Plague Rat... villain?

So after looking through all the villain flavor text and cards, I've noticed that all the villains have very decent reasons for the heroes to fight them. Except for Plague Rat. He's one of my favorite villains don't get me wrong, but how did he catch the heroes attention? What has he really done to make them fight him? Plague Rat pretty much sticks to himself in the sewers, eating anyone that might wander to close. That sounds pretty awful but the occasional missing person in a place like Rook City isn't that important. What makes him so important the that Freedom Five have to take time from stopping aliens invade the earth, to stop him from eating the stray hobo?

Given that his infection can cause superheroes to attack each other I dread to think about what it would do to normal people.

Just like Spider-man fights the Shocker on a near constant basis (and never seems to lose), Plague Rat is just one of those villains that has the b-movie creature feature quality to him that makes him work. Personally, fighting Plague Rat is kind of a warm up game for me, he's really not that hard with the right heroes in play and if you can wreck his ongoing cards (Nightmist is a good one to use consistently), he's really not much of a threat, just a general annoyance.

Also, to suggest a signature. "You met the boomstick, but have you felt the matchstick?" - ExPatirette before setting fire to the Pike Industries Building

Speaking of Plague Rat, I still have no earthly idea why a time-traveling cowboy has a grudge against a sewer monster. I'm really puzzled on that.

Said sewer-monster probably causes some MAJOR issues down the chronological road. The kind you have to nip in the bud temporally because by the time your hero is active everything has gone straight to hell.

Maybe Chrono-ranger IS Plague Rat in the future, after he's kicked the radioactive sludge habit and gotten his life back together.  And then found a time machine.  And a ray gun.  OK, maybe not so likely, I guess...

Maybe there's an alternate timeline where Plague Rat's infection spreads to most of the world?

His villain bio says he's been around for decades.  Maybe he's just old enough that Chrono Ranger keeps encountering him over the course of his time-travelling exploits.

Given Christopher's recent revelation and the fact that incapacitated heroes continue attacking people, I think we can now see why Plague Rat is a villain the Freedom Five need to contend with!

Hmm… indeed. Why would the rat fiend be hunted by the sheriff?..One distinct possibility does spring to mind:

Well, now I refuse to accept any backstory that does not involve Chrono-Ranger being half-cat.

Too bad!


Poor Jimmies…

I believe there is a silhouette of Chrono Ranger on one of Akash'bhuta's cards.. living rockslide I think? Didn't look like a cat, I'm afraid :P

EDIT: but it might just be a random dude, or AA after his fabulous outfit got damaged.. who knows.