Agent Cooper

''"It's a measure of national defense!" - ''Agent Cooper

Agent Cooper is a FBI agent and former Head of the Above Top Secret Project AGARTHA, which is concerned with the activities of the men from within the Earth. He is a widower, his late wife Kate Cooper was accidentally killed in the line of his duties.

After a chance encounter with a sinister man from within the Earth while on routine stakeout detail in November 1952, Agent Cooper was invited to assist NSA Operative-132 on the mysterious Project AGARTHA.

The two later stopped Zong's Plan 0 from succeeding, killing him in the process. Only then did Operative-132 reveal the truth about these sinister beings to Agent Cooper. As partners, the two swore to stop any future threats posed by the Men from within the Earth.

In 1954, Operative-132 and Agent Cooper recovered the Sapphire of Agartha, a mysterious relic. They were then hunted by the evil Zerg and his team of evil hench-women. Operative-132 was killed, Agent Cooper was captured and tortured for information about the Sapphire. Agent Cooper's short-term memory was erased and he was set free. He then killed nearly each one of his torturers.

Six months later, Agent Cooper confronted the sadistic Zerrath, who kidnapped his wife Kate in a second attempt to recover the Sapphire of Agartha. The subsequent events that unfolded forever changed Agent Cooper's life.

Brian Bedell portrays Agent Cooper in the Diabolical Tales series.

Early Life
Born in 1924 in Missouri USA, the man eventually known as FBI Agent Cooper joined the US Marine Corps in 1942 only weeks after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. As a member of the 7th Defense Battalion, he served throughout the Pacific theater in World War II, earning the rank of Corporal after his actions in the Battle of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. He was honorably discharged in 1948.

In 1950, Agent Cooper married his high school sweetheart Kate, and he applied for top-secret clearance to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation to follow in the footsteps of his childhood hero, FBI legend Eliot Ness. As Ness brought down the top underworld criminal of his time - Al Capone - Agent Cooper wanted to bring down the top underworld criminal of the 1950s: the Chicago Outfit mob leader Sam Giancana.

Rookie Agent and First Encounters
After being hired as an FBI Agent, Cooper was assigned to work with Agent Thompson and the two were routinely dispatched to overnight stakeouts and surveillance operations, both of which bored Agent Cooper. He longed for a chance to tail Sam Giancana or those mobsters surrounding him.

On November 10, 1952, Agents Cooper and Thompson had been shadowing Frank Sinatra for his reputed ties to the Mob. They followed him to Ava Gardner's apartment and were waiting outside when a mysterious man in a cloak - Zong - ran by their car. After giving chase and cornering this man, he produced a strange weapon that fired an energy beam at Agent Thompson, vaporizing him. Agent Cooper was then stunned unconscious by the weapon and Zong escaped into the night.

The next day, Agent Cooper awoke in his office at FBI Headquarters to see his boss, FBI Assistant Director Smith, watching him. After groggily recounting his memory of the encounter with the strange man and Agent Thompson's subsequent death, Assistant Director Smith discouraged him from following up on the case, insisting that they have other "top men" working on it. When Agent Cooper persisted, Smith ordered him a weeklong vacation.

Meeting Operative-132
After Agent Cooper returned home to his wife Kate, who pressed him for information about where he's been, he was visited by a man who identified himself as Operative-132 of the National Security Agency. O-132 first questioned him about the strange man he encountered and the details surrounding Agent Thompson's death. When Agent Cooper pressed for more information on who the strange cloaked man was, O-132 revealed that what he was about to tell him was "Above Top Secret": there was recently a break-in at the Atomic Energy Commission Building which was less than a mile from the site of Agent Cooper's encounter with the strange man. He also revealed that on November 1, the U.S. secretly test-detonated a Hydrogen Bomb - the world's first - in the Pacific. O-132 suspected that the strange man was a Communist attempting to steal American hydrogen bomb secrets and that Agent Cooper was the only person ever to encounter this particular "man in black" and live to tell about it. Agent Cooper enthusiastically agreed to assist Operative-132's mysterious Project AGARTHA in order to bring the sinister Soviet agent to justice.

