James Gunn's DCEU sequel The Suicide Squad brought back several characters from the first movie, but Killer Croc wasn't one of them. James Gunn received a great deal of creative control over Suicide Squad 2 when he took over the reboot/sequel. With the second movie drifting apart from David Ayer's 2016 film in terms of plot, tone, and characters, Gunn took the chance to imbue The Suicide Squad with his signature style and humor, as well as with his well-known taste for comedic actors and CGI-filled craziness.
Various characters from the David Ayer film such as Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), and Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) returned for a new adventure after their first Suicide Squad mission. However, the events of David Ayer's Suicide Squad had no influence on the 2021 movie and weren't required knowledge to understand James Gunn's sequel. Not resetting the characters fans liked was for the best, even though Suicide Squad remains perhaps the DCEU's most divisive film to date.
Why Jared Leto's Joker Would Never Have Worked In The Suicide Squad
One of the Task Force X characters from David Ayer's 2016 Suicide Squad whose absence was most notable in The Suicide Squad is Killer Croc, played previously by Lost veteran Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Killer Croc provided some emotional impact to the first film as a monstrous but kind-hearted criminal who happened to chomp down his opponents with impressive ease. Although Akinnuoye-Agbaje was a good fit for the role and Killer Croc's SFX and makeup work was widely praised, the human crocodile wasn't chosen to appear in the sequel.
Suicide Squad 2: Why Killer Croc Isn't Returning For Gunn's Sequel
In October 2019, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje revealed that there were no plans for him to return as Killer Croc in The Suicide Squad, and he was fine with that, as he's in no hurry to reprise the role. That's not to say he regrets being in Suicide Squad; it's just that playing Killer Croc required lots of long hours in the makeup chair. As for why Gunn didn't choose to use Killer Croc, it's quite possible that he didn't want more direct ties to the previous movie than necessary, allowing him to tell a fresh story with only a few of the same characters. This is a decision that also affected Will Smith's Deadshot and Jared Leto's Joker, with Deadshot being succeeded by Idris Elba's Bloodsport and The Joker leaving Harley Quinn free of his manipulation after their break-up.
King Shark, voiced by Sylvester Stallone, took over the spot of the team's monster with a heart of gold in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. This time, Gunn opted to bring King Shark to life with CGI instead of the painstaking makeup process needed for Killer Croc. Evidently, having two aquatic beast-type supervillains in the same movie would have felt redundant, so Killer Croc skipped the squad's latest mission. And with King Shark receiving praise from audiences and critics alike, it's likely that his spot on the team will be secured if a sequel for The Suicide Squad is ever produced.
