WildC.A.T.s is a 2022 series written by Matthew Rosenberg and drawn by Steven Segovia, and published by DC Comics as part of their DC Infinite Frontier initiative. While inspired by the classic WildC.A.T.s series by Jim Lee, it is not a direct sequel series.
Millions of years ago, a war between the Kherubim and the Daemonites threatened to wipe the Kherubim out, and thus a contingent of them fled to Earth to try and start over. In the present, Cole Cash (AKA Grifter) and his Crisis Aversion Tactics Squad are trying to stop the Daemonites from taking over the Earth. Unfortunately, their violent methods have caused other superheroes to see them as a terrorist group, and thus their boss Jack Marlowe has appointed teenage prodigy Caitlin Fairchild to monitor them.
This series contains examples of:
- Affirmative Action Girl: One of Deathblow's incarnations is a black woman.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: After being killed off (again) during the failed raid on Althea Labs, Deathblow is resurrected in a new female body. Cole admits that the new body is pretty hot.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Caitlin Fairchild is the youngest member of the team, and the only one who wasn't part of the group in the original comics.
- The Bus Came Back:
- The Beef Boys, minor characters from Wildstorm, reappear on page for the first time since 2008.
- While wandering one of the alternate universes, Grifter runs into the original Helspont and Providence. The latter character hasn't appeared in comics since her death back in 2009.
- Clothing Damage: Fairchild's costume takes a lot of damage from her constant bulking-up.
- Con Man: Grifter derives his codename from his constant attempts to con people, which only intermittently work.
- Corrupted Character Copy: This series' version of Fairchild is basically like Molly Hayes from Runaways, being a Cute Bruiser whose powers drain her stamina, but unlike Molly, her size changes according to how much power she's using.
- Destructive Savior: The Crisis Aversion Tactics Squad is trying to save the world from an impending Daemonite invasion, but their missions keep resulting in mass casualties.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Neither Maxine nor Priscilla appreciate when Cole calls them by their codenames of Ladytron and Voodoo.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: The Crisis Aversion Tactics Squad, besides having the terrible nickname "Crisav", also has a terrible reputation due to Grifter and Zealot's habit of killing people indiscriminately.
- Legacy Character: In issue #2, Marlowe decides to go public with the team's actions... by introducing a new Seven Soldiers of Victory, comprised of Mr. Majestic, Maul, Threshold, Mother One, Andromache, Agent Wax, and Pike.
- Morality Chain: In theory, Fairchild is supposed to inspire Grifter, Zealot, and Deathblow to behave themselves and stop killing people at every turn.
- Oh, Crap!: After Grifter shoots Void in the head, he contacts his teammates to tell them that Void is dead, but as he's talking, she suddenly gets up and regenerates her head. Grifter's posture suggests that he very much regrets shooting her.Grifrer: She's starting to glow... Might have fucked up here.
- Physical God: Void is, as Maxine puts it, a teleporting god in a spacesuit.
- Shout-Out:
- In issue #2, the hospitalized Cole references DC vs. Vampires, claiming to be the Batman from that universe.
- The Halo Company's employees include the Shelley sisters from Task Force Z.
- Talking to the Dead: Cole occasionally sees his late brother Max and talks to him.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Fairchild can make herself super-strong and super-durable, but only for very short periods, after which she usually passes out.
- We Have Reserves: Deathblow has a lot of combat skills, but tends to get killed on missions. Luckily, Marlowe has replacements available.
- Younger Than They Look: Mr. Majestic looks like an adult, but he's actually Caitlin's age.
