WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Suicide Squad: King Shark #2, on sale now from DC Comics.
The second issue of Tim Seeley, Scott Kolins, John Kalisz and Wes Abbott's Suicide Squad: King Shark throws Nightwing's former girlfriend, Defacer and King Shark into another dimension for a deadly and bizarre competition. As the chosen representative for all Shark-kind, King Shark will have to fight other Exemplars from various species in a battle to the death to determine which species can continue to survive and thrive on Earth.
And as the Exemplars and spectators gather in the Wild Realms, Shark and Defacer encounter a long forgotten DC hero: B'wana Beast.
B'wana Beast appears to be acting as a master of ceremonies for the Wild Games. He excitedly welcomes a stadium full of spectators to the event and introduces the competitors. The heroes presence in the Wild Realms comes as a surprise, especially considering the fact that he hasn't been seen since the early days of the New 52, when he was briefly in the running to become a member of Justice League International, but ultimately rejected.
B'wana Beast, also known as Mike Maxwell, first appeared in Bob Haney and Mike Sekowsky's Showcase #66 in 1967. When Maxwell and his friend Rupert Kenboya graduated from Harvard, Rupert invited Mike to move with him to Africa where his father was the chief of the Zambesi tribe. Rupert even offered to use his connections to help Mike get a job as a ranger at the Zambesi Game Preserve. Maxwell agreed and the two friends flew to Africa together. Unfortunately, a storm over Mount Kilimanjaro caused their plane to crash into the mountains. Rupert was able to drag his unconscious friend from the wreckage of their plane and take refuge in a cave. He tried to revive Maxwell by helping him drink water from the cave floor. The water didn't just help Mike wake up, it also gave him tremendous physical strength and heightened senses. He discovered his new strength just in time to fend off a gorilla who followed him and Kenboya into the cave.
The gorilla ran away but returned with a mysterious helmet which transformed Mike into B'wana Beast and gave him the ability to communicate with animals and even temporarily merge multiple animals into powerful beasts. When they left the mountain and met with Rupert's family, Mike took the job as a ranger and Rupert became a police commissioner. The two friends helped protect people and wildlife from crooks and poachers, and B'wana Beast's reputation as a hero grew quickly.
Maxwell would later resurface in 1988's Animal Man #3 by Grant Morrison, Chaz Truog and Doug Hazelwood. He and Animal Man fought initially, but quickly became friends and united in their pursuit to protect the natural world from predatory humans looking to exploit the Earth for personal gain. But in, Morrison, Truog and Hazelwood's Animal Man #13, Mike decided to relinquish his powers and let a young, South African activist named Dominic Mndawe become the new B'wana Beast. After receding into the background of the DC Universe, one of B'wana Beast's most notable roles came when he became a card-carrying member of the Justice League in the DC Animated Universe in Justice League Unlimited.
The B'wana Beast who speaks at the Wild Games appears to be Maxwell, but how he arrived in the Wild Realms remains a mystery. However, his ability to communicate with all different types of living creatures makes him the ideal host for a competition featuring such a diverse cast of characters, but it is a surprise to see the hero happily participating n such a violent spectacle. Though, if anyone can be counted on to be a fair and balanced official, it is the hero who has compassion for all species. Whatever his reasons may be, B'wana Beast's return to the DC Universe is a thrilling surprise that underscores the unpredictable nature of King Shark and Defacer's interdimensional adventure.