Valerie Cooper

Valerie Cooper
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Uncanny X-Men #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 in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character works for the Office of National Emergency as the liaison for mutant 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]

Publication history

Valerie Cooper was created by Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr., and first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #176 (Dec. 1983).^[2]

The character received an entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #2.

She appeared sporadically as a secondary character, often an antagonist, in various Marvel series through the 1980s, primarily Uncanny X-Men written by Claremont and Captain America written by Mark Gruenwald. Writer Peter David and artist Larry Stroman took over X-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.

The character 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 relaunched X-Factor in 2006 and eventually featured her character in the series during 2007-2009. She made few appearances in the 2010s.

Fictional character biography

Dr. Valerie Cooper was a special National Security Advisor on national security issues, which include metahuman affairs. Originally, she took a hard-line concern on the problem of the threat that superhumans and mutants posed to the United States.

Freedom Force

This position changed slightly when Cooper oversaw Mystique's former Brotherhood of Mutants, which operated as government agents as the Freedom Force. Around this time, Cooper was also involved in a project to create government sponsored superheroes which resulted in Julia Carpenter as the second Spider-Woman as well as three villains that would become her enemies Deathweb. Carpenter would subsequently be assigned by Cooper to join Freedom Force.

Meanwhile, Cooper and the Commission were 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 of John Walker and Battlestar as the new Captain America and the new Bucky respectively. Cooper's next duty was to hire Forge to create a machine to detect mutant powers.

The Freedom Force project was shut down when several members were killed while others were missing after being abandoned in Kuwait. During the Muir Island Saga, Cooper's mind fell under the Shadow King's control. The Shadow King ordered Cooper to shoot Mystique, but she refused and shot herself instead. She was critically injured but survived. Mystique, with the aid of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. hypnotists, went undercover as Val in an attempt to foil the Shadow King. It wasn't until the Shadow King's defeat by the X-Men and X-Factor that Mystique and Cooper were able to return to their own lives.

X-Factor

After witnessing first-hand the deeds of mutants throughout the years, Valerie wanted to give 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, composed of Havok, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Multiple Man, Quicksilver and Strong Guy replaced Freedom Force, with Val acting as government liaison to the team. Val is assisted by the human employee Baldrick.^[3] Soon after Val was once again mentally controlled, this time by the Acolytes. Val was freed from the Acolytes' control, but her relationship with X-Factor was damaged when it was revealed that she knew of Project Wideawake, a new Sentinel project being developed by the U.S. Government. Cooper later decided 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 was forced by the government to allow Mystique and Sabretooth to join. With Forge in command, the team went underground.

Commission on Superhuman Affairs

Cooper returned to the Commission on Superhuman Affairs. In her position, she found herself helping the X-Men out on several occasions. She was later responsible for taking Charles Xavier away to a government facility following the Onslaught incident. Valerie was instrumental in helping the old Thunderbolts defeat Henry Peter Gyrich and negotiated for the team their Presidential Pardon.

O*N*E

Cooper helps establish the Office 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 the X-Mansion after most of the world's mutants are depowered during the Decimation 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 and Havok enter in a business relationship.^[4]

Cooper is revealed to have been involved in an intimate relationship with U.S. Agent whilst working for the Office of National Emergency.^[5]

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse reality, Valerie Cooper is a member of an underground resistance group that aids refugees escape from North America to Europe. At one point, she assists a dazed Polaris.^[6]

GeNeXt

In Genext comics which is set in the relative future, she is the United Nations' liaison to the Xavier School.

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel version of Valerie Cooper works as a Government official and is preparing for an announcement that will tell the world the truth about where the mutant gene came from.^[7]

In other media

Val Cooper appears in X-Men '97,^[8] voiced by Catherine Disher.^[9]

References