Wild Cat (DC Comics)

Tomahawk's Rangers

Wild Cat (real name unknown) was a member of the Tomahawk Rangers team, who fought for independence during the American Revolution in the 18th century. He first appeared in Tomahawk No. 92 (May / June 1962) and was created by Franz Gerron, Fred Ray, Murray Boltinoff and Dan Spiegel. His choice of a pseudonym had nothing to do with Ted Grant, nor the legacy of the Wild Cat that he had begun, and according to the agreement, Ted Grant is usually referred to as Wild Cat I.

Ted Grant

Ted Grant is an ordinary man who once magically received nine lives. He remains at the peak of the athlete’s physical condition due to constant training. He is a world-class boxer who trained heroes such as Batman , Black Canary, and even Superman in martial arts. Himself, in turn, was coached by former boxer Joe Morgan (the same person who coached Grant's friends Atom and Sentinel ).

Earth-2

Ted Grant began wearing the Wild Cat costume, starting with Sensation Comics No. 1 (January 1942), and Wonder Woman and Mr. Terrific first appeared in the same issue.

Wild Cat's origin was narrated in Sensation Comics No. 1 and in Secret Origins and All-Star Squadron Annual No. 1 (1982). Henry Grant swore an oath over his son that his child would not grow up in fear of life, so he inspired his son in sports and paid for his education, which would have continued in college, if not for the death of Henry Grant and his wife. Orphaned in the days of the Great Depression, Ted Grant was unemployed in a big city. One night, he saved Soker Smith, the heavyweight boxing champion, from a robbery. The Soker takes Ted under its wing and soon Ted himself became the heavyweight champion. He also became, without knowing it, entangled in the sinister plans of his manager. As a result, his mentor, Soker, Smith was killed by a boxing glove equipped with a poison needle - this was tweaked by managers Grant Flynn and Skinner. It was planned so that the poison would only slow down Smith, but they mixed up the dose. When Grant was arrested for the crime, Flint and Skinner, fearing that he might know what happened, organized an attack on the young boxer. Ted Grant survived, but not the cops that guarded him. He became a fugitive and stumbled upon a child from whom a comic strip about the Green Lantern was stolen. The child, describing the mysterious Green Lantern, inspired Ted to create the costume of a big black cat. He took the name Wild Cat and vowed to clear his name. He achieved justice and detained Sikner and Flint, and the villains told the truth and Grant's name was cleared. The Wild Cat continued to fight crime.

On the pages of All-Star Comics, Wild Cat experienced several adventures as a member of the Justice Society of America and in the 1980s, when All-Star Squadron was published and World War II pre-history was created for superheroes, Wild Cat got its place in the conglomerate of heroes. In All-Star Comics (1976-1979), Wild Cat was the main one in the Justice Society. In the storyline, in which the Green Lantern went mad and Commissioner Bruce Wayne announced an arrest warrant for all members of the Justice Society, it was the Wild Cat, who was able to look fear in the eyes and defeat the person behind it all; second Psycho-Pirate. In 1985, during the Crisis on Infinite Lands , Ted's legs were broken by the out of control Red Tornado and he seemed to be doomed to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, but soon discovered that he had a godmother who became Wild Cat ( see below).

Earth-1

Before the Crisis, there was a version of Ted Grant from Earth-1. This Wild Cat teamed up with Batman several times and was a retired heavyweight boxer, like his version from Earth-2. This Grant had an insignificant career and most of his early years remained unknown, like his origin, although it most likely resembles Ted Grant of the Golden Age. This version ceased to exist after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the version from Earth-2 became the main version among infinite universes, although it is said that Batman was trained by Ted Grant.

After the Crisis

After restarting the Crisis on Infinite Lands, Ted Grant's injuries sustained during the Crisis were reduced from paraplegia to minor injuries, from which Ted quickly recovered. He was also still the heavyweight boxing champion. Plus, Ted is an expert in several martial arts, including Krav Maga , Hapkido , Muay Thai and Capoeira , although he prefers conventional boxing style punches as part of his style. Even in his solid years, Ted knocked out very experienced fighters several times with one blow.

After the Crisis, Ted was still in the Justice Society of America when they voluntarily went into exile in Limbo to prevent an event from northern mythology known as Ragnarok . He remained there for several years until he was released along with the rest of the Society in Armageddon: Inferno . He participated in the terrible battle of the Society of Justice and Ecstan during the Zero Hour event and fell victim to the ability of Ecstant to manage time, which returned him to good shape from being an old, sickly person. However, during the restart of the universe at the end of Zero Hour, the Wild Cat, along with the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick (also a victim of the Extant), found themselves again at the age of about 50 years.

