A new girl is joining a tight squad.
Relative newcomer Daniela Melchior has been cast as Ratcatcher in “The Suicide Squad 2,” the sequel to the 2016 DC Comics film that made about $747 million worldwide. The actress joins a returning Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. New to the cast are John Cena and Idris Elba.
Although Melchior, 22, is largely unknown to American audiences, she’s a mainstay of Portuguese soap operas, having acted on TV shows such as “Mulheres” and “Valor da Vida” since 2014. She has about 328K followers on Instagram.
Melchior’s rise is not unlike another DC star: “Wonder Woman”’s Gal Gadot. Before landing a life-changing role in 2009’s “Fast & Furious,” Gadot had been crowned Miss Israel and had done two years as a combat instructor in the Israeli Defense Force.
Folks stateside first became aware of her after she appeared in a risqué Maxim magazine shoot and subsequent New York Post front page in 2007. Ten years later, she was Wonder Woman.
Another “A Star Is Born” moment in the superhero world is Tom Holland, the British star of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Far From Home.” When he donned the red-and-blue spandex suit, he was a 19-year-old dancer best known for playing the title role in “Billy Elliot the Musical” in London. Today he’s in a movie, “Avengers: Endgame,” that made more than $1 billion in a week.
“The Suicide Squad 2” hits theaters August 6, 2021.