Of the many surprises to come from James Gunn's The Suicide Squad has to be the way his version of King Shark has become such a lovable character to fan. Voiced by Sylvester Stallone, the humanoid fish with a love of eating bad guys and wanting to be friends with everyone found his way into the hearts of cinema-goers and those who streamed the movie on HBO Max and now everyone can own their very own exceptionally developed King Shark thanks to the newly announced release by Hot Toys.
Known for developing minutely detailed action figures with a price tag of $200 plus, their sixth-scale figure of The Suicide Squad's stand out beast is something to behold, and while he is not released until Quarter 3 of 2022, preorders are open now and a whole series of images of what to expect have been unveiled.
Sideshow Collectibles' description of the figure reads: ""Masterfully crafted based on the appearance of King Shark in The Suicide Squad, the movie-accurate figure stands approximate 35.5cm tall (approximately 14-inches), features a semi-articulated body structure with the ability to perform arms, wrist, and waist movements; detail recreation of King Shark's signature features such as jaw, rows of sharp teeth, and rough skin texture; terrific paint job using a mixture of white and grey; two pairs of finely sculpted hands for poses; a pair of specially tailored pants with patterns, and a book."
James Gunn's The Suicide Squad made a successful launch last weekend, and received huge praise from both critics and audiences, ensuring that Gunn will likely be back for more fun with his ragtag bunch of villains beyond the upcoming Peacemaker TV series which arrives on HBO Max in January. While King Shark himself was one of the ensemble character list who gained a lot of attention, it is not the first time the DC villain has been seen on screen as he first showed up in an episode of The Flash way back in 2015.
While his appearance on screen in that episode was fleeting, the character went on to appear in a number of episodes of The CW series' second and fifth seasons, which saw him face off with both the Flash and Gorilla Grodd in some of the best CGI creations of the entire CW DC universe. There is no doubt that it was partly thanks to this appearance that King Shark was popular enough to be included in The Suicide Squad, where he has gained a whole new following.
In the week since The Suicide Squad's release, there have been rumors about many possible ways for the DC Villain-verse to expand, and it would be foolish to rule out a return of King Shark in future. After all, no franchise ever wants to let go of the characters that audiences immediately cite as one of their favourites, and with King Shark reigning supreme with fans of Gunn's movie, there could be a lot of mileage to be gained from the aquatic rogue in future.
The Hot Toys King Shark figure can be ordered from Sideshow Collectibles for $220, or from various other outlets.
