Cat Grant: the Metropolis reporter, from the Daily Planet to CatCo
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Cat Grant is one of the most durable reporters in the Superman universe: created in 1987 at the Daily Planet, she became a press boss on television, then came back to the newsroom in the 2025 film. In this article you'll discover: her creation and original role, the tragedy that redefined the character, her relationship with Clark Kent and Lois Lane, her turn into CatCo CEO, her four on-screen performers and what she stands for now. By the end you'll know why this supporting role survived forty years of adaptations.
The essentials
- Created: Adventures of Superman #424, January 1987
- Creators: Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway
- Job: gossip columnist, then presenter, then press boss
- Her tragedy: the death of her son Adam, killed by Toyman
- On television: Tracy Scoggins, Keri Lynn Pratt, Calista Flockhart
- On screen: Mikaela Hoover in Superman (2025)
📋 Contents
1987: a rival for Lois Lane
Cat Grant, full name Catherine Jane Grant, first appears in January 1987 in Adventures of Superman #424, created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Jerry Ordway.
The date is not random. DC has just started over with John Byrne's reboot: Superman is redefined, Clark Kent is a real reporter again, and the Daily Planet newsroom has to be restocked. Cat Grant arrives in that move, with a precise job: to be the exact opposite of Lois Lane.
Where Lois Lane investigates the powerful, Cat runs the gossip column. Where Lois ignores Clark, Cat courts him openly. The character is built as a foil, and the early years mostly use her that way.
That rival role could have kept her as scenery. It's a tragedy, a few years later, that transforms her.
Her place at the Daily Planet
Our feature on the Daily Planet tells the paper's story; Cat Grant has a particular place there, the column people look down on and everyone reads.
Her career follows a coherent climb: gossip columnist first, then TV presenter, then her own show. So she leaves print for the screen, a path few Superman-universe characters have taken.
Opposite Perry White, she is never the model reporter; opposite Jimmy Olsen, she is the one who knows the house codes. That in-between spot — neither heroine nor ornament — explains her longevity.
The writers also give her something Lois does not have: a messy private life. A divorce, custody, drinking problems in some stretches. Cat Grant is the character who is struggling, in a universe where everyone is chasing a mission.
The Adam Grant tragedy
The character's turning point has a name: Adam, her son. Kidnapped by Toyman, he is killed as he tries to escape. It is one of the rare child murders Superman comics have dared, and it changes everything for Cat.
The scene that follows has stayed famous: across from her, in prison, Toyman shows no remorse and throws her back to her faults as a mother. Our article on Toyman comes back to this arc, which tipped the character from goofy villain to chilling criminal.
After that grief, Cat Grant is no longer the light columnist of the early days. The writers put her to work, harden her, and paradoxically pull her closer to Lois: two women the job made, each in her own way.
It's that Cat — hurt, ambitious, clear-eyed — that the TV adaptations pick up, often without the tragedy, but with the hardness it left.
From the newsroom to the top: CatCo
The second big turn is editorial. With DC Rebirth, Cat Grant is reimagined as CEO of CatCo Worldwide Media, a press group based in National City — Supergirl's city, not Superman's.
The character gains in power what she loses in closeness. Cat no longer writes, she runs things; she no longer chases Clark Kent, she hires assistants. It's this version, more arrogant and funnier, that stuck in the public's head.
The slide is logical: the press of the 2010s is not the press of 1987, and a gossip-reporter character had to evolve or vanish. CatCo gave her a second life.
Our overview of the women of the Superman universe shows how rare that kind of path still is in superhero comics — from decorative supporting role to the corner office.
Four faces on screen
| Performer | Production | Years | Her take on the character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tracy Scoggins | Lois & Clark | 1993-1994 | seductive columnist, faithful to the 1987 comics |
| Keri Lynn Pratt | Smallville | season 10 | reporter wary of masked vigilantes |
| Calista Flockhart | Supergirl | 2015-2021 | CatCo founder and CEO, Kara's mentor |
| Mikaela Hoover | Superman | 2025 | back to the Daily Planet newsroom |
Tracy Scoggins opens the dance in season one of Lois & Clark, with a Cat very close to the comics one: tight dresses, heavy hints at Clark, and a short run.
