James Gunn’s sequel/soft reboot The Suicide Squad has cast Portuguese actress Daniela Melchior in the role of Ratcatcher, a supervillain with the ability to control an army of rats. Melchior is the latest addition to a growing cast that includes returning actors like Viola Davis and Jai Courtney, and new additions like David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man.

Released in 2016, David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was a mixed success. It had the benefit of an excellent marketing campaign and some great trailers, but when the movie actually arrived in theaters it was mostly panned by critics and left a lot of fans disappointed. Still, it was a box office success, and Warner Bros. decided to move ahead with a sequel, tapping James Gunn to write and direct after he was fired from Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Now Variety reports that Daniela Melchior is the latest addition to The Suicide Squad’s cast, and that she’ll play a gender-bent version of Otis Flannegan a.k.a. Ratcatcher. Melchior’s Ratcatcher will have a connection to Idris Elba’s character, who currently remains a mystery. Elba was originally believed to be taking over the role of Deadshot from Will Smith, but we’ve since learned that he’ll be playing another character entirely.

Debuting in Detective Comics #585 in 1988, Ratcatcher is (as the name suggests) a former Gotham City ratcatcher who has the unusual ability to control an army of rats (similar to Ant-Man, but with rats instead of ants). Ratcatcher controls the rats by blowing a special whistle, and also wears a gas mask and wields gas canisters. In the New 52 comics, the character wears a bell jar containing a rat on his head, which would certainly make for an interesting bit of costume design.

The Suicide Squad will have a mix of returning and new characters. Viola Davis will once again play Amanda Waller, and Jai Courtney will play Captain Boomerang. With Dastmalchian playing Polka-Dot Man and Melchior playing Ratcatcher, we’re now waiting to find out who will play King Shark and who will play Peacemaker, the other villains expected to join Task Force X in their second outing.

Melchior has previously appeared in Portuguese TV shows and movies, but this marks her first major role. Gunn has a talent for casting relative newcomers in his films; both Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff had only had a limited number of acting roles before being cast in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but they both shone as Drax and Mantis, respectively. DC fans are definitely intrigued to see what Gunn will bring to the table for The Suicide Squad.

More: All 30 Upcoming & In-Development DC Films

Source: Variety

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