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Cleo Cazo otherwise known as Ratcatcher 2 is one of the three main protagonists (alongside Bloodsport and Harley Quinn) of the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. The tenth installment in the DC Extended Universe.
She is a Portuguese criminal with the ability to control rats which she learned from her father. Following his death she emigrated to America and became a criminal and was eventually arrested for armed bank robbery. Following this she became a member of Task Force X second iteration who was put on a mission to infiltrate the isle of Corto Maltese and destroy all traces of Project Starfish.
She was portrayed by Daniela Melchior.
Biography
Early Life
Cleo Cazo grew up penniless and homeless on the streets of Portugal with her drug addicted father the original Ratcatcher who in spite of his struggles still loved his daughter dearly and tried to make a good life for her, teaching her the ability to control rats and helped her fond a great bond with the animals, citing them as the most unwanted creatures in the world and that in giving them a purpose anyone can have a purpose. Sadly Cleo's father eventually passed away and she adopted the Ratcatcher identity for herself, becoming Ratcatcher 2 before emigrating to America with her closest rat companion, Sebastian.
Once in America Ratcatcher 2 became a master thief and bank robber to help her monetarily, this would eventually be what landed her in jail after she was arrested and sent to Belle Reve for armed robbery, although she was still allowed to keep Sebastian in her cell.
The Suicide Squad
Ratcatcher is given the opportunity to become a member of Bloodsport's second Task Force X Team to be sent to Corto Maltese, although she initially refuses annoyedly as she was tired and wanted more sleep before being forced into the job by Waller. She joined the rest of her team Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Polka Dot Man and King Shark in a projection suite where she briefed them on what she wanted them to do; infiltrate Corto Maltese and abduct The Thinker to use him as a pawn. Following the briefing Waller asks the team if they have any questions which leads Ratcatcher to respond by asking why she has an unused overhead projector in the room and why she doesn't just throw it away followed by two more ridiculous questions from Peacemaker and King Shark, leaving Bloodsport increasingly exasperated and Polka Dot Man increasingly pessimistic.
The team move out to Corto Maltese and Ratcatcher is amused by Bloodsport and Peacemaker's bickering before the team set up camp for the night. While asleep Ratcatcher fails to notice King Shark attempting to eat her until she gets woken up by Bloodsport opening fire on him. Peacemaker, Bloodsport and Polka Dot Man remain in complete disbelief at Ratcatcher somehow being able to sleep through a giant shark-man trying to eat her and Bloodsport is even more dumbfounded at how she seems unfazed by the situation, instead acting gentle with him and upon hearing that he doesn't have any friends makes a deal with him that in exchange for not eating his teammates all of them including her would be his friends to which he gladly accepted much to her joy, Bloodsport calls her an idiot for this however Ratcatcher remains optimistic about King Shark's morality.
The following morning the team are instructed by Waller to rescue Flag from what she thinks is a base camp for the Corto Maltese Armed Forces however after wiping out nearly all of the guards thanks mainly to Bloodsport and Peacemaker showing off to one another with the swiftness of their killing methods they realise that they actually just killed everyone in a rebel base minus its leader Sol Soria and Flag who was happily chatting to her, explaining to the team that the rebels saved his life and nursed him back to health. Sol Soria sees the damage the team have done and is dismayed that her closest allies have all been killed, however she does acknowledge that she and Task Force X have the same end goal in mind and consequently still offers her help. The team move out that night undercover to a club frequented by The Thinker, on the way there Ratcatcher 2 bonds with Bloodsport as the two explain their tragic pasts to one another before promising to get each other out of the mission alive.
When arriving at the club the team realise they're early as The Thinker wouldn't be arriving for another three hours and as a result they all bond with one another by drinking in celebration before splitting off to dance. Shortly after this Bloodsport finds The Thinker and holds him at gunpoint to force him into complying with their plans, unfortunately however at this moment the military arrive at the club demanding to know where American spies sent to infiltrate the island are and Bloodsport gives himself, Flag and Peacemaker up while giving The Thinker to Ratcatcher 2 and Polka Dot Man who escort him back to the bus and handcuff him to one of the seats. Ratcatcher 2, Polka Dot Man, King Shark and the bus driver Milton manage to reunite with their allies shortly after this and are informed by Flag that they would be delaying the primary mission in order to rescue Harley Quinn. The following morning the team prepare to infiltrate a base of General Suarez's to save Harley only to realise she managed to break out herself.
