Grifter (Cole Cash)This is a featured page

"I'm the best there is at what I do. And what I do...is drink."
Deadeye (Cole Cash)
Team 7 era
Grifter by Joe Chiodo
WildC.A.T.s era
Grifter sketch by Travis Charest
Wildcats era
Grifter by Dustin Nguyen
Wildcats Version 3.0 era

Real Name: Cole Cash
First Appearance: WildCATs #1
Affiliation: WildCATs
Former Affiliation: Team 7, International Operations, Central Intelligence Agency, Halo Inc

Vital Stats:
Species: Human - Gen 12
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 195 lbs
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Known Family:
Powers/Abilities:
Cole Cash was recruited into Team 7 where he developed his uncanny skill with guns. After being exposed to the Gen-Factor, Cash gained incredible psychic and telekinetic powers, but later suppressed these powers to avoid the terrible toll similar powers had exacted upon other Team 7 members. Cash's gen-active powers have been dormant for years, save for his slowed aging and a limited healing factor, but resurfaced recently in the wake of the WorldStorm. Grifter is one of the few men on Earth to be trained in the Coda martial arts. He learned hand to hand combat and a variety of weapons from his former lover Zealot. For the longest time, his weapons of choice were his VAD PP30's. In later years, he stopped using them and resorted to a variety of firearms.


SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!
Bio:

Early Life
After the alleged murder of his con-man father, Cole Cash's mother was remarried to mob boss Sam Del Gracci. Cole couldn't accept Del Gracci as a member of his family, and left home in his late teens. The only available account of how Cole came into the service of his country was actually recounted by Cash himself, disguised as FBI agent Joseph Brockmeyer, so should be treated with caution. That said, there is little reason to suspect that most of the story is not accurate:

After leaving his mother and brother, Cash went looking for a way to make a name for himself. He ended up working as a get-away driver for a gang of armed robbers in Chicago, pulling small-time heists. His criminal career was cut short when the gang was ambushed in an FBI sting operation. One gang-member, named Marconi, tried to escape by taking a young woman hostage. Cash not only set the hostage free, but stopped another member of the gang, Stefano, from killing the lead FBI agent, Joseph Brockmeyer. The gang was apprehended, but Cash was saved from a charge of armed robbery (and a very unpleasant stay among his step-father's enemies in prison) by Agent Brockmeyer, who owed Cole for saving him and felt he could salvage the young man. Brockmeyer called in a favor to have Cash released into his care, then handed him on to Alejandro Rios at International Operations (I/O). At I/O, Cash was inducted immediately into the orientation program for John Lynch's new covert operations unit, Team 7. Once on the team, Cash was given the call-sign 'Deadeye', due to his uncanny marksmanship.

Team 7
While serving with Team 7 in the late 60s / early 70s, Cash came into conflict with team-mate Marc Slayton on at least two notable occasions: During a hostage rescue in South America, Slayton orders Cash to abandon team member Robert Diaz, who was seriously wounded and presumed dead. Later, following Team 7's exposure to the Gen-Factor, Cash watched in horror as Slayton executed a prisoner; a soviet scientist named Dbovchek, by throwing the man from a helicopter over Leningrad. Cash tried to save Dbovchek by grabbing the edge of the soviet flag in which the prisoner was wrapped, but came away with only a scrap of red material as the scientist plunged to his death. Cash kept the flag fragment as a memento, and later used it as inspiration for his Grifter mask.

Cash was one of the first members of Team 7 to recognize the dangers inherent in the extraordinary psychic powers granted to the team by the Gen-factor: When team member Andrew Johnson started using his powers for sadistic torture, Cash shot him dead in the field. Cash was also the first member of the team who openly challenged team leader John Lynch and I/O's director Miles Craven over their manipulation of the team. Eventually, Cash and others from Team 7 abandoned I/O and went into hiding. While several of his ex-colleagues were settling down and starting families, Cash started his own investigation into the soviet psychic research lab in Leningrad from which Team 7 snatched Dbovchek. Cash was captured in Russia, only to be rescued by John Lynch in time for a Team 7 reunion: Another ex-team-mate, Jackson Dane ('Arclight') was being controlled by gen-active experimental subjects trying to escape I/O's secret Level Nine containment facility. After defeating Dane, the team learned that Craven was now targeting their children, who had inherited the Gen-factor. While Chang, Callahan and Fairchild fled to protect their children, Lynch, Dane, Slayton and Cray remained in the service of I/O in one form or another. Cash infiltrated I/O and planted a computer virus to sabotage Project: Genesis. He escaped with help from Craven's lead scientist, Gabriel Newman, himself also a gen-active.

