Cerebra's Files

Cooper, Val


Full Name: Dr. Valerie Cooper
Affiliation: U.S. government, Dept. of Mutant Affairs
Previous Affiliations: X-Factor government liason, Freedom Force government liason
Relatives: Major Edmund Atkinson (ex-husband), unnamed brother
Alternate-X Versions: (AOA)
Codename Etymology: Pronounced kōōp'ər, văl [From Middle English couper, cowper, from Middle Dutch cuper (from cupe cask) or Middle Low German kuper, from kupe cask; Middle Dutch cupe & Middle Low German kupe, from Latin cupa; akin to Greek kypellon cup: "barrel maker", feminine Latin, valere: "to be strong"].
Powers & History: None (human). Val's been around the X-Books since the Dire Wraith invasion way back in Uncanny #187. She eventually came to head Freedom Force, and later the government-sponsored X-Factor. During her tenure with X-Factor she was possessed by one of the Acolytes and she kept information about a new Sentinel program from her team. When they found out, and Val realized that she wouldn't have told them even without the mind control, the team refused to trust her again. Her job was subsequently taken by Forge, but Val still remained in close touch with the team. She went on to direct the government's Council on Mutant Affairs.

Following M-Day, Val's position was subsumed or promoted into the Office of National Emergency, where she served as deputy Director and a direct liason with the X-Men, given her past experiences with them. Val traded on those relationships to try and ease the mutants into the new socio-political reality, in which the Xavier Institute was little more than a reservation for the remaining mutants, with curfews and Sentinel patrols on permanent watch. Unfortunately, Val's past positions meant that her superiors didn't always trust her, leaving her out of critical information, such as the ability of the subdermal trackers placed in The 198 to cause extreme pain via electric shocks. This obviously damaged Val's credibility with the X-Men, and she tried to make it up by befriending Bishop, who as a former police officer, agreed with the idea of policing mutants. They even played chess together, by memory, without pieces or board.

When X-Force broke the 198 out of the Institute grounds, prompting the X-Men to oppose their guardians and Bishop's new enforcer team, Val was torn. However, when Cyclops attacked Bishop and everyone realized that he was under mind control, Val convinced Col. Reyes to risk his career to confront General Lazer, head of the O*N*E, who was using the mind-control abilities of mutant Johnny Dee to manipulate the situation. Val was then promoted to the head of the O*N*E.
95