Cleo Cazo, also known as Ratcatcher 2, is the daughter and protégée of the original Ratcatcher. Under his guidance, she turned to a life of crime, while being aided by an army of small rodents which she can communicate with and control. After being arrested, she became a member of the second Task Force X strike team sent to Corto Maltese, where she formed a close relationship with Bloodsport. Cleo played a major role in Starro's defeat by calling all the rats in the city to enter in the alien monster's eye and eat its organs, killing it.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Childhood[]
- "Why rats, papa?"
"Rats are the lowliest and most despised of all creatures, my love. If they have a purpose, so do we all." - ―Cleo Cazo and Ratcatcher[src]
Cleo learning how to control rats from her father
Cleo Cazo was born in Portugal and raised by her father. Despite her father's drug problems, he gave his daughter a lot of love and taught her that if rats, the most helpless creatures in the world, had a purpose they did too. Throughout her life, her father taught her to use his gadgets to control rats, getting the animals to bring her things they stole and protect them on cold winter nights. However, Ratcatcher's drug problems continued to grow and one day he died of an overdose, leaving his young daughter alone. For the next several years, Cleo continued to live on the streets with the rats until she reached adulthood.[2]
Imprisoned in Belle Reve[]
- "I took his machinery and came to America. That is the dream, right? But I was arrested for armed bank robbery, do you believe it? The state considered the rats a weapon."
- ―Cleo Cazo to Robert DuBois[src]
Upon reaching adulthood, she tried to straighten herself out and live the "American dream." However, she ended up following in her father's footsteps as a criminal, calling herself "Ratcatcher 2," after her father. While a criminal, Cleo evaded the police several times and grew quite fond of one rat in particular, who she named Sebastian and treated as a pet. Unfortunately, Cleo was caught by local law enforcement after robbing a bank and sent to Belle Reve.[2]
Mission in Corto Maltese[]
Recruited into Task Force X[]
Cazo is awakened by Amanda Waller.
- "Cazo, will you be joining us?"
"I just woke up. I don’t function well early in the morning." - ―Amanda Waller and Ratcatcher 2[src]
In August 2020, following General Silvio Luna’s coup in Corto Maltese, Amanda Waller proposed Cazo to join Task Force X for a mission in the country, in exchange for reducing her sentence, with Cazo accepting, so a Nano-Bomb was injected into his neck to prevent him from fleeing. When Waller showed the team’s line-up to Bloodsport, Peacemaker and King Shark, they visited Cazo, causing her to get up from sleep, and Waller ordered her to get up and accompany them to visit Abner Krill.
Cazo hears Amanda Waller talking about the mission.
With the team assembled, Waller explained the purpose of the mission, explaining the coup and how they had to destroy the prison and laboratory known as Jotunheim, leaving Cazo shaken. Waller tasked them with infiltrating the fortress of Jotunheim to destroy all evidence of the existence of the Project Starfish, not before informing them that they would first have to force Gaius Grieves to help them infiltrate. Once the session was over, Cazo asked about a broken projector, which Waller revealed to be broken.
Arrival at Corto Maltese[]
The second strike team arrives at Corto Maltese.
- "You are a little idiot."
- ―Bloodsport to Ratcatcher 2[src]
Three days later, Cazo’s team was sent to the north beach of Corto Maltese as part of a second team of Task Force X. Upon arrival, they heard several disturbances coming from a battle between a first team on the south beach, but under orders from Amanda Waller, the group continued on their path to Valle Del Mar. As they crossed the jungle, Cazo heard Bloodsport and Peacemaker discussing the team’s leadership, with Smith challenging him to swallow a bag full of penises, and Cazo questioned why someone would do that, which Smith responded sarcastically.
Cazo befriends King Shark.
DuBois decided that the team would camp in the jungle in the morning to reach the city. However, as she was asleep, King Shark tried to eat her, causing DuBois to attack him repeatedly to prevent it. Still sleepy, Cazo heard the other members tell her that Nanaue was going to devour her, so enraged, she summoned a group of rats, which alarmed DuBois, who had a phobia of rats. As the team argues, DuBois begs her to get rid of the rats, which she does so reluctantly. Cazo then tried to get close to Nanaue to prevent her from eating her, becoming friends with him, before going back to sleep.[2]
Massacre of the Maltese Resistance[]
Cazo is surprised by Peacemaker’s morale.
- "Nothing like a bloodbath to start the day."
