LITTLE RICO

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Skrull)

Occupation: Gangster, warpjacker

Group Membership: Don Scarpone's mob (Ratzo, Jimmy Robot-Face, Don Scarpone, others), leader of his own band of warpjackers (Ratzo, Jimmy Robot-Face, others)

Affiliations: Don Scarpone's mob, his own band of warpjackers

Enemies: Ritchie Redwood, the Shi'ar, Smasher (Izzy Kane), U.S. Avengers (Roberto Da Costa, Enigma/Aikku Jokinen, Dr. Toni Ho, Red Hulk/Robert Maverick, Squirrel Girl/Doreen Green, Tippy-Toe)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout space near the Kral system

First Appearance: U.S. Avengers I#11 (December, 2017)

Powers/Abilities: Like all Skrulls, Little Rico possesses the ability to change his shape at will, though he typically prefers to take the form of a 1920s-era American human gangster.

    Little Rico carries small energy blasters modeled after the guns used by American film gangsters of the 1920s and these blasters can be set to either stun or kill targets. He also travels through space in a spaceship modeled after an old-time American automobile of the gangster era. This ship is equipped for space travel and can withstands the pressures of space as well as provide oxygen to the passengers inside. It is also equipped with communication and transporter technology to allow Rico to speak with neighboring spacecraft and transport himself to other locations, respectively.

Height: Unrevealed (often disguised as approximately 5'3")
Weight: Unrevealed (often disguised as approximately 127 lbs.)
Eyes: Green (often disguised as brown)
Hair: None (often disguised as brown)

History:
(U.S. Avengers I#11 (fb) - BTS) - Little Rico was a Skrull warpjacker who led a group of 1920s American gangster-themed Skrulls in traveling the in-betweens of space, clustering around shipping lanes in hopes of pirating the spaceships they encountered.

(U.S. Avengers I#11) - When the U.S. Avengers team traveled into space with the help of the Shi'ar in search of their missing teammate Cannonball, their ship was attacked by Little Rico and his men. Announcing that he didn't care for the Shi'ar around those parts, Rico introduced himself as Don Scarpone's right-hand man and proclaimed that the U.S. Avengers had to either be the law or with the "lousy doity stinky cheaty rat" Ritchie Redwood. He then announced his intent to fill the U.S. Avengers "fulla lead." Moments later, Little Rico and his men transported onto the U.S. Avengers' ship and began firing, ordering his men to keep their weapons on stun, as their boss wanted the Shi'ar alive. The U.S. Avengers' Roberto Da Costa and Shi'ar Imperial Guard's Smasher leaped into battle against Little Rico's men as the rest of the U.S. Avengers watched the battle from afar, marveling at the concept of 1920s American gangster pirates in space. The Red Hulk soon entered the fray as well, forcing the rest of the U.S. Avengers to join him. When the Red Hulk decapitated Jimmy Robot-Face, Little Rico and the rest of his men focused their fire on the Red Hulk. Squirrel Girl and Enigma soon phased up through the floor and defeated two gangsters while Da Costa personally took care of Little Rico. Terrified, Little Rico muttered "Mother a'mercy! Is this the end of Little Rico?" before Da Costa was interrupted by Smasher, who received readings that Cannonball had lost consciousness.

    Still being held up by Da Costa, Little Rico glanced over at the computer screen displaying Cannonball's vitals and recognized the coordinates as the planet of Glenbrook. Da Costa warned that if Cannonball was hurt because the U.S. Avengers had wasted time fighting Little Rico but he was interrupted mid-sentence by Squirrel Girl, who asked Rico to help them by providing more information on Glenbrook. Claiming he wasn't usually a stoolie, Rico agreed to provide information in an effort to bring Glenbrook the kind of grief he had just experienced and he revealed that Glenbrook's true name was Kral X. He then continued, informing the U.S. Avengers that Kral X was ruled by the "mad prince" Ritchie Redwood with a heart colder than a milkshake. He then wished the U.S. Avengers good luck in finding their teammate on a planet like Glenbrook.

Comments: Created by Al Ewing and Paco Diaz.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Little Rico should be distinguished from:

Ratzo

Ratzo was a member of Little Rico's warpjackers, Skrulls posing a human 1920s gangsters serving mob boss Don Scarpone. When Little Rico and his men spotted a spaceship containing the U.S. Avengers, Ratzo and his fellows transported aboard the the ship in an attempt to pillage it. At first gaining the upper hand, Ratzo were soon defeated by the U.S. Avengers, with Ratzo muttering "I...could'a been a contenduh..." as Enigma knocked him out.

Like other Skrulls, Ratzo presumably had the ability to change his shape and form at will.

--U.S. Avengers I#11
Jimmy Robot-Face

Jimmy Robot-Face was a very large robot humanoid that served in Little Rico's warpjackers. Like the Skrulls in his gang, Jimmy Robot-Face modeled his speech patterns and look to match those of a 1920s American film gangster, albeit with occasional robotic "bleep" and "bloop" sounds mixed into his sentences. When the warpjackers transported aboard the U.S. Avengers' spaceship, Jimmy Robot-Face allowed the warpjackers to quickly gain the upper hand as they attempted to pillage the ship. Unfortunately for Robot-Face though, the U.S. Avengers' Red Hulk soon entered the fray and he savagely beat Jimmy Robot-Face, eventually ripping his head off.

Jimmy Robot-Face was extremely large in size with strength and durability to match.

--U.S. Avengers I#11d
Don Scarpone

Don Scarpone was a Skrull living on the Kral X planet, a colony that he ruled while posing as a 1920s American film gangster. A mafia don in the traditional style, Don Scarpone eventually had two children, one of which became his consigliere. For some time, Scarpone would send his consigliere on deep space missions to seek out new signals from Earth in hopes of finding new and undiscovered movies to model their lives after. After his consigliere found footage of the American Ritchie Redwood Show television series, Redwoodism swept through Kral X and Scarpone's two sons adopted the show as their life, eventually overthrowing and exiling Don Scarpone and all who remained loyal to him. The two sons then transformed Kral X into Glenbrook, modeled after the fictional town in The Ritchie Redwood Show and Scarpone's sons took the identities of Ritchie Redwood and Bugface Brown. Even in exile, however, Don Scarpone remained a top mafia leader and he remained the boss of Skrull warpjackers Little Rico and his men and likely more.

--(mentioned) U.S. Avengers I#11; (fully seen): U.S. Avengers I#12 (U.S. Avengers I#12 (fb), U.S. Avengers I#11 - BTS,
images: (without ads)
U.S. Avengers I#11, p15, pan2 (Little Rico main image & Jimmy Robot-Face)
U.S. Avengers I#11, p18, pan5 (Little Rico, headshot with true eye color)
U.S. Avengers I#11, p8, pan2 (Little Rico and his men in their spaceships)
U.S. Avengers I#11, p17, pan4 (Ratzo)
U.S. Avengers I#12, p2, pan1 (Don Scarpone)

Appearances:
U.S. Avengers I#11 (December, 2017) - Al Ewing (writer), Paco Diaz (art), Tom Brevoort (editor) 

First posted: 04/17/2023
Last updated: 04/17/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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