| Valerie "Val" Cooper | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Uncanny X-Men No. 176 (Dec. 1983) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont (writer) John Romita Jr. (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Human |
| Team affiliations | Office of National Emergency Project Wideawake Commission on Superhuman Activities Freedom Force X-Factor NSA Secret Empire |
Valerie "Val"Cooper is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The character works for theOffice of National Emergency as the liaison formutant affairs. She once claimed to have been inspired to government service by the interesting cases her brother, an FBI agent, encountered in his work.[1]
Valerie Cooper was created byChris Claremont andJohn Romita Jr., and first appeared inThe Uncanny X-Men No. 176 (Dec. 1983).[2]
The character received an entry inThe Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 No. 2.
Cooper appeared sporadically as a secondary character, often an antagonist, in various Marvel series through the 1980s, primarilyUncanny X-Men written by Claremont andCaptain America written byMark Gruenwald. WriterPeter David and artistLarry Stroman took overX-Factor in 1991 to which Cooper is added as a major character and she was featured in the series' majority until its cancellation in 1998.
Cooper reached additional prominence in the mid-2000s, appearing in dozens of issues in 2006 at the height of Marvel's "Decimation" and "Civil War" events. David returned to write a relaunchedX-Factor in 2006 and eventually featured her character in the series during 2007-2009. She made few appearances in the 2010s.
Dr. Valerie Cooper is a specialNational Security Advisor on national security issues, which include superhuman affairs. Originally, she takes a hard-line concern on the problem of the threat that superhumans and mutants posed to theUnited States.
Cooper begins overseeingMystique's formerBrotherhood of Mutants, whose members now operate as government agents as part ofFreedom Force. Around this time, Cooper is also involved in a project to create government-sponsored superheroes, which results inJulia Carpenter gaining superpowers and becoming the secondSpider-Woman. Carpenter is subsequently assigned by Cooper to join Freedom Force.
Cooper and theCommission on Superhuman Activities are directly involved in the events of the government demanding the Captain America identity under the argument of being their property;Steve Rogers gives up the Captain America identity, and Cooper supervises the recruitment ofJohn Walker andBattlestar as the new Captain America andBucky respectively. Cooper's next duty is to hireForge to create a machine to detect mutant powers.
The Freedom Force project is shut down when several members are killed or go missing after being abandoned inKuwait. During theMuir Island Saga, Cooper's mind falls under theShadow King's control. The Shadow King orders Cooper to shoot Mystique, but she refuses and shoots herself instead. Cooper is critically injured, but survives. Mystique, with the aid ofNick Fury andS.H.I.E.L.D. hypnotists, goes undercover disguised as Cooper in an attempt to foil the Shadow King. It is not until the Shadow King's defeat by theX-Men andX-Factor that Mystique and Cooper return to their own lives.
After witnessing first-hand the deeds of mutants throughout the years, Cooper is the concept of a government sponsored team another shot. She was able to convince several X-Men members and their associates to form a new X-Factor team. This new team, consisting ofHavok,Polaris,Wolfsbane,Multiple Man,Quicksilver andStrong Guy replaces Freedom Force, with Cooper acting as government liaison to the team. Val is assisted by the human employee Baldrick.[3] Soon afterward, Cooper is once again mentally controlled, this time by theAcolytes. She was freed from the Acolytes' control, but her relationship withX-Factor is damaged when it is revealed that she knew ofProject Wideawake, a newSentinel project being developed by the United States government. Cooper later decides to hand leadership of the team directly to Forge. With the world getting more dangerous around her and the departure of some of the members, Cooper is forced by the government to allow Mystique andSabretooth to join. With Forge in command, the team goes underground.
Cooper returns to the Commission on Superhuman Activities. In this position, she assists the X-Men on several occasions. She later takesCharles Xavier to a government facility following theOnslaught incident. Cooper is instrumental in helping the oldThunderbolts defeatHenry Peter Gyrich and negotiates for the team to receive a presidentialpardon.
Cooper helps establish theOffice of National Emergency (or O*N*E), an official government branch dedicated to preparation and defense against superhuman threats; not much later, she becomes its deputy director. The O*N*E, with its first line of defense being the Sentinel Squad O*N*E, becomes responsible for the mutant refugee camp established at theX-Mansion after most of the world's mutants are depowered during theDecimation event. Many mutants join the camp willingly, while some are secretly coerced into it.
With the destruction of the X-Mansion and the X-Men's subsequent move to San Francisco, O*N*E no longer watches over the X-Men's day-to-day activities nor does it guard them with Sentinels.
Valerie Cooper and Havok enter in a business relationship.[4]
Cooper is revealed to have been involved in an intimate relationship withU.S. Agent while working for the Office of National Emergency.[5]
An alternate universe version of Valerie Cooper appears in theAge of Apocalypse tie-in seriesFactor-X. This version is a member of an underground resistance group that aids refugees in escaping from North America to Europe.[6]
A possible future version of Valerie Cooper appears inGeNext. By this time, she has become theUnited Nations' liaison to the Xavier School.
An alternate universe version of Valerie Cooper fromEarth-1610 makes a minor appearance inUltimate Fallout #4. This version is a government official involved in discovering the mutant gene's origins.[7]
Valerie Cooper appears inX-Men '97,[8] voiced byCatherine Disher.[9]
| Founders | |
|---|---|
| Government Team | |
| X-Factor Investigations | |
| Serval | |
| Supporting | |
| Enemies | |
| Publications | |