"They call you Peacemaker?" - ―Peacemaker and Ratcatcher 2[src]
The next morning, Amanda Waller contacted the team tasked with rescuing Colonel Rick Flag, who had allegedly been kidnapped. The squad traveled several kilometers to reach the location of Flag, where Peacemaker, observing Flag’s captors, said he would enjoy starting the day with a massacre, mistaking Cazo for thinking he was fighting for peace, but Smith revealed to treasure peace no matter how many people he had to kill, making Cazo exclaim that she believed that Abner Krill was the only madman.
Cazo and the team find Rick Flag.
When her teammates began to cruelly murder the captors, Cazo used her rats to distract one of them, allowing Smith to murder several of them. The team eventually found Flag conversing with Sol Soria, the leader of the Maltese Resistance that opposed the regime of Silvio Luna. Despite the squad killing his men, Soria agreed to help them by providing disguises to infiltrate La Gatita Amable and kidnap Gaius Grieves.
Cazo and the team stop to see Krill.
To enter Valle Del Mar, Soria first agreed to find Milton, a contact of his who would help them. In the middle of the road, Abner Krill began to suffer a swelling of multicolored moles on his face, so the rest of the squad asked about his condition, with this explaining that his mother had experimented with him with an interdimensional virus, Cazo then asked her about her mother, and Krill only claimed to "see her everywhere".[2]
Kidnapping of Thinker[]
Cazo talks with King Shark.
- "Don't worry, yeah? I'm gonna get you outta here alive."
"I'm going to get you out of here alive." - ―Bloodsport and Ratcatcher 2[src]
In the night, Bloodsport found Milton after rescuing him from a group of soldiers, so all the team assembled in his van to arrange the mission, where Sol Soria provided clothes for them to go undercover to La Gatita Amable, but King Shark, wanting to go with a fake mustache, began to complain vulgarly when his teammates joked with him, so Sebastian approached DuBois, which Cazo took as a kind gesture, however, DuBois continued to reject it.
Cazo talks with Robert DuBois.
On the bus, Cleo asked DuBois why he was afraid of rats, where he retorts by asking why she loved them, as she then revealed her upbringing, living homeless on the streets of Portugal. Sympathizing with her, DuBois told her about how her past reminded him of his daughter's, telling her that when he was a kid, his father locked him in a crate full of starving rats. Bonding with each other, they make a mutual pact to keep each other safe.
Cazo dances at La Gatita Amable.
Soon after, they arrived at a bar the Thinker frequented, where they pass the time by drinking and dancing. Eventually, the Thinker arrived, and DuBois successfully took him hostage. Before they can leave however, the Corto Maltese military showed up, asking for ID's. Realizing the military is onto them, so he gave Thinker and his gun to Cleo and Abner, telling them to escape out the back and meet at the shared coordinates. He, along with Flag and Peacemaker, then turn themselves in, giving Cleo and Abner time to escape.
Cazo threatens Thinker.
Panicked, Cleo leaded Abner and Thinker out the back, where they meet up with Milton. On the way, the Thinker complemented her Rat Communicator, mentioning he was working on a similar invention with humans, but she did not want to hear it. Indignant, Thinker called her out for her increasingly anxious state, deducing that she was not her team's leader, which angered her enough to threaten him, making him back down.[2]
Cazo calls the rats to find Nanaue.
However, upon arriving the truck, Cazo noticed that Nanaue had escaped, worried, Cazo ordered Abner Krill to supervise Thinker while she went to find Nanaue, allowing him to shoot him if he moved. Outside the van, Cazo found a toy airplane in the mud, so she activated her Rat Communicator to call the rats and ask for their help. The rats began searching around the neighborhood, with one of them pointing out to Cazo that they had found Nanaue.
Cazo finds Nanaue playing with two children.
Cazo went up the stairs towards the rat's direction, finding Nanaue's tracks, becoming desperate when he heard screams. However, Cazo found Nanaue playing with two children with toys, when he invited her to play, she refused, taking him back to the team. Upon returning, Cazo heard a gunshot from the van, running to see what happened, discovering that Krill had shot Thinker in the ear, with the latter being exalted.[3] She and the others later meet Dubois, Flag, and Peacemaker outside the city where they had crashed the convoy.
Cazo during Harley Quinn's rescue.
