’s King Shark could already be perfect as is.
Regardless of whether this is the purpose of the character or not, though, fans can expect James Gunn to show reverence to the source material like he has inhis other superhero films. With everything said and shown aboutThe Suicide Squadthus far being promising, fans should trust Gunn to deliver on his King Shark — even if the design does not seem to be of the same caliber asSuicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s version. Intriguingly, it seems like two wildly different versions of the same DC antagonist could be on the way.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice Leagueis currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