The Investigation Begins
The next day, Agent Cooper and Operative-132 visited the Atomic Energy Commission Building and interviewed Miss Tessmacher, an AEC employee who confirmed that the hydrogen bomb plans were stolen several nights ago. O-132 pressed her on what would be required to build an H-bomb, and she replied "plutonium, uranium, and a triggering device. But those you can get at the AEC Plant - that's where we made the hydrogen bomb - it's across town". Deducing that the Communist saboteur was plotting to build an H-bomb himself, O-132 resolved to stake out the area around the AEC Plant.

While on the stakeout outside the AEC Plant, Agent Cooper learned that O-132 had previous been involved with many Above Top Secret UFO-related projects, specifically mentioning Project SIGN and Project GRUDGE.

Their conversation was only interrupted by a crash nearby. As suspected, Zong had infiltrated the AEC plant and was carrying a briefcase as he escaped. Agent Cooper and O-132 gave chase, pulling their sidearms on him. Zong appeared to attempt an evil mind powers attack on them which did not produce any results. Discouraged, he ran off while the two G-Men gave chase. Unfortunately, Zong escaped them.

Operative-132 and Agent Cooper regrouped at FBI Headquarters, where O-132 placed a call to General Burton with updates on the mission. But an angry Assistant Director Smith enters, upset that Agent Cooper is back working on the case against his own orders. Operative-132 then puts Assistant Director Smith in his place by revealing that "he" is the top men working on the project and that he's brought Agent Cooper in for assistance.

Final Confrontation with Zong
Now armed with a Geiger counter, O-132 and Agent Cooper head into a rocky chasm to begin taking readings, hoping to find a radioactive signal that will lead to Zong's H-bomb.

While exploring the chasm, Agent Cooper learns that General Burton was O-132's boss before he joined the NSA, and that he's been handy for him with giving information when he needs it.

After exploring for a while, Operative-132 spotted Zong, causing him to flee. The G-Men again gave chase. Agent Cooper tackled Zong, forcing him to drop his briefcase H-Bomb which O-132 quickly retrieved. Zong managed to fight off Agent Cooper and the three got into a standoff, where Zong revealed the details of his evil plan, and referred to the two as "surface-dwellers".

Naturally, this horrified the G-Men, especially once the H-bomb started buzzing as if it was about to go off. Zong used this distraction to kick Agent Cooper and fire off an electro-incinerator shot at Operative-132, which missed. Agent Cooper once again tackled Zong, head-butting him back against the rocks and catching his fallen electro-incinerator in the process. As Zong attempted to attack Agent Cooper again, the rookie G-Man used the Agarthan weapon on Zong, vaporizing him in a flash of light.

Operative-132 then used the same electro-incinerator on the briefcase H-bomb, vaporizing it only seconds before it was going to detonate. This ended the threat of the Men from within the Earth's Plan 0.

The Secrets Revealed
Agent Cooper then pressed Operative-132 on the truth. All of Zong's revelations about the Underworld and confusion over what a Communist was had tipped him past the tipping point. Reluctantly, O-132 revealed the truth: Project AGARTHA was concerned with the Men from within the Earth, an ancient race of beings who lived deep inside the Earth and whose names had a tendency to start with the letter "Z". The Nazis believed in the existence of the Agarthans and sent a search party to Tibet to locate them without success. Based on Zong's statements, O-132 correctly believed the Men from within the Earth have declared war on humanity in response to the Americans' secret H-bomb detonation.

Now mostly on the same page with Operative-132, Agent Cooper pledged to support him with Project AGARTHA against Underworld threats in the future.

Operative-132's Recollections
On April 13, 1953, while on a stakeout, Agent Cooper heard Operative-132's recollections about the origins of Project AGARTHA. While Agent Cooper was swept up with the stories, by the end he muddled together some of the details.

