History Main / WildCATs

* ''ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm'' - the {{Creator/Wildstorm}} comic book.
** ''WesternAnimation/WildCATs1994'' it's subsequent cartoon series.
** ''VideoGame/WildCATS1995'', the videgame tie-in to the cartoon.
* ''Film/WildCats1986'' - the 1986 Creator/GoldieHawn movie.

** ''VideoGame/WildCATs1995'', the videgame tie-in to the cartoon.

* ''ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm'' - the {{Creator/Wildstorm}} comic book and its subsequent cartoon series.

* ''ComicBook/WildCATs'' - the {{Creator/Wildstorm}} comic book and its subsequent cartoon series.

* ''Film/{{WildCats}}'' - the 1986 Creator/GoldieHawn movie.

* ''Film/{{WildCats}}'' - the 1986 Goldie Hawn movie.

[[redirect:ComicBook/WildCATs]]

[[redirect:ComicBook/WildCATS]]

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A comic book by {{Wildstorm}}, later adapted to a SaturdayMorningCartoon for Creator/{{CBS}}. The characters debuted in ''"[=WildC.A.T.s=]''" #1 (August, 1992). Their original title lasted for 50 issues (August, 1992-June, 1998). Plus a couple of special issues. Vol. 2 lasted another 28 issues (March, 1999 - December, 2001). ''"Wildcats Version 3.0''" lasted 24 issues (October, 2002 - October, 2004). Vol. 4 was an abortive effort, including a single issue (December, 2006). There was some fanfare because said issue was written by GrantMorrison and drawn by Jim Lee, but the hectic work schedule of the famous creators led to an early demise for the project.

Vol. 5 lasted 30 issues (September, 2008-February, 2011). While the series has produced a number of popular characters over the years, its various spin-offs tend to be short-lived. In the 2011 ContinuityReboot of the various titles owned by DC, some of the featured characters of Wildcats were granted solo titles again.

Several millennia ago, two ships crashed on Earth. The crew of one ship were Kherubims, the inhabitants of planet Khera, while the other belonged to the Daemonites from planet Daemon. During all this time, the Daemonites have been possessing human hosts and created the organisation known as the Cabal. Oppossed to them, some Kherubims and halfreed Kherubim descendants form the Wild C.A.T.s (Covert Action Team).
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This comic book provides examples of:

