‘Suicide Squad’ Concept Art Reveals King Shark

Suicide Squad first hit theaters on August 5, 2016 and now — over two years from its original release — concept art continues to surface from the film’s pre-production stage. According to images recently made public by concept artist Peter Mitchell Rubin, the aquatic King Shark was nearly part of the film.

The pieces of art, which can be found below, show King Shark as a bipedal hammerhead and quite frankly, it’s not entirely a look that looks super great for the big screen.

King Shark first debuted in Superboy #0 (October 1994) as created by writer/artist Karl Kesel. Although mainly appearing in DC’s animated efforts, the character has appeared in live-action several times on The CW’s The Flash.

Though Suicide Squad was panned by critics — the movie has a 27% rotten score on the review aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes — it was relatively successful at the box office, grossing over $325 million domestically. The David Ayer-helmed flick hauled in nearly $750 million worldwide, better the fellow DC Extended movies Man of Steel ($668 million) and Justice League ($657 million).

Though Ayer both directed and penned Suicide Squad, Warner Brothers has tapped an awfully familiar face to pen the follow-up film. Announced earlier this fall, Guardians of the Galaxy alum James Gunn will be taking over writing duties for the next film in the Suicide Squad frachise.

“It’s official that we have got a new member of the DC family: acclaimed writer/director James Gunn has been attached to write Suicide Squad 2,” said DC Daily host Tiffany Smith. “Gunn is poised to bring a completely fresh take to the franchise after the first film was written and directed by David Ayer.”

Gunn, of course, was removed from his spot atop Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 earlier this year after controversial tweets from years past began to make rounds online.

Warner Brothers had previously hired filmmaker Gavin O’Connor to write and direct Suicide Squad 2, but according to reports, stepped away when his script was too similar to that of the upcoming Birds of Prey flick featuring Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn.

The next DC Extended Universe film to be released is Aquaman, which swims into theaters on December 21st. Other upcoming DCEU films include Shazam on April 5, 2019, Wonder Woman 1984 on November 1, 2019, and Birds of Prey on February 7, 2020.