Wildcat is the name of several DC Comics superheroes, the first and most famous of which is Ted Grant, a long-time member of the Justice Society of America. Created by writer Bill Finger and illustrator Irwin Hasen, Grant first appeared in Sensation Comics # 1 (January 1942).

A world class heavyweight boxer, Grant became inadvertently entangled in the criminal underworld and developed a costumed identity to clear his name. Like many non-headlining characters of the Golden Age, Wild Cat was primarily featured as a member of the Justice Society of America.

Modern portrayals of Wildcat show him to be a rowdy tough guy with a streak of male chauvinism, leading to frequent clashes with the feministic Power Girl. The character’s insecurities have been explored as well. Meanwhile, a magical "nine lives" spell has explained his vitality at an old age. Like many older JSA members, he’s been a mentor to younger heroes, particularly Batman and Black Canary. His relationship with Canary was the basis for an episode of Justice League Unlimited.

Other characters have taken Grant’s name and identity, including the deceased Yolanda Montez, his goddaughter who took over while he was injured. Recently, Tom Bronson, his newly discovered son, has also taken up the title of Wildcat and has been taken under Grant's wing as a new member of the Justice Society of America.

Tomahawk's Rangers

Wildcat (real name unknown) was a member of Tomahawk's Rangers, who fought for independence in the American Revolution during the 18th century. His first appearance was in Tomahawk #92 (May/June 1964), and was created by France Herron, Fred Ray, Murray Boltinoff, and Dan Spiegle. His choice of pseudonym has no connection to Ted Grant or the "Wildcat" superhero legacy he started, and by convention, Ted Grant is usually referred to as "Wildcat I".

Ted Grant

Ted Grant is a normal human who was, at some unspecified point, given a magical "nine lives," none of which he has left. He remains at the peak of human condition due to extensive, regular exercise. He is a world-class boxer who trained Batman in the art.

Earth-Two

Ted Grant donned the Wildcat costume beginning in Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942), the same issue in which Wonder Woman and Mister Terrific premiered.

Wildcat's origin is chronicled in Sensation Comics #1 as well as Secret Origins #3 (1973) and All-Star Squadron Annual #1 (1982). Henry Grant vowed on his baby son's crib that the child would not grow up afraid of life, he encouraged his son in sports and paid for great coaching and would have continued to into the young man's college days except that both Henry Grant and his wife died. Orphaned in the days of the Great Depression Ted Grant found himself unemployed in the big city. One night he saved "Socker" Smith, the heavyweight boxing champ, from a mugging. "Socker" took Ted under his wings and soon Ted was a heavyweight champ in his own right. He also unknowingly became tangled in his manager's sinister plans. As a result, his mentor "Socker" Smith was killed by a boxing glove loaded with a poison needle by Grant's managers Flint and Skinner. The dose was only intended to slow Smith, but the duo misjudged the potency. When Grant was arrested for the crime, Flint and Skinner, afraid he might know what had happened, arranged a hit on the young fighter. Ted Grant survived, but the policemen with him were dead. He became a fugitive and came upon a kid who was robbed of his Green Lantern comic. The kid, describing the mystery-man Green Lantern, inspired Ted to create a costume of a large black cat. He took the name of Wildcat and vowed to clear his name. He brought Flint and Skinner to justice, and the villains were forced to confess and Grant's name was cleared. Wildcat continued to fight against crime.

In the pages of All Star Comics Wildcat had a few adventures as a member of the Justice Society of America and in the 1980s when the All-Star Squadron was published and created a retroactive continuity in which the majority of WWII mystery-men interacted with each other, Wildcat had a place as a member of that conglomeration of heroes as well. The 1970s run of All Star Comics (1976-1979) had Wildcat play a central role as a Justice Society member. In the story arc which saw Green Lantern go berserk and Commissioner Bruce Wayne issue arrest warrants for the JSA, it was Wildcat's ability to look fear in the face that allowed him to defeat the mastermind of the disaster: the second Psycho-Pirate. In 1985, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Ted's legs were shattered by an out-of-control Red Tornado and he was told he would never walk again, but he soon discovered he had a god-daughter who became the second Wildcat (see below).

Earth-One

An Earth-One version of Ted Grant existed pre-Crisis and teamed up with Batman on several occasions, himself a retired world heavyweight champion like his Earth-Two counterpart. This Grant had a relatively minor career, and much of his early years were left unchronicled as to his origin, although his origin is likely similar to the golden age Ted Grant. Initially, this variant of Wildcat was thought to have been a resident of Earth-B (an attempt to rectify discordant stories in Brave and Bold that did not fit neatly on Earth-One), however his later appearance in a few outside stories verified his existence on both mainstream Earths. This version of Ted Grant ceased to exist following the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, with the Earth-Two version becoming the dominant version on the new unified universe, although it was still said Post-Crisis that Batman received some training from Ted Grant.

Post-Crisis

Post-Crisis, Ted later recovered from his injuries sustained during the Crisis, and joined the re-formed JSA as they entered a limbo state to save the world from an oncoming onslaught initiated by Hitler decades before. Later he and his fellow teammates were released from this dimension, and regained prominence as the forefathers of the heroic community. He recently claimed to have magically acquired "nine lives" early in his career, and has in fact survived several otherwise fatal or seemingly crippling injuries. For example, during the 'Final Night' incident, he had a wall collapse on him. Wildcat was also one of the many combat instructors sought out by a young Bruce Wayne on the path towards becoming Batman. He also helped mentor Black Canary, teaching her a variety of boxing techniques suited to her build (mainly without the knowledge- or consent- of her mother, the original Black Canary, who was strongly opposed to her daughter following in her footsteps).

In the post-Crisis rebooted continuity, Ted Grant never experienced paraplegia. He was also still a former heavyweight champion of the world. He also appeared in an issue of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman titled "The Golden Boy".

