James Gunn may have settled on a Ratcatcher for his Suicide Squad line-up.
Variety reports 20-something Portuguese actress Daniela Melchior is a lock for what was widely rumored to be a gender-swapped role.
Reportedly, it came down to Melchior and Isabela Moner from Transformers: The Last Knight with the former winning out. She is known mostly for telenovelas but will keep busy with a few film roles in the next couple years.
Ratcatcher (created by John Wagner, the late Norm Breyfogle, and Alan Grant ) is another esoteric Batman villain, one with origins in post-Crisis Detective Comics of the late 80s. Traditionally a male Gotham rogue named Otis Flannegan who worked for City Sanitation, Ratcatcher controlled rats Willard-style, trying but failing to overrun Gotham, and had a thing for poison gas.
Gunn’s Ratcatcher will reportedly be locked up under the watchful eye of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) with the others. She will use her ability to distribute messages and goods throughout the prison and have some status. She is also speculated to have an ersatz father-daughter bond with Idris Elba’s unnamed character.
The cast is coming together at a rapid pace. James Gunn has been hinting at his team for months and is finally solidifying his roster and his vision. He shared on social media his first storyboards illustrating a possible character design for King Shark.
It was unveiled earlier this week veteran DC character actor David Dastmalchian would don the spotty suit of Polka-Dot Man. John Cena is often mentioned in the same breath as Peacemaker and Variety describes his presence as practically verified.
The Suicide Squad is expected to hit theaters in August 2021 after rolling cameras for principal photography later on this year. With most of the same cast returning (Davis, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, and Joel Kinnaman), some are wondering what kind of “reboot” the film could possibly be.