King Shark

King Shark
Biographical Information
Full Name	Nanaue
Aliases	Prince Nanaue Sharko (by Captain Boomerang)
Occupation	Exiled Royal
Base of Operations	Belle Reve Penitentiary (formerly)
Affiliations	Chondrakha (father) Suicide Squad
Physical Description
Hair	None
Eyes	Deep Blue
Height	7’2
Weight	380 lbs
Game Information
Voice Actor	Nuufolau Joel Seanoa (credited as “Samoa Joe”)
First Appearance	Superboy #0 (October 1994)

Former Prince Nanaue, better known as King Shark is a metahuman and son of the deity Chondrakha. From a young age, King Shark spent most of his life in Belle Reve Penitentiary until he is recruited as an adult by Amanda Waller to join Task Force X in order to kill the Justice League.

Biography

Before Arkham Asylum Incident

Nanaue was born to the shark god Chondrakha and an unnamed consort, and was the descendant of shark-like creatures from ancient times that had been encased in ice for many centuries. His people were evolved from prehistoric creatures that dwelled in the ocean as early as 450 billion years before the common era. He was one of several children in his litter, of which he was the proverbial “runt”. He was frequently mocked and belittled by his siblings for being weak. He was also mocked by other sharks for his elbows and knees. He had a tense relationship with his father, who saw him as little more than an extension of himself, and a successor to his throne. Chondrakha despised the surface world with a passion and was against Nanaue’s curiosity of the surface world. Nanaue had been able to read issues of the Daily Planet when he was growing up. He learned of human relationships by reading Cat Grant’s celebrity column in the Daily Planet. He also found the words of Lois Lane and Cat Grant to be “sacrosanct”.

Eventually he went to the surface without a plan after having been exiled by Chondrakha, finding himself in Hawaii. But due to humans not understanding what he was, he was captured and imprisoned in the Belle Reve Penitentiary when he was very small. Initially, he had assumed that Chondrakha would send forces to rescue him, and then chastise him, but that never happened, much to his confusion. He was also kept as Amanda Waller’s experimental subject. In his downtime, he would spend much of his time reading books, which helped him connect with his inner child.

At some point, Rick Flag was assigned to guard Nanaue. Despite Flag’s kindness to the young Nanaue, he still viewed it as being cruelty due to his lack of knowledge of human customs. For one entire night, Flag gave him ice cream and got him to eat it all, which Nanaue viewed as force feeding, though he felt that Flag was unlucky as he had chosen Nanaue’s favorite flavor and toppings. This sort of pattern would happen often. One time, the Belle Reve prisoner transport van stopped at a local funfair and Flag allowed Nanaue to go there for a time, before being taken back.

Arkham City Incident

During the Arkham City Incident, more specifically, Batman’s fight with Clayface, news of this event would catch Nanaue’s attention as he was watching television in Belle Reve.

After Arkham Knight Incident

Eventually, news of Clayface’s reformation would catch Nanaue’s attention, causing him to remember hearing about him earlier.

Kill Arkham Asylum Incident

King Shark was eventually transferred, under the orders of Amanda Waller, to an A.R.G.U.S. controlled Arkham Asylum, where he encountered Victor Zsasz during the transfer process. Zsasz would boast about his killing habits, much to King Shark’s confusion. When Zsasz clarified himself, King Shark would uncomfortably ask him to stop speaking to him in this way before immediately being silenced by a prison guard. After overhearing a conversation between James Gordon and Waller about how impossible it was to escape, Zsasz would gloat about this to King Shark, before saying that he wanted to “stick” him, which King Shark misinterpreted as a code for sex. Questioning King Shark’s mental capacity, he frustratedly clarified that he meant it as a threat to kill him, to which an enraged King Shark bit Zsasz’s head off, killing him outright, for which King Shark was severely reprimanded by Amanda Waller and an escort of A.R.G.U.S. guards. He was ultimately assigned cleanup of the toilets, and was instructed to keep them spotless or else there would be consequences.

Later, King Shark would make a deal with Amanda Waller. He began by recounting his ancestral history, which lasted until a bored Waller told him to get to the point, to which King Shark iterated that he believed that he was destined for bigger things. One of the guards watching Nanaue reminded Waller of her punishment, and urged her to let the bored guards punish him, only for Waller to get an idea, much to her escort’s collective confusion. Waller then asks King Shark if he was referring to the prospect of murderous monsters killing one another until one final monster emerged victorious, thus eliminating other threats, to which King Shark concurred, as this would lead to him ruling with an iron fist. Waller then realigned this would entail ruling anywhere; and that this would also mean less threats in the world, much to Nanaue’s anxiety. Waller pondered on this for a moment, and instructed her guards to return him to his cell while she thought about his idea.

Later, Waller checked on King Shark and asked if he was staying out of trouble, to which he took her question literally in response to her choice of words. At this, Waller retracted her question and left. After she left, Clayface, who was in the cell next to his told him that she was up to something, much to King Shark’s confusion. Clayface further elaborated on this, likening Nanaue to a piece on a chess board, much to Nanaue’s surprise.

