Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Talks Killer Croc | IGN 

Suicide Squad: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Talks Killer Croc

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Killer Croc is stirred from the darkness of his sewer cell at Belle Reve Penitentiary by a noise from above. A bloodied goat carcass is dropped from an opening far above into a pool of water in the cell of the half-man, half-reptilian convict. It\'s dinner time for Suicide Squad\'s Waylon Jones. And it ain\'t pretty.

IGN was among a select number of media outlets invited to the Toronto set back in August 2015. We spoke to Croc actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje out of costume roughly an hour before watching them film so it was quite a kick to see him then walk up to us in his grotesque makeup soon thereafter.

Waylon "Killer Croc" Jones is a longtime Batman foe who, as we recalled in our Suicide Squad character guide, "was born with a rare condition that gives him a rough, scaly hide. After being abused and taunted by everyone (even his own aunt), it\'s little surprise he grew up to become a super-criminal. When he isn\'t busy fighting Batman and Robin or eating human flesh, Killer Croc can usually be found in the depths of Gotham\'s sewers."

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc in Suicide Squad.

The actor -- known to many as Mr. Eko on Lost -- visited a crocodile preserve in the Florida Everglades to prepare for film. He also "studied a lot of video on how they kill. I was very intent on bringing the characteristics of a crocodile to him. ... Even the way I walk, I walk like I’m moving through water. So he has this sinuous twist. When I was studying and training in the mirror, I did various walks but the minute I did that the whole prosthetic came alive and took another dimension. It was very creepy, but it was very, very animalistic. So we have this kind of sinuous walk like he’s walking through water even when he’s walking on ground. All of this came from watching them, studying them."

"We’re not about just making this beast. We’re making a being," Akinnuoye-Agbaje stressed. "He’s somewhat tortured and abused from his childhood. It dictates his reactions, from him wanting to go underground. He’s always been ostracized and ridiculed for how he looks. What he’s done is embrace that. Instead of saying ‘I’m ugly’, he’s says ‘I’m beautiful’. Instead of going underground as if he’s hiding, he says ‘this is my kingdom’. He’s kind of reversed some of his childhood abuse into allowing him to become what he is, which is really the next threat to take over Gotham. That’s really what his ultimate goal is. One of the reasons is probably because obviously power, respect but people liking him. And if you don’t, you’re going to have to if he’s got power. So all of those elements play into it."

But Croc isn\'t all scary and murderous. He also has a creative side as indicated by cat sculptures and artwork seen in his cell. "I think it’s pretty much how he expresses himself. He’s very primal, carnal. He’s a creature. And those felines, those are his brethren. And so, if he’s making sculptures that reflect that, it may be a pet that he may have had when he was a child. Things like that," said Akinnuoye-Agbaje. "He’s very creative. Again, another aspect that you’re going to see to him, just when you think you’ve got him pegged, he does something very surprising and makes these beautiful sculpted pieces. It’s a testament to the gentle, creative side of him. David [Ayer, the director] is very much about bringing that out and juxtaposing it with the visceral, viscous, barbaric creature that he has to be when he needs to be."

Killer Croc and the Suicide Squad muscle their way into theaters next month.