JOSHUA COOPER
Real Name: Joshua "Josh" Cooper
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Special Education teacher; former army medic
Group Membership: None; formerly U.S. Army
Affiliations: Sammy Bernstein, Mike Farrel, Anna Kappelbaum, Jack Monroe, Diana Nicholis, Steve Rogers, Bernie Rosenthal, Arnold Roth, Joe Smith, Leila Taylor, Sam Wilson;
formerly Joe Smith Jr.
Enemies: None
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Coop
Base of Operations: An apartment at 569 Leaman Place in Brooklyn Heights, New York City, New York
First Appearance: Captain America I#237 (September, 1979)
Powers/Abilities: Josh has a PhD and is a certified teacher for Special Education. He received medical training during his time in the military.
He stays in good physical shape through yoga and breakdancing.
Height: Unrevealed (6'2 ½"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (190 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
History:
(Captain America I#252/2) - Joshua Cooper was a former army medic, who worked with children with severe learning disabilities.
(Captain America I#237 (fb) - BTS) - Josh Cooper saw movers unpack Steve Rogers' stuff. A few days later Anna Kappelbaum invited Josh Cooper to dinner and asked him to go upstairs and invite the newest tenant Steve Rogers as well.
(Captain America I#237) - Cooper welcomed Rogers and they talked about Rogers being an artist while drinking a glass of milk. Cooper invited Rogers to dinner as requested by Anna Kappelbaum and they went to Kappelbaum's apartment a few minutes later. Rogers remembered her as a prisoner from Diebenwald he freed during the war. She told him and Cooper about her past and how Captain America saved her from the concentration camp.
(Captain America I#241) - Cooper and Mike Farrel were watching a fight at Cooper's apartment when Steve Rogers walked by. When they heard Kappelbaum scream they all rushed to her apartment. She sent Cooper and Farrel away because she only wanted to talk to Rogers about seemingly seeing a Nazi across the street.
(Captain America I#244 (fb) - BTS) - Cooper quickly owed Rogers a few meals.
(Captain America I#244) - Rogers, in search for a place to get a breakfast, entered Cooper's apartment and found him meditating in a headstand. Rogers quickly realized that he wouldn't get a breakfast from Cooper because all his dishes were as dirty as Rogers' own. They headed downstairs to get to a fast food restaurant, but were stopped by Anna Kappelbaum, who offered them a breakfast with bacon, eggs, toast and coffee. They quickly took her up on her offer.
(Captain America I#245) - During a rainy day Mrs. Kappelbaum and Cooper went out shopping. Anna went to a butcher shop and told Cooper to meet up with her later. Cooper went to a record shop to check out the new releases. When Josh met up with Anna at the grocery store, she collapsed in front of him and he asked to call an ambulance.
Josh called Steve Rogers and they visited Anna at the hospital.
The next day Josh, Mike and the other tenants held a surprise birthday party for Steve Rogers. Josh gifted Steve red, white and blue socks. Josh told Steve that the party was Anna's idea, who was not there for unknown reasons even though she had been released from hospital hours earlier. Josh was surprised when Rogers was suddenly gone from his own birthday party and was unaware that Steve went out looking for Anna as Captain America after a run-in with Nazi hunter Aaron Heller, who believed she had been kidnapped by Neo-Nazis.
(Captain America I#246 (fb)) - Josh taught children with learning disabilities and brain damage. He witnessed Joe Smith Jr., one of his friend Larry's kid, have severe convulsions. While Larry got Joe Jr. to the hospital, Josh called the kid's father. Joe Jr. died and his father took it really hard.
(Captain America I#246) - Josh told Steve what had happened at work.
A few days later Josh took Steve to the Chamber Street Market because it was the best place to save money. Josh looked at a stereo for Steve, who quickly left to help as Captain America after Lt. Kris Keating's Special Powers Task Force rushed past them.
After a fight against the super-powered Joe Smith, Steve asked Josh to tell him more about the dead Joe Smith Jr.'s father. Josh told him everything he knew about Joe, including his run-in with Spider-Man, how his wife left him after their son was born with a birth defect and how he never gave up because he loved his son.
