The Suicide Squad introduced many new villains that were recruited by Amanda Waller, among those Cleo Cazo a.k.a. Ratcatcher 2, who was always very tired – but why? Warner Bros. and DC Comics have built their own connected universe of superheroes with the DC Extended Universe, beginning in 2013 with Man of Steel. The DCEU aimed for a darker vibe than that of its competitor the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but after the underperformance of Justice League in 2017, this universe went through some changes in tone and style, and its latest project is James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, a standalone sequel to David Ayer’s 2016 movie Suicide Squad.
The Suicide Squad brought back together most of the original members of Task Force X for a new mission alongside a bunch of new villains. To the surprise of the audience, Task Force X was divided into two teams by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), and only the second team turned out to be successful. This group was formed by Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), and they were later joined by Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). The Suicide Squad arrived with a lot of surprises, including Ratcatcher 2, who as Gunn described her is “the heart of the film”, and she quickly won the audience over, who could relate to her not because of her abilities and kind heart but because she was always tired.
When Waller recruits (or more like threatens) Bloodsport, she introduces him to the other members of his Task Force X group, giving him and the audience a brief description of their powers and their crimes. When they reach Ratcatcher 2’s cell, she’s sleeping, and she tells Waller she “doesn’t function well early in the morning”. Ratcatcher being tired all the time became one of her defining characteristics, as during the first part of their mission she mentioned how tired she was and when she was sleeping, King Shark tried to eat her, and she didn’t notice because she was in deep sleep. Still, Ratcatcher was able to fight against Starro (and Peacemaker) alongside the surviving members of her team, but the question remains: why was she always tired?
Speaking to Los Angeles Times, Daniela Melchior shared that for her audition she was told to present her take on Ratcatcher 2 from the lines she was given, and the vibe she got was that of a “really, really lazy” character. Melchior explained that Ratcatcher 2 is a millennial (as Peacemaker quickly pointed out when meeting her) and so she took the “lazy millennial idea” and exaggerated it, with Gunn telling her that he could “really believe that you don’t want to be here”. Ratcatcher’s ability to nap almost anywhere also comes from Melchior herself, who earned the nickname “napcatcher” and even posts photos and videos to her social media accounts with that hashtag. However, fans have come up with possible in-universe reasons for Ratcatcher’s laziness/incredible ability to nap anywhere and any time, and most go back to her tragic past. One Reddit user suggests Ratcatcher 2 napping anywhere is due to her being used to sleeping on the streets, so she falls asleep in any cozy spots she can find, while another user explains it could be linked to her father, the first Ratcatcher (Taika Waititi), who was a heroin addict and “would ‘go to sleep’ a lot”.
Ratcatcher 2 being tired all the time in The Suicide Squad and napping whenever she had the chance is the result of Melchior’s interpretation of the character and James Gunn working closely with his cast to better develop the characters. As for an in-universe version, until Gunn offers a proper explanation, it’s up to viewers to decide if it’s the result of her childhood trauma or she was simply a lazy woman, though when it was time to fight, she showed no laziness.
