Shark Week is a recognized global phenomenon, having become the longest-running cable TV programming event in history since first launching in 1988, and it’s gotten to the stage where mega budget comic book blockbusters are now paying tribute to Discovery’s beloved festivities, as evidenced by the latest teaser for The Suicide Squad.
Creator Steve Cheskin would never in a million years have imagined that 33 years on from the first-ever Shark Week, it would be used as the basis for a promo video showcasing the fact that Sylvester Stallone is voicing an anthropomorphized Elasmobranchii descended from an ancient shark god with a taste for human flesh in a violent R-rated action extravaganza from the mind of Guardians of the Galaxy‘s James Gunn, which you can check out below.
When Stallone was first announced to have boarded The Suicide Squad very late on in production, King Shark was always named as the most likely character for the actor, based on nothing more than his instantly recognizable vocal delivery. The first trailer for the soft reboot highlighted King Shark to the extent that he could well turn out to be the true breakout favorite in a movie that looks to be packed with instant cult favorites.
While it seems unlikely that King Shark will be making it out of The Suicide Squad alive given James Gunn’s insistence that almost everyone is going to die before the credits roll, the very thought of Rocky and Rambo legend Stallone playing Nanaue is more than enough to ensure that he’s going to be one of the main talking points coming out of the film, which is just a little over three weeks away from coming to theaters and HBO Max on August 5th.