The amount of uncontested wins garnered by the DC Extended Universe are few and far between, but the few that have come out of the woodwork have done so as loudly and as colorfully as possible, as The Suicide Squad did back in 2021.
Best described as the Suicide Squad done correctly on the big screen, James Gunn’s ultra-violent romp sees the titular supervillain team – consisting of such characters as Idris Elba’s Bloodsport, John Cena’s Peacemaker, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, and David Dastmalchian’s Polka-Dot Man – embark on the hilariously dangerous excursion of putting a stop to Starro the Conqueror, a giant starfish monster that has fallen under control of the corrupt Corto Maltese government.
The Suicide Squad‘s unabashed pride with which it acknowledges itself as a comic book movie is second to none; a refreshing change of pace given how so many recent films in the same vein carry themselves. This is to say that it’s not afraid to lean into sheer, comic-appropriate nonsense, which can even be found in the little touches, such as King Shark’s poorly-fitting trousers.
According to Steve Agee, who provided motion capture for the carnivorous powerhouse and who recently spoke to SlashFilm on this very important issue, that particular piece of physical humor was a happy accident brought on by Agee’s instincts and Gunn’s impeccable decision-making.
“James kind of let me do my own thing physically. It was really funny though, because if you notice in the movie, he’s always adjusting and pulling up his shorts while he is running. That was me doing that… It was totally real. They gave me shorts to wear over my spandex body suit, and they were a little too loose, and spandex is really slippery. So every time I was running, I was pulling up my shorts. And when I watched the movie, I was like, ‘Oh my God, they actually used [that].’ It’s kind of funny they used that. So yeah, that was all me.”
Indeed, King Shark’s greatest enemy wasn’t Starro or his crippling loneliness; it was inaccurate sizing charts. If there turns out to be space for the aquatic menace in Gunn’s new DC Universe, one can only wonder if such an antagonist will also follow him to this brave new world.
