Fans of The CW's The Flash have already briefly glimpsed the comic book villain King Shark in an earlier episode, but tonight's hour will give the aquatic antagonist the spotlight. Other than Patty Spivot naming the massive metahuman, little is known about King Shark within Barry Allen's superheroic social circle. That's likely going to change on tonight's episode, "King Shark", but we wanted to give you a primer on the DC Comics villain in advance.

The Flash normally runs up against some pretty crazy villains each week, but King Shark is easily the most CG-heavy character on the show. We're not sure how much of King Shark we'll see on screen or for how long (he's a very expensive fish-man), but we'll get to hear him talk again thanks to David Hayter's voice talents. And while the showrunners over at The CW might ultimately change King Shark from his comic book origins, his background is an interesting one nonetheless. Let's get into it!


Image via DC Comics[/caption]

After making a brief cameo in "Superboy" Vol. 4 #0 in late 1994, Karl Kesel's creation made his first full appearance in "Superboy" Vol. 4 #9. Born in Hawai'i as Nanaue, the humanoid shark that would become known as King Shark is actually the son of a shark god, who is in turn known as "The King of All Sharks." Early on, his supernatural origins were doubted and King Shark's appearance was dismissed as a particularly aggressive mutation, one that also gifted him with superhuman strength and endurance, regenerative tissue, and shark-like physiology. (He's been designed with both Great White stylings and that of a humanoid Hammerhead, the latter seen in The New 52.)

It was King Shark's terrorizing of the Pacific Islands that led to his confrontation with a special agent named Sam Makoa, who managed to bring the villain in on suspicions related to numerous missing persons cases. When he's freed from jail by the vicious criminal organization known as the Silicon Dragons, King Shark turns on his rescuers and kills them before heading to his mother's house to feed ... by chewing off her own arm. King Shark has also managed to find himself on such supervillain teams as the Suicide Squad, the Secret Society of Supervillains, and the Secret Six. This guy is so tough that he even managed to survive the detonation of the Suicide Squad's explosive belts that are supposed to keep the members in check. So even if The Flash is able to knock him down tonight, my bet is that King Shark will swim back to the surface sooner than later.


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