Keri Lynn Pratt picks the role up in season ten of Smallville, as a reporter convinced masked heroes are a public danger. An unexpected read, consistent with the last season's climate.
But it's Calista Flockhart who made the character stick with the wider public, in Supergirl. Her Cat Grant, CatCo's formidable boss, is the one who names the heroine and, in the series finale, takes her confession.
Without that TV fame, it is not certain the 2025 film would have made room for the character.
Cat Grant in the 2025 film
In Superman from James Gunn, Cat Grant is played by Mikaela Hoover and is back in her original job: the Daily Planet newsroom, alongside Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Steve Lombard and Perry White.
The choice fits the film's project, which puts the paper back at the centre of the universe. Our feature on the Superman 2025 cast lays out that newsroom, the fullest a Superman film has shown since 1978.
The role stays supporting, but it closes a loop: thirty-eight years after her creation, Cat Grant is again what she was invented for — one more voice in the newsroom.
For viewers coming from Supergirl, the contrast is sharp: CatCo's all-powerful CEO is an employee among others again.
Why the character lasts
Cat Grant has no power, no weapon, no costume. She has survived four decades for three reasons.
She fills an empty slot. Superman's universe is packed with heroes and mad scientists, but has few ordinary characters with a real life. Cat fills that job.
She ages with the press. Gossip columnist in 1987, presenter in the 1990s, media boss in the 2010s: her job tracks the industry.
She plays off everyone. Clark, Lois, Perry, Jimmy, Kara: Cat has a relationship with each of them, which makes her a valuable tool for writers.
That's also why she is rarely front and centre: a tool character serves everyone else's scene. Her best moments, in Supergirl as in the comics, are always duos.
Where to start with her
For the comics version, the way in is the post-Byrne period, from 1987: the Adventures of Superman of the late 1980s set the character, and the Toyman arc gives her depth. Our Superman comics guide places that era in the bibliography as a whole.
For the screen version, season one of Supergirl is still the fullest: Cat is in every episode, and her duo with Kara carries the season. Our portrait of Melissa Benoist covers the other half of that duo.
Finally, the 2025 film lets you see her in her original setting, even briefly.
Cat Grant was born as Lois Lane's rival and ended up as something else: the character who shows what an ordinary reporter's career looks like in a city where a man flies. It is not spectacular, and that is exactly what has made her useful since 1987.
FAQ — Frequently asked questions
Who is Cat Grant?
A Superman-universe reporter created in January 1987 by Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway in Adventures of Superman #424. First a Daily Planet gossip columnist, then a presenter, then a press boss.
Is Cat Grant an enemy of Lois Lane?
A rival rather than an enemy. She was created as her opposite: society page versus investigator, openly interested in Clark Kent where Lois ignored him.
What happened to her son?
Adam Grant was kidnapped and then killed by Toyman as he tried to escape. That tragedy lastingly changed the character in the comics.
Who plays Cat Grant in the Supergirl series?
Calista Flockhart, from 2015 to 2021. She plays the founder and CEO of CatCo Worldwide Media, Kara Danvers' boss and the first to name the heroine «Supergirl».
Is Cat Grant in the 2025 Superman film?
Yes, played by Mikaela Hoover, at the Daily Planet, in a newsroom that also includes Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and Steve Lombard.
What is CatCo?
The media group she founds and runs in recent versions, based in National City. It is the main setting of the Supergirl series.
Conclusion
Cat Grant belongs to that category of characters nobody names first and everybody recognises. Gossip columnist in 1987, grieving mother in the 1990s, press boss in the 2010s, Daily Planet reporter in 2025: few supporting roles have changed this much without ever vanishing.
Her best-known on-screen version also appears in the last season of Smallville season by season.
Her story says something about the Superman universe: even in Metropolis, someone has to write the light column, run a newsroom and pay rent.
To go further, our portrait of Calista Flockhart covers her most famous performer, and our feature on the Daily Planet puts the paper back at the centre of the mythology.