Dr. Valerie Cooper works for the United States government in positions that focus on government oversight of superhuman mutant activity, often acting as liaison to mutants.
Government Agent
Psychologist Valerie “Val” Cooper works for the subversive Secret Empire, an organization she believes to be a government agency, during which time she treats Kyle Gibney, AKA Wild Child. Cooper then becomes special assistant to National Security Advisor Richard Petrie due to her driving concern about U.S. superhuman mutant activity and exploitation by governments and private interests. Cooper disapproves of mutant crime fighters operating without U.S. government approval, and she is a prime supporter of the Mutant Powers Registration Act, though public outcry causes it to be repealed.
Cooper also sees the U.S. as being in a mutant “arms race” with other nations to develop an effective superhuman mutant corps. Selected to serve with the Presidential Commission on Superhuman Activities, Cooper recruits her old college friend Julia Carpenter for an experimental procedure to create superhuman powers, resulting in Carpenter becoming Spider-Woman.
Mutant Expert
Val Cooper is a trained psychologist specializing in mutant behavioral patterns. She is also an experienced board member, and has some training in martial arts and small arms.
Unseen Foes
While under the control of telepath Amahl Farouk, AKA Shadow King, Val nearly kills Raven Darkhölme, AKA Mystique, but fights it. When she wrestles control back, she turns the gun on herself, but her barrel jerked, saving her life.
Cooper establishes the Office of National Emergency (O*N*E) to assess mutants for their potential threat, but unbeknownst to her, the commander General Lazer seeks to harm mutants. When the truth comes out, she threatens him with violence. Val also gets struck with a bullet from her own people that was meant to defend against a mutant waving a gun.
X-Men and Ex-Criminal Allies
With government backing, Cooper oversees ex-criminals as government agents, such as Freedom Force and the Redeemers. She also approves of X-Man Ororo Munroe, AKA Storm, forming the X-Treme Sanctions Executive, and works with the X-Men and X-Factor teams. While overseeing X-Factor, she goes head-to-head with the hot headed Alex Summers, AKA Havok, when he tries to undercut her authority.
She further employs mutant sorcerer and inventor, Forge, to enable the government to detect superhumans. She also supervises recruitment of potential superhuman agents, such as Julia Carpenter, John Walker, AKA U.S.Agent, and Lemar Hoskins, AKA Battlestar.
A Government Agent’s History
After mutant terrorist Mystique approached Cooper, offering to have her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants employed by the government, Cooper sanctioned them as Freedom Force. Cooper was also involved in the Commission’s assertion of U.S. government control over the “Captain America” identity and property, supervising the recruitment and training of John Walker and his partner Battlestar. Following the death of Commission Chairperson Douglas Rockwell, Cooper replaced him and, as her first act, reinstated Steve Rogers as Captain America.
When Wolfgang Von Strucker, AKA Baron Strucker, mind-controlled the National Security Agency’s Henry Gyrich into conspiring to kill the world’s superhumans, Cooper had the Commission ally with the V-Battalion to create the Redeemers, a team of mostly ex-criminals promised pardons in exchange for foiling Gyrich’s plan. They succeeded via aid from the Thunderbolts, another ex-criminals team. Cooper granted the Thunderbolts presidential pardons in exchange for their leader, Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye, serving jail time.
She later addressed world leaders on the Commission’s proposal that mutants be classified as weapons of mass destruction. After meeting with the X-Man Storm, Cooper and her global counterparts gave Storm official sanction to form the X-Treme Sanctions Executive.
She then established the Office of National Emergency (O*N*E); however, in the wake of “M-Day,” when most of Earth’s mutants lost their powers, command was given to General Lazer, who secretly sought to eliminate the remaining 198 mutants. Cooper uncovered the truth and brutally interrogated him as to the 198’s location, then took command of the O*N*E and aided the X-Men in saving them.
As the head of O*N*E, she was in charge of tracking down the terrorist organization called The X-Cell, who attacked Edward Hutchinson, the Undersecretary of Defense. She asked Jamie Madrox, AKA Multiple Man’s X-Factor Investigations, to help her find the attackers’ ringleader, former mutant Elijah Cross. She continued to work with Madrox, something that Madrox kept secret from the team and his pregnant girlfriend Theresa Cassidy, AKA Siryn. She soon showed up at X-Factor headquarters where Julio Richter, AKA Rictor, and Siryn were located and offered to help Siryn with her pregnancy. But Siryn thought she was there to take her baby. Val also revealed her and Madrox’ working relationship, which caused tension. When Rictor and Siryn tried to leave, they encountered a group of federal agents outside. Rictor pulled a gun on them, and a firefight between him and the agents resulted in a ricocheted bullet striking Val. Siryn flew her to the hospital while Rictor was placed under arrest. Though Rictor’s gun was actually a paint gun, so a nearly passed out Val offered Rictor’s release prior to surgery. After surgery, Val reassured Madrox that she and the government only wanted to find a safe environment for him and Siryn to raise their child. Jamie refused her protection and left the room but not before Val reminded him that he wanted to work for the government and for her. She eventually returned to work with a cane to assist her for a time. She continued working with X-Factor but in the open.
When Dr. Vincent Stegron, AKA Stegron, and his dinosaur army launched a campaign of destruction across America, Cooper brought together a squad led by Greer Nelson, AKA Tigra, under The Initiative’s umbrella. At Camp Hammond, Cooper informed Tigra of Stegron’s activities, which included attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. bases in Colorado and Montana and reanimating dinosaur bones. When Tigra assessed the squad members Cooper chose, she balked at the inclusion of Humberto Lopez, AKA Reptil, a minor. Cooper wasn’t looking for her opinion and ordered her to get to Nevada by noon to recruit Reptil. Once Reptil was recruited and brought back to Cooper, she had Wernher von Blitzschlag, AKA Baron von Blitzschlag, help him increase his prehistoric animal sense range to detect Stegron. Reptil revealed that Stegron was in South Dakota and the squad departed to stop them from causing more damage. When the team engaged Stegron and his dinosaur army, Reptil suffered a mild concussion and the team left to treat him, allowing Stegron and his forces to escape. Back at the Camp Hammond infirmary, Cooper was more concerned about whether Reptil’s ability to sense dinosaurs had been compromised. Cooper was ready to send the team back out, without Reptil, but Tigra expressed how holding Reptil back could lead to confidence issues, so Cooper agreed to let him go but he was Tigra’s responsibility. he team was dispatched and ended up defeating Stegron and his forces, only to end up helping him with getting Moon-Boy back to the Savage Land.