Cole moved to South America, and began a new career as a soldier of fortune. Once again, however, his strong morals put him at odds with more ruthless characters, and he killed his employers to save a village of innocent farmers. The local Junta punished Cash by locking him up and throwing away the key.

Team X/Team 7
After a year and a half in a South American prison, Cash was tracked down by Colonel Nick Fury of the Supreme Headquarters of International Espionage, Law-enforcement Division (SHIELD). Fury needed Cash's help to rescue an operative who had been captured by an alien alliance comprising the Brood and the Daemonites. SHIELD kitted Cash out with a red Kevlar mask (reminiscent of his Leningrad memento and bearing the same eye-markings he had worn while in Team 7), a green Kevlar trenchcoat and a collection of guns and gadgets. With further help from Jean Grey and the other founding members of the X-Men, Cash rescued the SHIELD agent, who turned out to be a Kherubim Coda warrior named Zannah (or 'Zealot'). Zealot offered to help Cash control his Gen-factor powers, which threatened to overwhelm him as they had done other members of Team 7. (Note: The timeline shared by the WildCATs and X-Men was apparently destroyed in the final issue of the crossover series, but Gen 12 #2 makes explicit references to some of these events, placing them in the main WS continuity. Although later, Worldstorm would make these events out of continuity again.)

WildC.A.T.s: Cover Action Teams
Zealot started trained Cash in the Coda marital arts, and the two became lovers. Cole adopted the codename Grifter and joined Zealot's war against the Daemonites.

Grifter and Zealot's operations against the Daemonites of the Cabal led them to join forces with Jacob Marlowe's WildC.A.T.s, a team of Kherubim, Kherubim/human hybrids and even a Daemonite/human hybrid, fighting their own secret war against the Daemonites. Cash left the WildCATs twice, both times thinking that his ex-lover Zealot had been killed: Once when the Kherubim members of the team left Earth to visit their homeworld of Khera, and again when the Zealot was shot on an operation in Ireland.

Wildcats & Wildcats 3.0
After Jacob Marlowe (Lord Emp) ascended from the mortal realm and became a Kherubim High Lord, his company Halo Inc was inherited by the android Spartan, who took on the name Jack Marlowe. Grifter became a 'fixer' for Halo. While on a mission, Grifter's legs were severely crippled, leaving him unable to work in the field. He remained employed by Halo, though he was frustrated at his lack of mobility. After a disastrous attempt to train Halo employee Edwin Dolby as a replacement Grifter, Cash hit upon the idea of using the husk of WildCATs cyborg Ladytron's body as a remote-controlled arsenal, allowing him to rescue Zealot from the Coda sisterhood.

Point Blank/Sleeper
Later, John Lynch repaired Cash's legs in exchange for his help in fighting TAO's criminal Syndicate. Cash was then brainwashed by TAO and manipulated into shooting Lynch, putting his ex-Team-mate into a coma for some time.

Worldstorm
One month before the WorldStorm, Cole was seen apparently depressed and drunk in South America, but still fighting Daemonites. He arrived back in New York in time to witness Captain Atom's arrival and subsequent battle with Majestic. Cash recognized an energy signature in Captain Atom that he'd previously only seen in his deceased team-mates Void and Jack Marlowe (formerly Spartan). In the course of protecting Atom from The Authority, who believed that killing Atom was the only way to save the universe, Grifter was killed by Midnighter and Apollo: Midnighter buried two throwing stars in Cash's spine, then Apollo incinerated his head.

Following the WorldStorm, in which the new Void entity "re-booted" the universe, Grifter and a number of other super-powered beings (SPBs) have been returned to the world of the living. Midnighter, Apollo and Grifter himself all remember his death, but it seems none of them has an explanation for Cash's reincarnation.

Grifter and Midnighter
Cole Cash briefly worked as an assassin for the US government, targeting Islamist terror networks. His latest assignment went awry when his target turned out to be an alien shape-shifter who was being hunted by others of the same race. Zee, as he/she calls itself, has now drawn Grifter and Midnighter into an interstellar conflict involving weaponized giant worms.

World's End
Grifter returned to the Wildcats after Armageddon, helping survivors in Los Angeles.


Alternate Versions:
  • Alternative 838: In this gender-switched reality, a female Grifter was recruited by the Midnighter to fight the Renegade Doctor and was killed.
  • The Bleed Universe: Cole Cash is a member of StormWatch. He leads StormWatch Team Four.
  • World War 3: In this Marvel/WildStorm amalgamated universe, Grifter is still a member of the WildC.A.T.s, fighting against the combined evil of Dr. Doom, the Skrulls, and the Daemonites.