The Sapphire of Agartha Affair
In December 1954 Operative-132 recovered a mysterious relic stolen by undercover FBI Agent Nicholson from the Men from within the Earth called the Sapphire of Agartha. A team of Agarthans led by Zerg were sent to the surface to retrieve it. After several attacks against the two G-Men, they fell into a trap: Operative-132 was killed, Agent Cooper was taken prisoner and subjected to water torture after being given an anti-urination pill. Unable to crack him, Zerg had his short-term memory erased and set him free in hopes of Agent Cooper leading them to the Sapphire. Instead, Agent Cooper set a trap for them: He single-handedly wiped out nearly the entire crew of Agarthan agents. As a result of Operative-132's death, Agent Cooper was promoted to replace him as Head of Project AGARTHA.

Head of Project AGARTHA and a New Threat
In July 1955, Agent Cooper recruited NSA Operative-1138 and CIA Agent White to assist him in Project AGARTHA. As the three returned for a meal at Agent Cooper's apartment, they found it ransacked and empty. The Men from within the Earth, led by Zerrath, had kidnapped his wife Kate as ransom for the still-missing Sapphire of Agartha.

Still suffering from memory loss from his encounter with Zerg, Agent Cooper couldn't remember the Sapphire's secret location that Operative-132 whispered to him moments before his death. Agent Cooper then encountered a Ghost of Operative-132 on his front porch who offered cryptic hints about the Sapphire's location, as well as some ominous news about the truth behind Kate's kidnapping as well as his own future.

Agent Cooper, along with his new protege Operative-1138, managed to locate the Sapphire of Agartha and returned to his apartment, where he met with Zerrath who was holding his wife Kate prisoner. After a series of short scuffles, Assistant Director Smith joined the group only to reveal himself to be an Agarthan secret agent named Zagim. Kate also betrayed Agent Cooper, threatening to kill him with an electro-incinerator.

The Top-Secret Intelligence Inquiry
In August 1955, Agent Cooper was removed as Head of Project AGARTHA following the deaths of NSA Operative-132, FBI Assistant Director Smith, NSA Operative-1138, CIA Agent White and Agent Cooper's own wife Kate Cooper. Re-assigned to regular FBI duties, Agent Cooper became morose and increasingly turned to drink. His preference was Imperial whiskey.

Personality and Traits
Agent Cooper's first name is currently unknown. Even his wife Kate Cooper only referred to him as "Agent" Cooper.

Agent Cooper is, first and foremost, an American patriot.

Although he originally didn't drink coffee because he believed it "stunts your growth", Agent Cooper became a voracious lover of the stuff. He's always on the lookout for a fresh cup of Joe.

His catch-phrase is "It's a measure of national defense!", which he borrowed from his mentor Operative-132.

He also refers to the men from within the earth as "man in black!" as if the use of those words is similar to swearing.

Appearances

 * Diabolical Tales: Part I - Genesis of the Men From Within The Earth
 * Diabolical Tales: Part II - Vengeance of the Men From Within The Earth
 * Diabolical Tales: Part III - Betrayal of the Men From Within The Earth
 * Diabolical Tales: The Enigma Files
 * Diabolical Tales: Part I - The Radio Drama

Behind The Scenes
Agent Cooper is played by Brian Bedell.

Mr. Bedell was not the first actor cast as Agent Cooper for the first three Diabolical Tales movies. A shooting session was held with another actor in the role, during which it became apparent that a re-casting was required. Brian Bedell joined the cast as Agent Cooper for the next scheduled shooting session a week later.

The role of Agent Cooper originated in The Man From Within The Earth Trilogy, where he was played by Christian Wheeler. He was named Agent Cooper in homage to David Lynch's Twin Peaks series, which was one of Wheeler's favorite shows.

Agent Cooper will appear in the upcoming ''Diabolical Tales: The Enigma Files. ''