Having discovered that Harley Quinn was still alive, Rick Flag devised a plan with the team to rescue her from captivity, however, when Cazo and the others were ready in their positions, Flag discovered that Quinn had escaped on her own, so the mission was cancelled. The Task Force X then assembled Thinker to force him to help them infiltrate, but when he claimed that there were security cameras throughout the building, Cazo revealed that she had taken care of it with her rats, which had disconnected the wires.[2]
Destruction of Jotunheim[]
Cazo discovers the truth about Project Starfish.
- "So, okay, okay, destroy the hard drive. Why kill me?"
"Because I’m thorough. Sorry, kid." - ―Ratcatcher 2 and Peacemaker[src]
Upon arriving in Jotunheim, Cazo accompanied Flag and Grieves to the Project Starfish facilities on the building’s basement. There, the duo were horrified to observe the various possessed victims of Grieves' experiments, who then revealed the truth of their mission, destroying evidence of United States’s involvement with Starro’s experiments, an alien creature that was subdued by Grieves since she was locked up in Jotunheim. Frightened, Cazo was surprised by one of Starro’s arms.
Cazo begs Peacemaker not to kill her.
Angered by the government’s lies, Flag quickly grabbed the hard drive containing the evidence, hoping to expose it, before being stopped by Peacemaker. However, the bombs the rest of the team had planted imploded prematurely, causing the building to begin to collapse. Seeking to get the hard drive into the hands of the press, Flag was finely forcibly killed by Smith, while a frightened Cazo took the hard drive to escape, but Smith was able to reach her. Begging him not to kill her, Bloodsport suddenly arrived to stop him and shoot him with a bullet, supposedly killing Smith.[2]
Battle of Valle Del Mar[]
Cazo decides to face Starro.
Cazo reunited terrified with Bloodsport to give him the hard drive, until, due to the destruction of Jotunheim, Starro emerged from the rubble, so the team was quickly forced to flee, as Starro began releasing spores to control the Corto Maltese Armed Forces' minds, heading to Valle Del Mar to wreak havoc. With the mission accomplished, Amanda Waller ordered them to retreat, despite the damage Starro was causing. However, DuBois' courage to disobey Waller motivated Cazo and the team to follow him to stop Starro.
Cazo sends an army of rats to kill Starro.
Before killing them with the Nano-Bombs, Waller was arrested, so John Economos and Emilia Harcourt guided Task Force X to Starro’s location. The team soon began to be overwhelmed by Starro’s power, so in a desperate attempt, Cazo used her Rat Communicator, but was quickly protected by DuBois from being hit by Starro. After Starro exclaims that the city belonged to him, Cazo summoned an army of rats to subdue Starro, as he remembered in tears her father's words about how rats had a purpose like them, as Starro’s organs were devoured by the rats.
Cazo sleeps after the battle.
Cazo cried over Abner Krill’s remains, who had been killed by Starro, holding a piece of his suit, until King Shark appeared in front of the team after being hit by Starro against a building, so Cazo happily ran to him to hug him. Later, a helicopter sent by Amanda Waller arrived at the city, where Cazo and the rest of the team boarded to return home, after DuBois got their freedom. After the helicopter picks them up, the team finally catches a breath, with Ratcather leaning into Nanuae and sleeping.[2]
Personality[]
- "If I die 'cause I gambled on love, it will be a worthy death."
- ―Cleo Cazo[src]
Unlike most of the Squad, Cleo is not a hardened and violent criminal, rather a sweet, empathetic, and endearing young woman, but completely out of her element as a member of the Suicide Squad. She sees the good in everyone, and attempts to make friends with them, even dangerous serial killers like King Shark and the Peacemaker. Because of her innocent demeanor and empathetic nature, Cleo tends to panic easily when suddenly thrown into a dangerous situation. She also seems to be afraid of violence, and prefers to have her rats fight for her. Her most defining trait however, is her apathetic laziness, as she tends to get tired easily and sleeps whenever she gets the chance.
She, however, is entirely capable of threatening and reacting aggressive if someone she cares about is threatened or in danger by others, like when she angrily used her technology to threaten Nanaue when he insinuated to eat Sebastian, but she quickly forgives him after becoming friends with him. Cleo is also a little bit naive, believing that she and her teammates were sent to Corto Maltese to destroy the Project Starfish in order to stop the Thinker and save the world.