(Captain America I#247) - During school holiday Josh was at home and got a special delivery letter from the mailman for Steve Rogers. He promised to immediately give it to Steve and knocked on his door, but he was not at home. Steve had left in the early morning according to Mike Farrel to run some errands. Mike then took Josh downstairs to introduce him to his old college buddy Bernie Rosenthal, who was moving into the building.
(Captain America I#248) - On Friday afternoon when Steve Rogers got home he was stopped on the stairs by Josh and invited to dinner at Mike's apartment. Mike's college friend and new tenant Bernie had brought a wondrous recipe for spaghetti and was introduced to Steve.
Hours later after dinner the four had coffee and talked about music. Steve suddenly left when he heard about a flying object in the area that seemingly visited the buildings he had been in that day and then saw the Dragon Man in the sky nearby. Josh apologized for Steve's behavior and then remembered that he had still not given him the special delivery letter. He went right after Steve and knocked on his door, but Steve was not there even though Josh could've sworn that Steve had gone upstairs.
(Captain America I#249) - Josh and Bernie were part of the crowd that watched firefighters put out the fire started during a fight between Dragon Man and Captain America at a nearby brownstone building. They asked their friend Mike, a firefighter himself, what was going on and he told them that people saw a dragon chasing Captain America. Bernie was concerned about Steve, whom they were unable to find during the chaos. Josh joked about Bernie being a one-woman fan club for Steve and she thought to herself how weird it was that she already that much for Steve.
(Captain America I#250) - Josh finally gave the special delivery letter to Steve and it was from the military. Afterward they helped Bernie move her stuff into her apartment in the building. It took them several hours. After they were done Bernie sat down with them to have some coffee and a conversation about local politics. Mike arrived and offered to continue the debate over Chinese food while Josh joked about Mike only arriving after they were done helping Bernie move in. Mike showed them the newspaper that showed that Captain America was apparently running for president. Mike and Josh would both vote for Cap, which surprised Steve because he didn't consider it a good idea to vote for an anonymous person wearing a mask. (By the end of the issue Captain America cleared up the situation and publicly announced that he was not running for president.)
(Captain America I#258) - Anna Kappelbaum made dinner for fellow tenants Mike, Josh, Steve and Bernie in an attempt to console Mike after the recent death of one of his fellow firefighters during a fire caused by the arsonist Blockbuster. Josh tried to lighten up the mood by telling Anna that children would start commenting about his weight if he kept eating so many of Anna's meals.
(Captain America I#261) - Josh went out for drinks at a Brooklyn Heights bar with Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson. They entertained other patrons by singing while they were slightly drunk. Sam Wilson nearly revealed his and Steve's secret identities to Josh when he started talking the Red Skull, but covered it up by talking about a Red Skull Hotel in Jamaica. Josh was too drunk to notice it. Steve paid for the drinks. After leaving the bar Josh told Sam that he was glad that he had finally met him. The three men witnessed an ongoing robbery in an alley and Josh left to find some cops while, to his shock, Steve and Sam quickly jumped into action. When Josh finally returned with two police officers the robbers had already been knocked out by Steve and Sam, who were berated by the police to take such a risk. Josh returned home with Steve and Sam before they could get into more trouble.
(Captain America I#268) - Josh and Bernie rushed into Steve's apartment to check on him when they heard him scream, but he claimed that he was alright and had only woken up from a nightmare. They returned to their apartments after Steve told them that he had work to catch up on and couldn't with them hanging around.
(Captain America I#269) - Anna made waffles for Josh, Mike and Steve for breakfast. Josh was full already and started reading the newspaper. He read an article on Neo-Nazis having a rally at a Long Island School. It didn't surprise Mike, but his nonchalant reaction angered Anna, who lost almost her entire family during World War II to the Nazi regime. She made some coffee for Josh, who wanted to know what was going on with Steve and Bernie. Anna didn't provide him with answers to their relationship problems and told him to just drink his coffee.
