Suicide Squad: King Shark’s Future Depends on Batman’s Weirdest Villain

By Aaron Sittig On Aug 22, 2021

In Suicide Squad: King Shark #1, the future of the odd anti-hero is dependent upon an even stranger Gotham City Batman villain.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Suicide Squad: King Shark #1, on sale now from DC Comics.

With the release of The Suicide Squad and his recurring role on the Harley Quinn animated series, it’s no surprise that King Shark has been propelled into the limelight. His latest turn in the spotlight comes in Suicide Squad: King Shark #1 (by Tim Seeley, Scott Kolins, John Kalisz, and Wes Abbot), with his future now depending on Batman’s weirdest villain.

Amanda Waller lets Shawn Tsang, the Defacer, know that she needs to let Shark out from time to time as part of a deal she made with his dad, the Shark God known as Kamo. He wants his son to learn lessons as a soldier under Waller’s Task Force X, but when he has need of his son, Waller obliges.

RELATED: King Shark #1 Showcases the Demigod as a Wild Force to Be Reckoned With

Waller chooses Shawn accompany Shark back to Hawaii. Waller feels that Defacer is the perfect candidate to chaperone the outing because Shark previously showed affection toward Tsang, protecting her during fights in Blackgate Penitentiary.

When they get dumped into the sea, Kamo lets his son know that he is there for the Wild Games, a series of challenges meant to see if Shark is worthy of ruling. The first competitor in this contest is Orca, an outsider who the Shark God thinks will present a challenge to his son in battle.

First appearing in Batman #579 (by Larry Hama and Scott McDaniel), Orca’s been a key player in Gotham’s underworld, building empires in the past just like King Shark. She was originally Dr. Grace Balin, and was transformed when she experimented on herself using orca genes after being paralyzed. Batman tried to help Dr. Balin, but she lost herself in the darkness of her new persona, which led to her apparent death. This was very traumatizing to Batman, as he believed in her and hoped she could have been redeemed.

RELATED: James Gunn Describes a Touching King Shark Scene He Cut From The Suicide Squad

DC Rebirth has made Grace a bit more rugged, showcasing her more as a thug who hates what society has become. It led to Grace wreaking havoc on Bludhaven and confronting Nightwing, only to end up in jail. Ironically, in Punchline’s latest adventures in The Joker, Orca has turned on the Royal Flush Gang. She’s now Punchline’s enforcer, which hints this story could be the precursor to her being taken into custody.

Either way, Nanaue has a lot on his plate as Orca has proven to be a very serious threat. She’s strong, quick and given that she’s in her natural element in the ocean, King Shark is sure to have his hands full. Sure, he loves the water as well, but he hasn’t been in this ecosystem for some time, and if Orca is fighting for her survival, she might be even more dangerous than usual.

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Renaldo Matadeen
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I’m a former Chemical Engineer. It was boring so I decided to write about things I love. On the geek side of things, I write about comics, cartoons, video games, television, movies and basically, all things nerdy. I also write about music in terms of punk, indie, hardcore and emo because well, they rock! If you’re bored by now, then you also don’t want to hear that I write for ESPN on the PR side of things. And yes, I’ve written sports for them too! Not bad for someone from the Caribbean, eh? To top all this off, I’ve scribed short films and documentaries, conceptualizing stories and scripts from a human interest and social justice perspective. Business-wise, I make big cheddar (not really) as a copywriter and digital strategist working with some of the top brands in the Latin America region. In closing, let me remind you that the geek shall inherit the Earth. Oh, FYI, I’d love to write the Gargoyles movie for Disney. YOLO. That said, I’m on Twitter @RenaldoMatadeen. So holler.