As a result of Zero Hour, Wild Cat decided to resign from the fight against crime and became a professional boxing coach. In private, he continues to train young superheroes in martial arts. After Zero Hour, facts about the Wild Cat's past were also revealed: the first was the fact that he had two sons. The first, Jake (conceived during a relationship with the woman Irina in the 1950s), was stolen by one of Ted's enemies, the Yellow Wasp, as a substitute for his own biological son, whom the evil scientist turned into a half-humanoid, half-wasp. Another son, Tom Bronson, was conceived during a one-day relationship after the capture of the Player ( Eng. The Gambler ) and resignation. Although Ted knew about Tom, he did not intervene in his son's life until the villain Vandal Savage began to systematically kill the children and grandchildren of the heroes and heroines of the Golden Age . Ted also had a hot affair with Selina Kyle (also known as Catwoman , which Ted coached for some time ^[1] ), as well as an affair with Queen Hippolyta in the 1940s. ^[2]

Twice during his retirement after Zero Hour, Ted was seriously injured, protecting innocent lives. For the first time protecting clients of the Warriors bar held by former Green Lantern Guy Gardner . ^[3] He was later injured during a rescue operation during snowfall on a planetary scale. Both times he was treated on the spot at Warriors, which had very good medical equipment. ^[4] He fully recovered from both wounds.

As a result of Zatar's change in the curse imposed on Wild Cat by a wizard named King Inferno, who demanded that he lose the boxing match, he has “nine lives.” Due to the actions of Zatara, Ted has nine lives, while according to the idea of ​​King Inferno, he was supposed to turn into a cat. After that, the Wild Cat lost all his nine lives at different points in time, most of which arose outside the pages of the comic book.

The Wild Cat was also one of the many combat trainers instructing young Bruce Wayne on his path to becoming Batman. He also helped train the Black Canary by teaching her various boxing techniques that fit her body (many are unknown or against the will of her mother, the first Black Canary who did not want her daughter to follow in her footsteps).

In JSA No. 52-54, a dark case was revealed from Wild Cat passed, it was said that he framed an innocent man as the murderer of his girlfriend and that this man was executed for the murder he did not commit. Wild Cat was attacked by the last Raspberry Avenger ( English Crimson Avenger ), who, after the death of Wild Cat (who survived for nine lives), reluctantly left the hero alone when he tried to explain his action, because the man whom he set up killed his killer girls, so Wild Cat decided to punish him for killing out of a sense of revenge.

In Justice Society of America No. 34, Mordru told Ted that he has nine lives each “cycle,” although Mordra did not explain how long such a cycle lasts. This means that Ted somehow returned his spent lives. Justice Society of America No. 36 confirmed this. Ted now has nine lives at any time, which means he needs to be killed nine times in a brief period in order to kill completely. It turned out that he was a descendant of the English duke, which allowed him to defeat the Ghost of a Gentleman , whom only noble blood can kill.

Yolanda Montez

Born with meta-human powers due to the machinations of Dr. Benjamin Love, Yolanda Montez became the godmother of Ted Grant, her father’s good friend, Mole Montes. Due to intrauterine treatment, Yolanda was born with retractable claws on her toes and hands, as well as a dexterous cat. She hid her abilities and lived a normal life. Yolanda became a journalist working for Rock Star Magazine . Ted was seriously injured after the Crisis and Yolanda used her abilities to become the new Wild Cat. ^[5] She joined the Infinity, Inc. team. soon after it. She fought for good many years before her death at the hands of Eclipso, ^[6] like her other Shadow Fighters teammates. Yolanda's cousin, Alex, after that became Eclipso. ^[7]

Hector Ramirez

Hector Ramirez first appeared in Batman / Wildcat No. 1 (April 1997), and was created by Chuck Dixon, Bo Smith, and Sergio Carriello. He was a boxer and protégé of Ted Grant, the Golden Age Wild Cat. After Hector found out about Grant's former second life, he wanted to continue the work of his mentor, but Ted refused. After that, Hector took one of Ted's old costumes and went out into the streets of Gotham City , like the Wild Cat. In an attempt to break into a secret fight club where inmate villains fought to death, Ramirez was caught and killed by Assassin Crock in the ring. Secret Ring operators, Lock Up and Ernie Chub, were eventually arrested by Ted and Batman .

Tom Bronson

It later turned out that Ted Grant had a son whom he had never met, named Tom Bronson. ^[8] His mother was a woman with whom Ted slept only once. Tom didn’t show himself offended by Ted because he wasn’t in his life, but stated that he was never going to become the next Wild Cat (as he said that he hadn’t fought since the 8th grade, and he lost that fight) .

