As an orphan, Ted Grant took up a position as a heavyweight boxer, and eventually became tangled in his sinister managers' 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. Eventually, Grant became the costumed hero known as Wildcat and joined the expanded version of the Justice League.By 2014, Grant was running a gym in Starling City. He agreed to train Laurel Lance in self-defense.