Sylvester Stallone confirmed to be playing a walking, talking shark in The Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Back in 2020, Sylvester Stallone was announced to be in The Suicide Squad but his role was a mystery. With the release of the first trailer, however, we know exactly who the iconic actor is playing – and it's King Shark, that massive, flesh-eating fish.

The actor, as well as director James Gunn, have both confirmed Stallone's role on Twitter. "OK shark coming your way! The new THe Suicide Squad Is thundering your way! August 8," Stallone wrote, with Gunn releasing the character's poster.

King Shark looks very friendly – and dare we say cuddly – in his poster, but the trailer shows him as a particularly carnivorous creature, gobbling up one person and tearing another in two. Previously it was thought Steve Agee was portraying the shark. The actor has a role as John Economos in The Suicide Squad, whom he will also play in the upcoming HBO Max spinoff Peacemaker, starring John Cena as the title character (reprising his role from the movie).

Gunn has already warned that DC didn't protect any of the characters in the film so as The Suicide Squad's tagline goes, "don't get too attached" to this adorable, albeit violent, shark.

The trailer promises a fun-filled few hours with explosions, jokes-a-plenty, and, of course, lots of Harley Quinn, everyone's favorite clown gal, played by Margot Robbie. The cast is absolutely star-studded, including Idris Elba, frequent Gunn collaborator Michael Rooker, and familiar faces from the previous Suicide Squad like Viola Davis' Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag, and Jai Courtney's Captain Boomerang. Plus, villainous starfish-alien Starro appears to have landed in the DCEU – so whatever happens in this movie, it's bound to be wild.

The Suicide Squad arrives August 6, 2021, in theaters and simultaneously on HBO Max in the US. Until then, check out how to watch DC movies in order to get all caught up with the ultimate movie marathon.

TOPICS
CATEGORIES
Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

Read more
Jai Courtney in Dangerous Animals
The first trailer for The Suicide Squad star's new serial killer movie makes Jaws look like Finding Nemo
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League cast and voice actors
Jason Momoa in A Minecraft Movie
Jason Momoa says the DCU's Lobo is "exactly like" the comic book character in upcoming Supergirl movie
Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry in Aquaman
Jason Momoa pitched being cast as Lobo as soon as James Gunn got his DC job in a text with "ten billion exclamation points": "It was always part of the plan"
Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
James Gunn reveals Jason Momoa text him about Lobo the day he was announced as DC Studios co-head
James Gunn
James Gunn reveals the characters he cut from Creature Commandos, including one of his favorite DC villains
Latest in Action Movies
Fantastic Four: 1234 #2 cover excerpt
Sue Storm and Namor are officially both in Avengers: Doomsday, and fans are wondering if Reed Richards has something to worry about
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers with the rest of the gang during the superhero movie, The Avengers.
The OG Fox X-Men are back, with Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and more joining the cast of Avengers: Doomsday alongside a whole new Avengers team to take on Robert Downey Jr's Doctor Doom
Robert Downey Jr. sitting in a chair at the end of a long line of chairs
Everything announced during Marvel's Avengers: Doomsday cast reveal live stream
The cast of Suicide Squad (2016)
David Ayer admits James Gunn has good reason not to release his cut of Suicide Squad, but he remains hopeful it'll happen
The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast assemble
Fantastic Four star says the Marvel movie "will go down in history" for rejuvenating the MCU, "in the same way the Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther hit"
Ben Affleck in Air
Ben Affleck isn't in The Odyssey, but he plans to visit the set anyway to watch Christopher Nolan work: "He's one of the greatest filmmaking architects to ever live"
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"