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Warblade's claws.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Majestic in the animated series.
* AdventurerArchaeologist: Savant.
* AlmostKiss: In the cartoon, Zealot and Grifter spend most of the thirteen episodes doing the UST dance; when they finally admit their feelings, they lean in... and then an emergency warning starts blaring.
-->'''Grifter:''' Couldn't have waited thirty seconds?
* AncientAstronauts: It's implied that the Kherubim and Daemonites (note the names) are the inspirations for many Earth legends.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The animated version of the Orb, is an artifact left behind by the {{Precursors}} on Earth that can give anyone power on a cosmic scale. [[spoiler:It's also evil to the core, possibly more evil than Helspont himself. Guess the Precursors hid the thing on Earth for good reason.]]
* ArtificialHuman: Spartan.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: In volume 3 Travis Charest drew Lord Emp was becoming a High Kherubian Lord and wanted his arch-nemesis to kill him as part of the ascension process. His body had become child-sized and shriveled but he didn't care because he was about to transcend mortal concerns.
* BadassAbnormal: Inverted; rather than being a BadassNormal who then gets powers, Grifter has psychic powers, but never uses them[[note]]He was a member of Team 7 before getting his powers, but then he was in a normal context, so doesn't count as Badass Normal[[/note]].
* BadFuture: AlanMoore's ''{{Spawn}}[=/WildCATs=]'' miniseries is entirely based on this trope. Spawn and the [=WildCATs=] get thrown into the future where the world is ruled by a tyrannical super-sorcerer and most of our heroes are secretly fighting against him. The twist is that Spawn himself turns out to be the tyrant, having been given the idea by visiting this future in the first place. Our heroes manage to undo the bad future when [[spoiler: Spawn finds out one of the resistance members is actually his ex-wife's daughter, and then she dies a moment later. Spawn promises to never let that happen, which undoes the timeline]].
* BeastAndBeauty: Maul and Voodoo — they're just friends but Voodoo ensures that Maul remains a sane GentleGiant.
* BigBadEnsemble: From the three Daemonite lords who were on the ship, the two survivors, Defile and Helspont, went separate ways and both have their own plans against mankind.
* BodyBackupDrive: Spartan can do this, thanks to being an android.
* BrainsAndBondage: The Beef Boys are never seen without their bondage gear, and the one who speaks (the other always has a ball gag when seen) is very intellectual.
* CaptainErsatz: Some members of the original team had similitudes to ComicBook/{{X-Men}} members:
** Grifter is a LoveableRogue in a BadassLongcoat like Gambit. His guns substitute for Gambit's throwing cards.
** Spartan's general design and "stoic leader" attitude are similar to Cyclops.
** Voodoo had a costume and powers similar to Jean Grey, plus an interest in the stoic leader, but a different personality.
** Warblade not only has claws like Wolverine, but he also had a mysterious past as part of [[CyberForce Cyberdata]], which creates a parallel with Logan's Weapon-X days.
** Zealot was the "ninja" aspect of Psylocke, which turns her more into an ersatz of Elektra. Since her "Hand" equivalent, the Coda, were like Amazons, DC created Artemis, a Zealot ersatz, in WonderWoman.
* CivvieSpandex: Grifter has the longcoat, cargo pants, combat boots version, combined with a CoolMask.
* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: They've been sponsored by various sources in the past.
* CrimefightingWithCash: In the animated series, when the team itself was temporarily unavailable and with no evidence strong enough to bring the government in to stop the Daemonites, Marlowe crippled the villain's plan by figuring out what highway the enemies were going to have to travel down, buying it, and turning it into a toll road (somehow managing to do this in one night). When the Daemonite transport runs the tollbooth without paying, this provides him with the evidence he needs to bring the government down on them.
* DarkAgeOfSupernames: Warblade, Grifter, Maul, Zealot, etc.
** Wild Covert Action Teams isn't too far from a dark supername either. Interestingly, the team name changes slightly throughout the first three volumes, which reflects how dated the name had become. Volume one had ''Wild Covert Action Teams'', volume two had ''WildCATs'', and volume three had ''WildCats''.
* DecoyGetaway: To recover the character of TAO, there was a retcon saying that the one who died really was shapeshifter Mr White.
* DuckSeasonRabbitSeason: Used in a rather darker fashion in Alan Moore's run as Tao repeatedly switches positions in a debate with Fuji leading to Fuji's being psychologically crippled.
* DumbMuscle: Maul actually gets dumber as he gets bigger. He once got so big he forgot how to return to normal size. He is a bizarre case: while his power is that he can swap brains for brawn, in his "normal" form he's a nobel laureate so, when he doesn't grow too much, he retains enough smarts to be more like a GeniusBruiser.
* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: It was revealed that Zealot, who has looked out for her 'little sister' Savant since she was born, is actually Savant's mother (and that Majestic was her father). However, the ResetButton was pushed on the entire title the issue after this was revealed, so God only knows whether it's still in-continuity.
* FamousNamedForeigner: Void's real name is Adrianna Tereshkova, just like Valentina Tereshkova, who was an astronaut just like Adrianna before becoming Void.
* FantasticGhetto: When the team visits Khera, it turns out the Kherubim-Daemonite war ended centuries ago everywhere except Earth. Khera is ruled by the wealthy and technologically advanced Kherubim while the planet's indigenous population, a race of {{Size Shifter}}s from which Maul descended, has been displaced into underground cities, and Daemonite civilians living on Khera are confined to a low-tech ghetto. Having one Daemonite ancestor is enough to get Voodoo, a Kherubim-human hybrid like her teammates, forced into the ghetto.
