American Dad: Roger's Evil Alter Ego Ricky Spanish Explained
Here’s Roger’s evil American Dad alter ego Ricky Spanish explained. Langley Falls’ resident extra-terrestrial Roger is an Area 51 escapee who was informally adopted by the Smith family after he saved patriarch Stan’s life. Thanks to his flamboyant personality and blunt, bordering on misanthropic sense of humor, Roger is one of American Dad’s funniest characters. His most amusing trait is his habit of adopting different disguises (and crafting elaborate personas to go with them) so he can leave the Smith family home without attracting attention to the fact he’s an alien.
Roger’s myriad of alter egos are a major plot device in many American Dad episodes. In the season 2 episode “Joint Custody”, Roger adopted a Dog The Bounty Hunter-inspired persona named Horse Renoir and took on the identity of unscrupulous sweatshop owner Martin Sugar in season 6 episode “The People Vs. Martin Sugar.” His hilariously incompetent therapist character Dr. Penguin has featured in several American Dad episodes too, as has his private detective persona the Legman who forms one half of a crime-solving duo alongside Steve's alter ego Wheels.
Roger’s most hilariously evil alter ego is Ricky Spanish, who made his American Dad debut in a season 7 episode befittingly named after the character. It follows Roger as he rediscovers an old disguise he’s forgotten about at the back of his closet. When Roger dons the costume and goes for a walk around Langley Falls, he soon attracts angry stares before remembering it’s his Ricky Spanish persona – a “lying, thieving sociopath” who has wronged almost everybody in town.
Throughout the episode, Roger's evil alter ego Ricky Spanish’s most heinous acts are revealed and prove exactly why he’s the most hated man in Langley Falls. He burned down a petting zoo with a flamethrower, relieved himself in the chest of a man getting open-heart surgery and even killed Avery Bullock’s wife (although the CIA director wasn’t too upset about this). Roger admits his biggest regret as Ricky Spanish is letting his partner-in-crime Daniel take the fall after they were caught committing a heist. He then does exactly the same thing to American Dad's Steve Smith and earns his most evil alter ego a new enemy in the process.
Ricky Spanish returned in American Dad season 13 episode “Persona Assistant” which showed that the persona had a corrupting influence on Stan Smith too. After Roger falls ill, he asks Stan to take on his various personas while he recovers but Stan doesn’t take the job seriously, which results in a mob war taking over Langley Falls. Stan dons Roger’s retired Ricky Spanish disguise to deal with the problem and discovers he quite likes being the bad guy before wreaking his own havoc across town, including setting city hall on fire and stealing a rhino from the Langley Falls Zoo. Unfortunately, Roger's evil alter ego Ricky Spanish hasn’t been in American Dad since then but considering he’s one of Roger’s most popular personas it’s likely he could return in the future.