He assists the Justice League of America, where he is killed by a fifth-dimensional imp during a fifth-dimensional war involving the cosmos. It is revealed then he has nine lives, and has since 1945, as a result of him refusing to throw a boxing match where a sorcerer named King Inferno had bet several souls on his opponent; with the aid of Zatara, Inferno's spell in revenge failed to turn him into a real cat, but left him with a cat's nine lives. This accounts for how he can be over 70 years old, yet an athletic and powerful boxer.

Ted is one of the four members of the original JSA on the current team, and is seen as a kind (if rowdy at times), avuncular figure by the other teammates. He frequently scraps with the similarly rowdy Power Girl and may be attracted to her. Ted Grant has had several notable relationships with women. One included Irina, the mother of Ted's son Jake. After Jake was kidnapped by the Yellow Wasp, they soon parted ways. Selina Kyle followed soon after. In addition to training her in boxing, Ted and Selina have shared a mutual attraction and had a torrid affair at one time. Queen Hippolyta also had an affair with Ted when Hippolyta traveled back in time to World War II. Ted was visibly shaken up after Hippolyta's death in the DC crossover, Our Worlds at War.

Ted later lost the last of his extra "nine lives", when he was "killed" by his Justice Society ally Jay Garrick, the original Flash. The two did this intentionally in order to permit Ted to escape control of the Spear of Destiny, which can permit the holder mind control over superpowered individuals, and thus save the world from the spear being used to dominate Earth.

Yolanda Montez

Born with meta-human powers due to the machinations of the villainous Dr. Love, Yolanda Montez became the god-daughter of Ted "Wildcat" Grant, a good friend of her father, "Mauler" Montez. Due to the prenatal treatments given to her mother, Yolanda was born with retractable claws on her fingers and toes, and cat-like agility. She concealed her abilities and lived a normal life. Yolanda became a journalist, working for "Rock Stars Magazine". Ted became injured in the Crisis and Yolanda used her powers to become the new Wildcat. She joined Infinity Inc. shortly afterward. She fought the good fight for years before being killed by Eclipso , alongside her other teammates in the Shadow Fighters. Yolanda's cousin Alex later became Eclipso.

Hector Ramirez

Hector Ramirez first appeared in Batman/Wildcat # 1 (April 1997), and was created by Chuck Dixon, Beau Smith, and Sergio Cariello. He was a boxing protégé of Ted Grant, the Golden Age Wildcat. After learning that Ted used to be Wildcat, Hector aspired to be his successor, something Ted refused. Hector then took one of Ted's old costumes and went out as Wildcat in Gotham City. In an attempt to break up a secret fight club where caged villains fought to death, Ramirez was himself caught, and killed by Killer Croc in the ring. The operators of the Secret Ring, Lock-Up and Ernie Chubb, were eventually apprehended by Ted and Batman.

Tom Bronson

It was later revealed that Ted Grant has a son that he never met before by the name of Tom Bronson. Tom's mother was a woman with whom Ted had a one-night stand. Tom does not appear to be bitter toward Ted for not being involved in his life, but states that he does not believe he will ever be the next Wildcat (stating that he hadn't been in a fight since the 8th grade, and lost that one).

It was revealed that Tom is a metahuman. When Wildcat is attacked by Vandal Savage, Tom turns into a werecat, very similar to the Kingdom Come version of Wildcat. Tom manages to hold out in the fight against Savage until help arrives, despite the near-immortal's desire to kill (and eat) him.

Tom (after some initial reluctance) agrees to share the "Wildcat" codename with his father, and is introduced to the Justice Society.

Later, he would participate in a team-up with the Justice League. His talk with Vixen indicates the presence of enhanced animalistic senses.

Other versions

Kingdom Come

In Kingdom Come, Alex Ross (and writer Mark Waid) portrayed Wildcat as a humanoid panther with the soul of Ted Grant. He is seen working with Batman's group (with the other offspring of the Justice League). It is not really clear if he dies or not at the end of the comic, when the UN unleashes a nuclear attack against the metahumans.

Other media

Television

In the Justice League episode Legends, League members Green Lantern (John Stewart), Hawkgirl, The Flash, and Martian Manhunter team up with The Justice Guild of America. JGA member, Cat Man, is a cross between Ted Grant/Wildcat and Golden Age Batman. Cat Man is voiced by comedic actor, Stephen Root.

Wildcat (Ted Grant) appeared in the animated series Justice League Unlimited voiced by Dennis Farina. He had a prominent role alongside Black Canary and Green Arrow in the 2005 episode "The Cat and the Canary" where he was competing in Roulette's Meta-Brawl after he became less involved in missions, leaving him to train the other heroes on the Watchtower. He defeated Sportsmaster and his match with the Atomic Skull was interrupted by Green Arrow and Black Canary. Black Canary made a deal with Roulette for her to fight her mentor; if she won, Roulette would bar Wildcat from MetaBrawl forever, but if Wildcat won, Black Canary would never get involved with his life there again. Green Arrow used a knockout gas arrow on Black Canary, fought Wildcat and faked his own death using an unseen stunner that put him in "metabolic stasis". This helped Wildcat see the horror of the match and quit. Afterwards, Wildcat is seen in therapy with Martian Manhunter. In Panic In the Sky, he fights against the Ultimen clones.

Wildcat will appear in the upcoming series Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by R. Lee Ermey.

Film

Ted Grant appears both in and out of costume in the animated film Justice League: The New Frontier. He is seen in costume in the opening credits and later out of costume fighting in a boxing match. In this film, he is a former member of the now retired JSA, who had disbanded after the death of Hourman.

Notes and references

External links

• Wildcat's secret origin on dccomics.com