Later, during the faux-breakout of Arkham Asylum, King Shark was cornered by a squad of guards and attempted to reason with them to no avail. The guards ignored this and shocked him, to which an enraged King Shark killed them all and ran. He was then immediately joined by Killer Croc and Clayface, as Man-Bat barrelled past them. As they rampaged through the Asylum together, they were joined by Solomon Grundy, who accompanied them. Eventually, bloodlust overcame them, and they immediately fought each other, until King Shark acknowledged his limits and fled. Later, as Clayface ambushed Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, and their accompanying squad King Shark lunged at Clayface and hit his head off, killing him. Although Waller commended Nanaue for being smart enough to deduce which Waller was real and which Waller was Clayface in disguised, he was shocked into unconsciousness anyway.

Kill the Justice League Incident

King Shark would wake up, restrained alongside Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, and Deadshot. Amanda Waller then explains why the four were brought to where they were. They were then presented with an offer: languish in prison or take a chance and join Task Force X. Harley took notice of Nanaue and asked about him, to which he attempted to introduce himself, only to be interrupted by Waller. She then showcased her nanobomb injector from LexCorp, explaining how it works and stated that this would happen to all four inmates present if they did not comply with her orders in any way possible. She made it clear that she only needed one of the four and that the rest of them were already dead, and left the injector on the table next to her as a test. The four then discussed why Waller would want them, to which King Shark mused that if Waller was involved it was nothing good. Harley then asked King Shark why he was in Arkham, to which he responded that it was due to generalized anxiety, and explained that he was brought in from Belle Reve Penitentiary. Deadshot then refocused the four and proposed that if they do nothing, they all get out alive, to which King Shark concurred. They all struggled to reach the nanobomb injector, and wound up injecting each other with it. When Waller re-emerged, King Shark told her that they were all injected with a bomb. Waller then revealed that she meant for that to happen and then shocked them all into unconsciousness.

They all woke up in a train en route to metropolis, which had been sent through the Twirly Whirl Frozen Yogurt Factory, during which they argued about Waller’s test, which King Shark surmised was a mind game. When he was told to pull the lever to stop, he yanked the emergency brake out of its housing, taking the instruction literally, much to Harley’s amusement. The train sped out of control and crashed into a station.

Personality

In contrast to his expanded media counterpart, King Shark speaks using formal, eloquent, and oftentimes even archaic English. He also seems to be unfamiliar with social norms in human society; he sees all forms of interviewing as interrogation, and views even offers of kindness by authority figures to be torture, as evident by his response to being given ice cream by Rick Flag when he was only a young pup. He maintains that Rick Flag was merely unlucky when the ice cream and toppings were Nanaue’s favorite combination. There have also been tensions between Nanaue and his father, Chondrakha, in that their relationship is much like when a parent views their child as an extension of themselves when the child feels differently. In this case, King Shark feels that he should be able to make his own choices, whereas Chondrakha feels that Nanaue has forsaken his royal bloodline. Nanaue also has difficulty understanding euphemisms, as seen when he misinterpreted Victor Zsasz’s threat to kill him as a code for sex. He has had varied results when attempting to socialize with others. He also reacts violently when threatened, on impulse. When speaking with Zsasz, he was unnerved by Zsasz’s morbid demeanor and felt uncomfortable around him. He has, however, formed lasting friendships since becoming part of Task Force X, especially with Captain Boomerang. He also has a philosophical side as well. He sees the Daily Planet as a bastion of journalistic integrity, and also sees journalism as a whole as one of the highest callings one can have, especially when informing others, shedding light on misdeeds, and gossiping.

Gameplay

King Shark is a playable character in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

His gameplay specifics are as follows:

• Firearms expertise: Assault Rifles, Shotguns, and Heavy Weapons.
• Traversal: Cuff - using his special cuff, he can leap to great heights and maneuver in midair. In addition, his traversal attack, Atlantean Drop, which can only be activated in mid-air, consists of him diving towards enemies in a cannonball-like fashion and releasing a shockwave upon impact.
• Melee Weapons: Blades - For his melee weapons, he uses various blades, such as sickles, tomahawks, knives, and swords.

Codex

From the Files of Lex Luthor

If I’m ever tempted to underestimate Waller and A.R.G.U.S., I should remember that they’ve kept a literal demigod under lock and key for decades.

This, of course, presumes King Shark wants to return to the sea. This impressive specimen seems fascinated by the surface world of this Earth. He’s well-read. Cultured. Urbane. Have you ever heard a shark wax rhapsodic about the theory of power? I have, and it’s delightful, if a little digressive.

A ferocious fighter with the soul of a poet – Waller has spent years exploiting these contradictions and sensitivities. What will happen when he’s finally unleashed? Pushed too far? I will certainly be out of reach of those claws and rows of teeth when that happens.  

Gallery

King Shark in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Trivia

• It is implied that King Shark prefers not to date outside his species, as evident by a conversation between him and Victor Zsasz where he misinterprets a threat from him as a code for sex.
• While at a first glance his eyes appear completely black, close up shots of King Shark actually reveal his eyes are a deep blue color.
• Up until the invasion of metropolis, Nanaue mainly dealt with threats by using his jaws, as with real life sharks. During the invasion, Deadshot had trained him in the use of firearms.
• While many other characters in the series such as Batman, Catwoman and his teammates find the Riddler's challenges to be a chore, King Shark is the first, and so far only, character to show genuine enjoyment and satisfaction in solving and completing each of the challenges.
• King Shark has a sweet tooth; he is heard wondering if the Daily Planet has any treats in the lobby during the prologue of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.