Cleo is fond of rats, having one as her own pet. This is mostly related to her bond with her father who told Cleo that if rats have their own purpose then they also have one. This also due to how she views herself at the eyes of society. Cleo dislikes seeing people being killed, quickly turning around to not watch the recording of the Herrera family being publicly hanged. Also, despite being a member of the Suicide Squad, Cleo has noble intentions with people, telling Flag that they had to save those who were used by Starro as part of the project.
Powers and Abilities[]
Abilities[]
- Keen intellect: Cleo was intelligent enough to better the technology made by her father by controlling rats on a large scale to defeat Starro. She was also the one to realize that Starro's spawns could be countered by shielding the face, which was instrumental in allowing the Suicide Squad to survive when others were being controlled.
- Bilingualism: Cleo is able to speak her native Portuguese, as well as English, albeit with an accent.
Weaknesses[]
- Hypersomnia: Cleo suffers from hypersomnia, a condition that makes her feel extremely tired and tends to sleep in every moment of the day. She admitted that is unable to work good at daylight due to this disease.
Equipment[]
- Ratcatcher Uniform: Cleo's uniform was mostly made of leather, consisting of a thick coat and boots. The suit had two pouches attached to it, able to hold equipment and her pet rat Sebastian. The uniform was also able to hold the Ratcatcher mask on the belt and presumably had a place for the Ratcatcher 2
- Ratcatcher Mask: The smell of the sewers, where rats usually live, can be overpowering to the human nose, so Cleo cleverly wears a mask with a filtration system, ensuring she doesn't need to breathe in the smell and fumes of the sewer system while controlling her rats.
- Rat Communicator: An advanced technology device created by Ratcatcher to easily tame and train rats. Cleo inherited the device after her father's death, and used it in her crimes and on the mission to Corto Maltese. There is no apparent limit to the amount of rats it can communicate with, as demonstrated during the Suicide Squad battle against Starro, where Cleo tamed hundred of thousand of rats to attack the monster and eat them from the inside, defeating them.
Vehicles[]
- Sheba: As a member of the Task Force X, Cleo Cazo was sent to Corto Maltese in the Sheba.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Allies[]
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Enemies[]
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Appearances[]
| List of appearances |
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In chronological order:
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Trivia[]
- This version of Ratcatcher is gender-swapped and is named after the first Ratcatcher, who trained her to be his protégé at a young age.
- While the DCEU's original Ratcatcher is more true to the comic version, this version of the Ratcatcher is an original character created for the DC Extended Universe.
Behind the Scenes[]
- Katie Eischen was a stunt double for Daniela Melchior in the role of Ratcatcher 2.
- In the original script, Polka-Dot Man was supposed to live while Ratcatcher 2 was supposed to die, but Gunn ended up reversing the roles because he had felt like Polka-Dot Man's arc was "complete" by the time of his death while Ratcatcher 2's was not.
- Concept art for The Suicide Squad by Simon Murton showed young Cleo Cazo and an army of rats holding a candle wake for the deceased original Ratcatcher in a Porto alleyway.[4] This scene did not appear in the final version of the film.
- The church tower Cleo and her father were sitting on during one of her flashbacks is the well-known Igreja dos Clérigos (Clérigos Church) in Porto.[5][6]
References[]
- ↑ In The Suicide Squad, it is mentioned that Cleo Cazo is a millennial alluding to the fact that she was born during the 1990s, and coinciding with Daniela Melchior's birth year.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 The Suicide Squad
- ↑ The Suicide Squad - Deleted Scenes
- ↑ "Simon Murton: Porto Alleyway (The Suicide Squad 2021) Concept Art" - ArtStation
- ↑ "Simon Murton: Clérigos Tower in Porto (The Suicide Squad 2021) Pencil Study" - ArtStation
- ↑ "Simon Murton: Clerigos, Porto, Portugal (The Suicide Squad 2021) Concept Art" - ArtStation
External Links[]
| Task Force X | |
| Founder | Amanda Waller |
|---|---|
| Members | Peacemaker | Vigilante | Emilia Harcourt | Leota Adebayo |
| Supporting members | Clemson Murn | John Economos | Flo Crawley | Briscoe | Fitzgibbon |
| Former members | Enchantress | June Moone | Slipknot | El Diablo | Deadshot | Katana | Killer Croc | Rick Flag | Captain Boomerang | Polka-Dot Man | T.D.K. | Javelin | Blackguard | Mongal | Savant | Harley Quinn | Bloodsport | King Shark | Ratcatcher 2 | Weasel |