Grifter

Early Life

During Gen 12 his father was killed and he and his brother Max were raised by their mother and their stepfather, Cole's mother died while he was an adult. Cole left his family to start a life of crime so that he could survive. Despite being a criminal he had a honor code which he showed when one of his partner was about to shoot at police and he stopped him. He was arrested but was given a second chance and was enlisted by International Operation and showed that he was a gifted marksman.

Team 7

Cole's natural talents landed him in a group called Team 7 who took the dirtiest of jobs and got them done. The team consisted of John "Topkick" Lynch, Marc "Backlash" Slayton, Jackson "Arclight" Dane, Philip "Bulleteer" Chang, Stephen "Wraparound" Callahan, Alex Fairchild and Michael "Dane" Cray. Cole's codename in the group was Deadeye. The group was exposed to a chemical called the Gen Factor which gave the team a variety of psionic powers. In Deathblows case these powers didn't show up until 20 years later. The exposure to the chemical affected their morality and mental health. After the team were exposed to the chemical the team was deemed Gen 12, but some of the team died after being exposed to the chemical. Cole began to think his superiors I.O. were behind the experiments on them through the exposure to the chemical. After this he rebelled against his team leader John Lynch. Cole took charge and united the teams mental powers against a nuclear bomb that was target at the team by the I.O leader Miles Craven for a test. After this the team went into hiding but later was forced to return to I.O

Coda

When the powers of Team 7 began to wane Craven began to take an interest in their children Gen 13 who should have inherited their fathers powers. Most of the team went into hiding again while others stayed with I.O. The team finally fell apart and Cole came to work as an assassin for I.O., but he soon became disenchanted with them too. It was in this time that he encountered a women named Zealot. They fell in love and she took it upon herself to teach a male the ways of the Coda. The Coda teachings he was given returned his sanity and locked away his psionic powers.

The Wild C.A.T.S.

Sometime later Cole and Zealot broke up for her it was just another relationship, but Cole had become grateful because she returned his sanity. However they were on good terms, and both were recruited by Emp to be part of his team the Wilde C.A.T.S. Cole later quit the team when they had to ally with High tower, a Daemonite who had killed Grifter's friend Lonely. he rejoined the team when they came back from Khrea, he even became team leader for some time. During this time his brother Max was killed, he left the team again after Zealot's apparent death. At this point most of his teammates left as well and the WildC.A.T.s were disbanded.

The Wildcats

Soon he joined another team with the same name alongside Lord Emp Spartan and a arms dealer by the name of Noir. After Emp's ascension Cole sank into depression, he began drinking and having one night stands with women who looked like Zealot. One night she returned but Grifter was too drunk to recognize her. After a night of sex she left him before he realized who she was. She had come back to destroy the Coda because they had betrayed their teachings and she was going to kill all Coda taught. She spared Cole because of their history together. After this meeting he straightened out his life and joined Jack Marlowe's(Spartan) Halo Corporation.

During this time Cole was mind controlled by a villain named Tao. Tao made him shoot his friend John Lynch which left him in a coma. These events were erased from his memories by Tao.

Grifter II

During mission for Jack Marlowe Cole's legs were shattered by Agent Orange. Therefore he couldn't operate as Marlowe's agent. He trained accountant Edwin Dolby (Grifter II) to take his place. Dolby turned out to be unsuitable for the missions Cole sent him on. After Marlowe apologized he re-joined but only as an accountant. Cole later remodeled the robotic body of former teammateLadytron as a remote-controlled body for himself.

Several weeks later his legs were healed, a side-effect of dormant Gen-factor according to I.O. scientists. John Lynch woke from his coma and restored Cole's memory. Cole was assigned to take down Tao and Holden Carver who was a double agent. Tao's organization was completely dismantled and Tao was imprisoned.

Since then he has joined a makeshift team of former Wildcats to take down an assassin called Nemesis.

Future

In the series Captain Atom Armageddon Jack Marlowe is dead and Cole is has taken control of the Halo corporation. Cole was killed by Apollo and Midnighter of The Authority, but was revived along with the rest of the Wild Storm universe.

Wildcats Vol 4

In the new team of Wildcats Cole has shown that he wants to change his lifestyle but keeps getting sucked back into it. He appears to be an employee of the Hadrian as a core member of the Wildcats team.

Powers

As a result of the Gen Factor exposure Cole had a strong amount of Telekinesis an Telepathy . But these powers began to burn out and by the time of Dead Reckoning he only had the psionic powers to give a person a bloody nose. His Coda-training sealed his psionic powers away, but he can still use them under certain circumstances (usually the presence of another Team 7 member so that they can combine their powers). Note: As of Grifter/Midnighter #1, which takes place after the Worldstorm relaunch, Grifter has apparently regained control of his psychic powers and can use them unaided. A side effect of the Gen chemical is accelerated healing, he once recovered from a broken neck and shattered legs without any scaring. The healing factor also slows his aging.

Aside from superhuman powers he is an excellent marksman. And adept at any firearm or throwing weapon. Can take out a group of enemies single handed. He was already a formidable hand-to-hand combatant due to his military training and experience, but his Coda training has sharpened these abilities even further.