UPDATE 5/11/19: Michael Rooker says he has not been cast in The Suicide Squad. Our original story follows.
Frequent James Gunn collaborator Michael Rooker is in talks to join the cast of DCEU movie The Suicide Squad, playing imposing DC villain King Shark. It's an undisputed truth that nothing is bigger in the movie business right now than comic book movies. While Marvel Studios' MCU is the clear front runner in that regard, the DCEU has been no slouch at the box office either, despite mixed to negative reviews from critics for most of its entries. The seven DCEU movies to date have earned some 5.3 billion worldwide.
Considering the seemingly never-ending audience appetite for superhero and comic book fare, there's perhaps no filmmaker in a better current position than James Gunn. That's honestly a bit amusing, as last summer, Gunn found himself unemployed after a series of offensive tweets resurfaced, leading Disney to fire him from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Now, less than a year later, Gunn is not only back at the helm of Guardians 3, but also set to become the first director - outside of Joss Whedon's Justice League reshoots - to get to play in both of the lucrative MCU and DCEU sandboxes.
Gunn is both writing and directing The Suicide Squad, a 2021 sequel to David Ayer's 2016 film. With Gunn's introduction to the franchise comes a new vision for the property, and new characters along with it. According to a new report by The Wrap, one of the new characters - King Shark - will likely be played by a close associate of Gunn's, as Michael Rooker is in talks for the role.
If Rooker signs on to play King Shark in The Suicide Squad - and it's hard to imagine why he wouldn't - it'll mark the actor's fifth feature film under the direction of Gunn. The two began their working relationship with Gunn's feature debut, 2006 horror movie Slither. Rooker returned for a role in Gunn's 2010 dark comedy Super, and of course played the blue-skinned antihero Yondu in Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy films. Of course, it's unlikely he'll return to play Yondu in Guardians 3, as the character sacrificed his life to save surrogate son Peter Quill in Guardians 2.
King Shark made his first DC Comics appearance in 1994, initially serving as a villain to Superboy. The Suicide Squad will mark King Shark's first live-action film appearance, although he was originally planned to be part of Ayer's Suicide Squad. His only live-action version to date came on The Flash TV show, with his shark form understandably being created with CGI, likely the route Gunn's film will have to end up as going as well, due to the complex look of the character. King Shark joins other new characters, such as Peacemaker and Polka-Dot Man.
Source: The Wrap
