Suicide Squad’s King Shark: His powers, origin, and sex appeal, explained

James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad options one grinning DC Comics villain whose presence dominates the corporate’s diversifications in each medium of leisure: motion pictures, video video games, dwell motion, and animated tv. He’s within the Arrowverse, he’s within the Harley Quinn cartoon, he’s going to be in Rocksteady’s upcoming Suicide Squad recreation.

It’s not the Joker: It’s King freakin’ Shark.

The DC Universe simply… has a shark man in it? Is that allowed? And why is he in so many DC Comics diversifications? How did he get tied in to all of those disparate initiatives of wildly completely different continuities, tones, and lead characters?

As soon as you already know the key of King Shark, his enchantment turns into apparent. One, he’s a shark. And two, that’s the solely factor you really want to learn about him. Actually.

King Shark is a shark man who wants no introduction

Picture: DC Comics

It’s a fact universally acknowledged that each comedian guide villain has an origin story. Perhaps it’s stuffed with pathos, like how Killer Croc has a weak point for the underdog as a result of was mistreated based mostly on his look, or how Man-Bat is all the time searching for a remedy for his tragic situation. Perhaps he’s a bizarre however surprisingly enduring main Flash villain like Gorilla Grodd, who comes from a secret African metropolis of sentient gorillas referred to as Gorilla Metropolis. However what that you must perceive is that this: In a style infamous for convoluted continuity, gritty reboots and many years of historical past…

There isn’t any clarification for King Shark.

King Shark is only a large, dumb, hungry shark man.

He’s only a goddamn Road Shark who exists within the DC Universe with none agency reasoning behind it. When given his first full look in 1994’s Superboy #9, Karl Kesel and Humberto Ramos did set him up with a obscure origin story about perhaps being the kid of the King of All Sharks and a human lady, just about which no comedian has ever cared to say once more.

King Shark himself doesn’t care about why he’s what he’s, as a result of what he’s is a shark. That’s a degree of self-confidence that we should always all be so fortunate to achieve.

Embrace the ineffable mysteries of life, and in addition, this shark man

It’s that blend of an inexplicable idea with nothing to again it up that has saved King Shark in DC continuity whereas different one-off characters are forgotten. King Shark wasn’t disregarded of the New 52 reboot: He debuted in its first month as a member of the Suicide Squad. Although, in the event you’re a comics reader with a keenness for the man, it’s most likely since you learn Gail Simone’s Secret Six, wherein a transparent persona shines by means of in his handful of appearances.

King Shark can regenerate entire limbs however doesn’t prefer it in the event you name his little rising rooster wing of a brand new appendage “dainty.” King Shark thinks all meat is scrumptious and he likes to combat and kill issues made from meat and eat them. King Shark needs everybody to know that he’s a shark and he loves being a shark. In a single story arc, it’s established that the simplest torment Hell might cook dinner up for him can be to lure him in a vegetarian restaurant for all eternity.

King Shark is a pure distillation of the enjoyment of superheroes

Picture: Gail Simone, Jim Calafiore/DC Comics

The superhero style asks its readers for a certain quantity of suspension of perception, on the promise that the reader can be rewarded, with characters and storylines which might be solely attainable due to their very own willingness to embrace the unbelievable. As genres go, just isn’t alone on this.

However King Shark takes that discount to its most escapist excessive. In spite of everything, even Road Sharks, a cartoon based mostly on a toy line about 4 anthropomorphic shark males named Jab, Streex, Ripster and — I can not stress this sufficient — Slammu, got here up with a backstory for its characters. King Shark has appeared a number of instances since his introduction, in Secret Six, in Suicide Squad and even in a quick stint as Aquaman’s sidekick. However he’s by no means been given a backstory that caught.

As a result of in the event you’re an individual who’s fascinated by placing an enormous, dumb shark man in your story as a recurring character, you already perceive that there’s no strategy to make that concept cooler by developing with an evidence for him. An enormous, dumb shark man is already inexplicable.

“Embrace this shark man,” the story says. “He won’t ever transfer you to tears, and the truth that he’s a shark won’t enter into some meta-narrative. However in the event you however embrace this shark man, I promise that we’ll have some enjoyable collectively.”

Reader, in the event you can imagine a person can fly, you may imagine a person is usually a shark.

And King Shark is a shark.