Trivia:
  • Grifter was created by Jim Lee & Brandon Choi

Commentary:
  • "He was a Chicago street kid who conned his way into college and then into the CIA. Being in the military was a cover story. He's a combination of Harry Anderson, Bruce Willis, and Clint Eastwood. We were going to make him Kherubim at first, but making him human worked better - he's always on humanity's side." - Brandon Choi (WildStorm Gallery trading card #27)

Appearances:
  • The Authority Vol 5 World's End #1, #10,
  • Avengers Vol 2 #13
  • Backlash: #8, #15, #16, #20, #31
  • Badrock & Company #5
  • Captain America Vol 2 #13
  • Captain Atom: Armageddon #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9
  • Countdown Present the Search for Ray Palmer: WildStorm #1
  • Coup d'Etat: #3 WildCATs Version 3.0
  • CyberForce Vol 2 #2, #3
  • DC/WildStorm: Dreamwar #3, #4, #5, #6
  • Deathblow Vol 1 #10, #11, #12, #16, #24, #25, #26, #28, #29
  • Deathblow: Byblows: #1, #2
  • Deathmate Preview, Yellow
  • Divine Right: The Adventures of Max Faraday #11, #12
  • Divine Intervention Gen 13, WildCATs
  • DV8 #17, #18
  • Eye of the Storm Annual #1
  • Fantastic Four Vol 2 #13
  • Fire From Heaven #1
  • Gen 12 #1, #2, #3, #4, #5;
  • Gen 13 Vol 2 #10, #11, #22, #23, #24, #29, #34, #41
  • Gen 13 Bootleg #9
  • Grifter: One Shot
  • Grifter Vol 1 #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10
  • Grifter Vol 2 #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14
  • Grifter/Badrock #1, #2
  • Grifter and the Mask #1, #2
  • Grifter/Midnighter #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6
  • Grifter/Shi #1, #2
  • Iron Man Vol 2 #13
  • JLA/WildCATS #1
  • The Kindred Preview; #1, #2, #3, #4
  • The Kindred II #1, #2, #3, #4
  • Mars Attacks Image #3
  • The Monarchy #2
  • Number of the Beast #8
  • Point Blank #1, #2, #3, #4, #5
  • The Savage Dragon #13
  • Shattered Image #2, #3, #4
  • Sigma #1, #2, #3
  • Sleeper Season Two #5
  • Spartan: Warrior Spirit #1, #3, #4
  • Spawn/WildC.A.T.s #1, #2, #3, #4
  • StormWatch Vol 1 #21, #22, #27, #36
  • StormWatch Vol 2 #7, #8, #9
  • StormWatch PHD #18,
  • Sword of Damocles #2
  • Team 7 #1, #2, #3, #4
  • Team 7: Objective: Hell #1, #2, #3
  • Team 7: Dead Reckoning #1, #2, #3, #4
  • Team X / Team 7 #1
  • Union Vol 2 #3, #4
  • Voodoo/Zealot: Skin Trade
  • Wetworks Vol 1 #4, #5, #8, #10, #17, #42, #43
  • Wild Times: Grifter #1
  • Wild Times: WildCATs #0
  • WildCATs Vol 1: Covert Action Teams: #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #25, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #35, #36, #37, #38, #39, #40, #41, #42, #43, #44, #45, #46, #47, #48, #49, #50, Annual #1
  • WildCATs Vol 2 #1, #3, #4, #5, #6, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25, #26, #27; Annual 2000
  • WildCATs Vol 3: Version 3.0 #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
  • WildCATs Vol 4: WorldStorm #1
  • Wildcats Vol 5: World's End #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16,
  • WildC.A.T.s Adventures #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10
  • WildCATs/Aliens #1
  • Wildcats: Armageddon #1
  • Wildcats: Mosaic
  • Wildcats: Nemesis #1, #2, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9
  • WildC.A.T.s: Spartan vs. Helspont Special Edition #1
  • WildCATs Special #1
  • WildCATs Trilogy #1, #2, #3
  • WildCATs/X-Men Silver Age, Modern Age, Dark Age
  • WildStorm Chamber of Horrors #1
  • WildStorm Halloween Trilogy of Terror #1
  • WildStorm Revelations #4, #5
  • WildStorm Rising #1, #2
  • Wildstorm Thunderbook #1

Categories:

List of Wildcats CharactersList of Team 7 CharactersList of Grifter Characters


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WildStormResource 		Latest page update: made by WildStormResource , Oct 28 2009, 10:08 PM EDT (about this update About This Update WildStormResource Edited by WildStormResource

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