WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Suicide Squad: King Shark #4, on sale now.
King Shark has recently been participating in his own death tournament, the Wild Games. And much like Robin the Boy Wonder, he has been struggling to keep up with the competition. But in King Shark's case, it wasn't because there was more he had to learn, but rather because he had far more to unleash.
With a little help from Defacer, King Shark was able to tap into his inner rage and becoming nothing short of a killing machine in Suicide Squad: King Shark #4 by Tim Seeley, Scott Kolins, John Kalisz and Wes Abbott. He used this trick to defeat his latest opponent in a surprising upset victory that turned the tables on how everyone else expected him to perform in the competition.
King Shark was always a person who relied heavily on rage, but now, he's practically the Hulk of the briny deep. But in this tournament, he was going up against other animalistic competitors much like himself. Unlike him, they had the edge because they had been put through training for this very moment. In comparison, King Shark doesn't have that focused training, having largely been raised by Amanda Waller and sent on missions for the Suicide Squad to act as little more than muscle and failing that, an eating machine.
This didn't provide any sort of real one on one experience, either having him go up against normal people he could easily kill or be overwhelmed by a superior force. There was no level of martial training beyond instilling the instinct to kill within him. But so many people wouldn't place value on King's life if he didn't have some fighting skill. When properly angered, there is little anyone can do to stop him. And Defacer recognized this early on, only now, she's found a way to help King Shark tap into this rage and overwhelm his opponents.
Earlier, Defacer tried sharing with King Shark one of the ways she had attempted to calm herself during one of her explosive bursts of anger. It failed, but she learned that the "Baby Shark" song. sent King Shark into a blind rage out of pure hatred for the tune that reduced his entire species into a joke. However, neither of them realized was how much of an asset this could be in the fights.
When the two finally collaborated, Defacer realized she could use the song in conjunction with King Shark's enhanced hearing, another gift he has that he shared with her. While she watched in the crowd, she could sing the song, her voice getting lost among the cheering fans, but picked up by King Shark's hearing. The result was instantaneous and highly effective.
King Shark was sent into a blind rage once again, literally ripping his opponent, Princess Peregrine, in half in just a few seconds. This took even the host by surprise, everyone having anticipated that King Shark would lose based on his earlier defeat and the fact that the current match was taking place with the home turf of Princess Peregrine, guaranteeing her an advantage over the seafaring King Shark.
But this pull from behind moment has flipped King Shark's prospects around entirely. If his rage could enable him to win this fight against a much more skilled opponent in her own territory, then there really is no limit to what King Shark is capable of achieving here. Even the audience and the tournament host have changed their collective tunes, now viewing King Shark as a powerful, horrifying contender for the crown in this competition.