It later turned out that Tom is a meta-person. ^[9] When the Wild Cat was attacked by Vandal Savage, Tom turned out to be a werewolf cat (Tom Cat), very similar to the version of the Wild Cat from the comic book Kingdom Come - a humanoid, but from head to toe is covered with black hair, a face like a panther is present claws and tail. Tom is able to change his appearance at will, and managed to hold out in a fight against Savage, until help came, despite the great desire to kill (and eat) him.

In the 80-page comic strip Justice Society of America Giant Sized (2010), it was said that Tom’s mother, with whom Ted Grant appeared to have had more than one night together, had the same abilities as her son, but turned around not of her own free will every month during her cycle. After a small battle involving the Wild Cat, Tom's mother, and the first Huntress (Paula Brooks), the Wild Cat carried Tom's mother to Doc Midnight, who cured her of the involuntary aspect of her abilities, now she could turn as she wished. While she was unconscious, Wild Cat asked Midnight to cure her and send her away - not out of a feeling of protest, but to protect her from the dangers of his life. Shortly afterwards, Midnight discovers that she is pregnant and tells her patient about it. She decided to withhold this information from the Wild Cat, although her motives remained unclear. She brings up the child herself, and, apparently, without talking about her abilities to her son.

Tom slowly makes contact with Ted and eventually (after the initial refusal) agrees to share the name "Wild Cat" with his father, after which he was introduced and joined the Justice Society. ^[ten]

Entering the Justice League team later, he talked to Vixen and began to experience feelings aggravated at the animal level.

When the Justice Society was divided on whether God-like Gog is good, Tom believes that it is, and his father does not.

During the Final Crisis, both Tom and Grant team up with Iman, Power Girl and several other superheroes who fought with Darkseid forces.

In the history of 2010, the Justice Society split into two independent teams and Tom decides to join the All-Star Team, and Ted Grant to the other. It is not known whether this separation is related to the contention between father and son, or not. Tom is now also referred to as Tomcat .

The Sandman / Prez

The Wild Cat is portrayed as boxer (not superhero) Ted Grant in the world of Preza Ricard in The Sandman : World's End . A woman obsessed with Wild Cat shoots Preza and his girlfriend, killing her and injuring him. The Wild Cat spent several hours with him while he was in the hospital. It is said that there is no malevolence between them - Prez even offered pardon to the killer, but she was still sent to an electric chair .

Kingdom Come

In the comic strip Kingdom Come, Alex Ross (and screenwriter Mark Wade) portrayed the Wild Cat as a humanoid panther with the soul of Ted Grant. He works with a Batman group (and other members of the Justice League). Точно неизвестно, умер ли он или нет, к концу комикса, когда армия выпускает ядерную ракету против мета-людей.

DC: The New Frontier

Дикий Кот появляется, как чемпион по боксу в тяжёлом весе, защищающий свой титул против Кассиуса Клэйя .

Tangent Comics

В Tangent: Superman's Reign № 3 Дикий Кот с Земли-9оказался гигантским гуманоидом с чертами кошки, участником организации Найтвинга команды Коверт Опс ( англ. Covety Ops ).

Телевидение

• Дикий Кот (Тед Грант) появился в мультсериале Justice League Unlimited , озвученный Деннисом Фариной .
• Появился в нескольких эпизодах мультсериала Batman: The Brave and the Bold , озвученный Ли Эрмейем . ^[eleven]
• Тед Грант появляется на несколько секунд в телесериале « Тайны Смолвилля », на чёрно-белой видео-плёнке, на которой показан захват всех членов Общества Справедливости полицией. Тед Гранта сыграл актёр Роджер Хаскет.
• Тед Грант появляется в 6-ой серии 3-го сезона сериала Стрела

Movies

• Тед Грант появляется, как в костюме, так и без него, в анимационном фильме Justice League: The New Frontier . По сюжету он бывший участник Общества Справедливости .
• Альтернативная версия Дикого Кота появляется в анимационном фильме Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths среди подчинённых Синдиката преступности, известных, как Мэйд Мэны ( англ. Made Men ).

Игры

• Тед Грант появляется в игре Batman: The Brave and the Bold , озвученный Ли Эрмейем .
• Также Тед Грант появляется в DC Universe Online .

Игрушки

• Дикий Кот был выпущен в качестве игрушечной статуэтки в девятой волне линии DC Universe Classics вместе с Зелёной Стрелой , Дэдшотом , Чёрной канарейкой и другими. Был доступен в чёрном и синем костюмах.

• Персонаж получил 71-е в списке 100 лучших героев комиксов по версии сайта IGN , где также заявлено, что в своё время Дикий Кот был персонажем чуть ли не более интригующим, чем даже Спектр . ^[12]