Following Harley's escape the team explain brief The Thinker on their plan. Infiltrating Jotunheim, using him to get in undetected and then splitting into two teams; Ratcatcher 2, Rick Flag and The Thinker the latter of whom would escort Flag and Ratcatcher 2 to the basements of Jotunheim where he was holding Starro and the rest of the squad who would go around the entire building planting explosives. While in the basements The Thinker gleefully explains everything regarding Project Starfish to Flag and Ratcatcher 2 who are both horrified to learn of just how far he, Corto Maltese and even the American government and Waller herself were willing to go, with The Thinker concluding his rant by saying that Waller only sent them on this mission to clean up her own dirty work and in the process destroy all of his research. Flag then attempts to steal the evidence incriminating Waller to expose her only to be stopped by Peacemaker who explains that he needs to keep it secure so that Waller gives him his pardon leading to a fight between the two men. Just at that moment however the explosive devices went off early thanks to a mishap involving Polka Dot Man resulting in Starro's casing being broken. In the aftermath The Thinker in horror turns to Ratcatcher 2 and asks what all of them have done before trying to make a run for it only for Starro to grab and drag him into his chamber before tearing him in half and killing him as revenge for the years of experimenting and torture it was forced to endure at his hands.
Peacemaker and Flag get into a hefty brawl and although it seems like Flag is gaining the upper hand he is mortally wounded by Peacemaker stabbing him in the chest with a broken floor tile, Ratcatcher 2 watches Flag's death in horror before grabbing the discarded hard drive and running with Peacemaker in hot pursuit. He eventually corners her and prepares to kill her only for Bloodsport to fall through the ceiling at that moment. A tearful Ratcatcher 2 explains everything to him and an enraged Bloodsport has a stand-off with Peacemaker with both men shooting their guns at the same time only for Bloodsport's bullet to hit Peacemaker in the chest thanks to it being smaller and slimmer, breaking through Peacemaker's own and giving the payoff to an argument the two had earlier. Ratcatcher 2 then gives him the hard drive with the evidence and Bloodsport places it in one of his ammo pockets for safe-keeping and the two leave the building only to find Starro wreaking havoc on the city, spreading its spawn on countless citizens and soldiers in a rampage, Ratcatcher 2 manages to keep the other's safe by telling them to cover their faces and as most of the team including her have masks this was a simple task. Waller orders all of the remaining squad members to stand down and retreat as Starro's presence didn't concern them however having had enough of her and realising her true nature they all rebelled and turned back to fight Starro much to Waller's fury, thankfully however before she could kill any of the squad she was knocked unconscious by her employees who began helping them.
A final fight between the remaining squad members and Starro ensues and in the process Polka Dot Man is killed after Starro retaliates to an attack from him which caused it great pain by crushing him with one of its legs. Bloodsport in the battle is forced to retreat and he and Ratcatcher stand together before she tells him to get down, powering up her controller and sending a swarm of rats to crawl up Starro and enter his eye. Harley joins the rats diving into Starro's eye and piercing it with the javelin once belonging to Javelin, through this combined effort Starro finally dies after almost of its nerves and completely demolished after getting gnawed on.
In the aftermath Ratcatcher cries over Polka Dot Man's death upon finding a piece of his torn suit and upon seeing King Shark survived the battle she runs over to hug him. Ratcatcher 2 is then begrudgingly pardoned by Waller as with her other remaining squad members thanks to Bloodsport blackmailing her with the incriminating evidence against her and the team head back for the states in a helicopter, on the ride Sebastian tries yet again to receive attention from Bloodsport who although nervous at first begins petting him much to Ratcatcher 2's joy.
Personality
Ratcatcher 2 was a very friendly and approachable person who managed to win the good favours of her teammates very quickly, she was also very compassionate and sympathetic as shown from how even after he tried to eat her she still was kind to King Shark, offering for her and the rest of the team to become his friends in exchange for not being eaten. She also had a strong bond and love for rats as her name would suggest and was particularly close to her rat companion Sebastian. Over the course of the film Ratcatcher 2 became increasingly attached to her teammates and was left devastated by the deaths of both Polka Dot Man and Rick Flag.
As child Ratcatcher 2 was very close to her father and even after growing up she still remembers him fondly with her taking up his original mantle of Ratcatcher following his death.
Appearance
Cleo Cazo was an attractive young woman presumably in her early twenties who had a very skinny build, tanned skin, green eyes, black eyebrows and messy, bobbed brown hair going down to her shoulders. As Ratcatcher she wore a brown, green, blue & black hooded leather trench coat which was tightly closed, underneath she also wore a pair of basic brown trousers and a matching shirt underneath, she also wore shin length, distressed hiking boots and wore a leather belt across her waist with matching holsters across her shoulders. She also had a mask which she used in some situations which resembled a brown leather exterminator mask which she used to great effect in the final battle to protect herself from Starro's spawn.
Trivia
- Both this Ratcatcher and her father are the first versions of the character to appear in any live action media.
- Ratcatcher 2 is Daniela Melchior's second comic book movie role following Gwen Stacy in the Portugese dub for Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse.