* FlyingBrick: Majestic.
* GeniusBruiser: Maul is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who gets dumber as he uses his powers to get larger and stronger. For a while, he was also able to make himself smarter by shrinking, but [[UselessSuperpowers that turned out to have side effects]].
* GenreBusting: The third volume. While it is technically a super-hero comic, there aren't many super-heroics, and the titular team isn't even assembled until the last story arc. It is also very philosophical, topics ranging from questioning if a corporation can be truly good, to how far people will go to maintain the status quo, or adapt to new situations.
* GoodGuyBar: Clark's; the {{Expy}} [[{{Superman}} owner]] won't serve anyone until they show secret ID.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Team members Maul, Voodoo and Warblade, and antagonist Pike.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Maul and Voodoo.
* HulkingOut: Maul has the power to grow in size and strength at the cost of intelligence. If seriously provoked he sometimes forgets himself and grows past the point where he can tell friend from foe.
* HumanAliens: the Kherubims.
* IKnowYoureWatchingMe: In one issue, one of the heroes freaked out when the villain of the week looked him straight in the eye while being spied upon (he was using long-range binoculars rather than the camera, but the effect is the same.)
* IsItAlwaysLikeThis: After watching Maul, a civilian says, "Wow, a guy just turned into a giant blue-skinned monster. You don't see things like this every day," to which another answers, "Tell me, you're new in the city."
* LegacyCharacter: The Wildcats' Backlash is Jodi Slayton, daughter of [[{{Backlash}} the original one]]
* LighterAndSofter: The SaturdayMorningCartoon was far more typical superhero fare than its ultraviolent source material.
* LookBehindYou: The second ever issue ends with Maul bearing down on a Daemonite baddie. When the bad guy warns Maul that there's something behind him, Maul almost laughs. "Do I look that stupid?" Turns out that there really is something behind him — {{Youngblood}}. Badrock opines that, yeah, Maul does kind of look that stupid
* ManipulativeBastard: The first arc has the Gnome, who plays the C.A.T.s and the Cabal against each other to get the Orb. Alan Moore's run has [[spoiler: TAO]]
* {{Matriarchy}}: The Coda.
* MeaningfulName: Pike seems to be a good codename to a villain carrying a baton or "pike" as his WeaponOfChoice, but then we find his father's name is Daniel Pike, therefore "Pike" is the character's surname.
* MerchandiseDriven: The cartoon has every villain working for Helspont (even the Troika, who worked for rival villain Gnome in the first comic miniseries) to get the more toyetic setting of "a hero group against a villain group"
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: Lord Emp needs to ditch his corporeal body in order to complete his [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascension]] into an EnergyBeing, but the rules dictate that he [[ICannotSelfTerminate can't do it himself]]. Because the process of ascending releases enough energy to incinerate the killer, Emp tries to trick his long-time nemesis into killing him, thereby killing two birds with one stone. However, it turns out the nemesis is apparently so obsessively attached to their ongoing rivalry that, unable to accept the situation, he [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]] instead, so Emp moves on to plan B, getting the NighInvulnerable Spartan to do the deed instead.
* PostCyberPunk: ''3.0''. A huge MegaCorp answerable to none buying out entire conglomerates, technological advances leading to social upheaval, and ineffective governments looking out for their own economic interests. All the elements of a CyberPunk world, but with a twist; the MegaCorp is entirely altruistic. Interestingly, most of the characters are GenreSavvy enough to be very aware of the implications. Even the two people who know the MegaCorp best wonder if a MegaCorp can actually be anything ''but'' malicious.
* PuppeteerParasite: The Daemonites.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Averted. In ''Wildcats 3.0'', Spartan sought to use the advanced extra-terrestrial technology that belonged to his creators to change the world. The limitless batteries alone caused quite a stir.
* RuleNumberOne: In an issue of Alan Moore's run, one of the [[StormWatch MERCs]] says: "Rule number 1: Don't @#$%& us. There's no rule number 2."
* ShapeshifterGuiltTrip: Rare heroic example. When the team was fighting Lord Entropy, an impossibly powerful madman who wanted to take revenge on Lord Emp from killing his wife, Voodoo used her illusion to look like Entropy's wife. Entropy was so confused, that Emp has enough time for preparation to whooping the floor with him.
* StabTheScorpion: When the Black Razor Benito Santini has to shoot shapeshifter Mr Smith, who has disguised as one of the [=WildCATs=], it seems he's going to shoot [[spoiler:Grifter]], but he shoots [[spoiler: Maul]], who was behind him.
* SuperZeroes: Voodoo, whose ability to spot people possessed by the evil aliens was actually pretty useful, but countered by her lack of the most basic combat skills. Zealot gave her some Coda training to change this.
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* CaptainErsatz: Some members of the original team had similitudes to XMen members:

* ArtifactOfDoom: The animated version of the Orb, is an artifact left behind by the {{Precursors}} on Earth that can give anyone power on a cosmic scale. [[spoiler:It's also evil to the core, possibly more evil than Helspont himself. Guess the Precursors hid the thing on Earth for good reason.

* MeaninfulName: Pike seems to be a good codename to a villain carrying a baton or "pike" as his WeaponOfChoice, but then we find his father's name is Daniel Pike, therefore "Pike" is the character's surname.