RAY COOPER

Real Name: Ray Cooper

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Forensic scientist

Group Membership: None;
    formerly NYPD

Affiliations: Maggia, Mysterio (Quentin Beck)

Enemies: Carlie Cooper, Captain Yuri Watanabe

Known Relatives: Ruth Cooper (wife, deceased), Carlie Cooper (daughter)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City

First Appearance: (mentioned) Amazing Spider-Man II#548 (March, 2008);
    (seen) Amazing Spider-Man II#618 (March, 2010)

Powers/Abilities: Ray Cooper is a skilled forensic scientist.

Height: 5'11" (approximate)
Weight: 150 lbs. (approximate)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Light brown

History: (Amazing Spider-Man II#548 (fb)/Amazing Spider-Man II#619 (fb)/Amazing Spider-Man II#620 (fb) ) - Ray Cooper was a well-respected medical examiner with the NYPD - when his wife, Ruth, became terminally ill, however, his finances became strained, and he struggled to support himself and his daughter, Carlie. His salvation came when he accidentally autopsied a man who had been given a drug that made him seem dead, killing him for real. This allowed the Maggia to get their hooks into him, and with the assistance of the supervillain Mysterio, he helped them fake the deaths of other criminals - he needed the money to cover Ruth's medical expenses, at first, and when she died he no longer felt any loyalty to the system.

(Amazing Spider-Man II#621) - After Ruth died, Ray and Carlie put some of her possessions into a U-Store-It storage unit in Tribeca.

(The Many Loves of the Amazing Spider-Man#1/2 (fb) ) - Ray brought Carlie into work with him, not wanting her to be home alone with a child strangler. He put her and Captain George Stacy's daughter, Gwen, into Stacy's office and asked Officer Yuri Watanabe to look after them while they went out to the site of the strangler's latest murder. He returned to find that the girls had apparently uncovered a vital clue to the case while rifling through Stacy's files - he was grateful, but insisted that Carlie was still in trouble.

(Amazing Spider-Man II#619 (fb) ) - Captain Stacy and officers Jean DeWolff and Watanabe brought in the body of Lou Gossi, who'd been killed by the Maggia, for Cooper to examine in the morgue. Carlie also dropped by to bring him his lunch.

(Amazing Spider-Man II#618 (fb)/Amazing Spider-Man II#618 (fb) ) - Cooper, with Mysterio's help, faked his own death in a car accident, making it seem as if he'd been driving drunk. Mysterio even created a fake corpse, which was buried in Ray's place while Ray fled the country.

(Amazing Spider-Man II#620 (fb) ) - Years later, Cooper learned that Mysterio was about to come into a big payday from the Maggia, and returned to New York to collect his end.

(Amazing Spider-Man II#618) - Ray tailed Carlie, who had since become a police officer, across town before finally confronting her at the fish-packing plant Mysterio's Maggia was using as their headquarters.

(Amazing Spider-Man II#619) - Ray convinced Carlie that he'd faked his own death, and warned her that the Maggia was trying to set her up as they'd set him up. When the police arrived on the scene, Ray fled.

(Amazing Spider-Man II#620) - Ray met Carlie at a diner, where he explained why he'd abandoned her. Before he left, Carlie gave him a hug, and slipped one of Spider-Man's spider-tracers into Ray's pocket. He then went to the Empyrean Opera House to collect his take from Mysterio, checking the money for bugs or tracking devices. Leaving, he messaged Carlie.

(Amazing Spider-Man II#621) - Ray made arrangements for he and Carlie to flee the US with the money, and called her to arrange a meeting place. They met up at the U-Store-It in Tribeca, where Carlie donned a gas mask and shattered a vial of what she claimed was the Devil's Breath Poison, a gas deadly only to any relatives of the person whose blood had been mixed into it - Carlie's. She told him that either he was an imposter, and would be safe...or that he was the real Ray Cooper, who deserved to die. He screamed and tried to wrest the gas mask from her, only to succumb to the gas...which was only knockout gas. Carlie called in Yuri Watanabe, now a police captain, to come and arrest him.

(The Many Loves of the Amazing Spider-Man#1/2 - BTS) - Cooper's arraignment was scheduled.

Comments: Created by Dan Slott and Marcos Martin.

Given her history of betrayal by loved ones (her dad, her best friend Lily Hollister, and her colleague Vin Gonzales), her dating Peter Parker (that never ends well), and her recent induction/mutation into the Goblin gang, Carlie Cooper is neck-and-neck with Betty Brant for the coveted title of Worst Life Ever (Spider-Man Supporting Character Division).

Profile by Minor Irritant.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ray Cooper has no known connection to:


images: (without ads)
Amazing Spider-Man II#618, p22, pan5 (main image)


Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man II#548 (March, 2008) - Dan Slott (writer), Steve McNiven (pencils), Dexter Vines (inks), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man II#618-619 (March, 2010) - Dan Slott (writer), Marcos Martin (art), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man II#620 (April, 2010) - Dan Slott (writer), Marcos Martin & Javier Pulido (art), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man II#621 (April, 2010) - Dan Slott (writer), Michael Lark (pencils), Stefano Gaudiano (inks), Stephen Wacker (editor)
The Many Loves of the Amazing Spider-Man#1/2 (July, 2010) - Brian Reed (writer), Nick Dragotta (art), Tom Brennan & Jody LeHeup(editor)


Last updated: 09/22/13

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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