Overview
Mr. Rictus was once a devout Christian, but after an industrial accident that scarred him beyond recognition, he died on the operating table briefly, and instead of seeing Heaven, he saw nothing. This revelation, in the words of the Professor "removed whatever moral compass had been guiding his life", and turned him into a hateful, nihilistic sociopath. He realized that he had spent his whole life following a false ideology. He became a hedonist; raping, slaughtering, killing, and causing general havoc whenever he felt like it. He even indulged in bestiality, as during the second issue of Wanted, Mister Rictus says to Wesley "I don't fuck goats... I make love to them".
Eventually he got together with The Professor and the other men who would come to form the Council of Five. As a council, they devised and acted out a plan which removed super heroes all together. When the world was theirs and it was time to split up the resources, Mr. Rictus got the short end of the stick. Solomon Seltzer, The Professor, got North and South America. Adam One got Africa. The Future got Europe. Ching Sang, the Emperor, got Asia, and Mister Rictus got Stuck with Australia. Things were like this for years until finally Mr. Rictus got fed up with it and decided to do something. He gathered forces and attacked The Professor, taking his base and all his resources. It's unclear if he planned to do the same with the other members of the Council since before he could act, he was killed by Wesley Gibson (The Killer). The Killer was the son of an assassin of the same name that had once worked for Rictus. Wesley had thought that Rictus had killed his father (an idea that was proven to be untrue), and killed Rictus for revenge.
Powers and Abilities
While Rictus is an ordinary man and possesses no special powers, Professor Seltzer (one of the most intelligent people on the planet) warns The Killer that he could "eat him for breakfast", implying that Rictus can match The Killer in terms of marksmanship and combat skills at least. However, these abilities are never demonstrated, as when they finally do face each other, The Killer easily executes Rictus by deflecting one of his own bullets back at him, and then slitting his throat. Being one of the Council implies a degree of business acumen and intellect also, and he also demonstrates some charisma and leadership skills, convincing large amounts of supervillains to join his mission.
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