(Captain America I#275) - Steve accompanied Anna, Mike, Bernie and Josh to Robert Moses State Park in Long Island to join anti-Nazi protesters. Bernie introduced them to Jewish Protection Organization's Sammy Bernstein, whom she revealed as her ex-husband, to the surprise to everyone present. When a riot broke out between the protesters and Neo-Nazis, Josh lost sight of Bernie, who got stuck in the crowd. Captain America calmed down the situation.
(Captain America I#284 (fb) - BTS) - Josh met Diana Nicholis and they started dating.
(Captain America I#284) - Bernie threw a party for her friends, which gave Josh another chance to talk to Sam Wilson, who was there with his girlfriend Leila Taylor. Josh also introduced his girlfriend Diana Nicholis to Steve, who had not seen Josh in weeks, mostly because, according to Josh, his girlfriend kept him busy. Other guests included Sammy Bernstein, Mike Farrel, Anna Kappelbaum, Jack Monroe, Steve Rogers, Arnold Roth, among others.
(Captain America I#285) - Josh and Mike arrived with pizzas and interrupted a private date Steve and Bernie had. Josh immediately realized that they had screwed up, but Steve and Bernie were okay with them staying and everyone ate pizza. Steve left after receiving a call from Edwin Jarvis and Josh noticed how the call seemed to devastate Steve (the elderly Jeff Mace, one of Steve's replacements as Captain America, whom he had known as the Patriot was dying in hospital).
(Captain America I#303 (fb) - BTS) - Josh joined a patriotic community action group.
(Captain America I#303) - Josh got home with his groceries when he ran into Steve Rogers in the hallway. He told Steve what he was up to these days and even invited Steve to come down to the community center that night, but Steve was busy.
(Captain America I#316) - Josh and Mike joined Steve to help Bernie pack up her belongings when she moved out of her apartment at 569 Leaman Place.
(Captain America I#317) - Josh and Mike stopped by one last time at Bernie's apartment before she moved out. Josh informed her and Steve that they would have one last party for them that night before they both moved out.
At the party Josh showed off his break dancing skills.
(Captain America I#380) - Josh attended a party at 569 Leaman Place to celebrate the return of Bernie Rosenthal to Brooklyn Heights. They were happy to see Steve attending as well and greeted him, though he was not made aware of the reason for the party by Mrs. Kappelbaum.
(Captain America I#600/3 (fb) - BTS) - Josh was busy studying for his doctorate and didn't realize how troubled Mike Farrel had become. He wasn't around for him when Mike joined the Watchdogs.
He kept working with learning disabled children.
Josh eventually learned along with everyone else that Steve Rogers was Captain America.
(Captain America I#600/3) - Josh visited Bernie in her new home in Santa Fe and they talked about the past with their late friends Mike Farrel and Steve Rogers (this was after he was assassinated at the end of Civil War). They talked about Bernie's relationship with Steve and everything she had gone through after learning his secret identity. They talked about Mike and his troubled past, which still made Josh feel guilty because he wasn't there for him. Bernie told him how Mike died saving her life and that his autopsy revealed that he had a brain tumor that caused him to behave so erratic. He learned from Bernie that she was there when Steve was assassinated and they consoled each other. At the end of the day they honored Mike by spreading his ashes into the winds on a cliff while the people of Santa Fe honored Captain America with fireworks.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Roger McKenzie, Sal Buscema & Don Perlin.
According to Fabian Nicieza the character from Daredevil I#258 is not the same character.
In #380 a woman was standing next to Josh at the return party for Bernie, but she was never identified. Maybe she was another tenant or his girlfriend at the time. There is even a possibility that this was another appearance by Diana Nicholis if they were still dating.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Joshua Cooper should not be confused with:
|
(Captain America I#284 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Diana Nicholis met Josh Cooper and they started dating. (Captain America I#284) - Bernie threw a party for her friends and Josh attended it with his girlfriend Diana. Josh introduced her to Sam Wilson, Leila Taylor and Steve Rogers, who had not seen Josh in weeks because Diana kept him busy. --Captain America I#284 |
images (without ads)
Captain America I#248, p8, pan1 (main)
Captain America I#245, p8, pan2 (head shot)
Captain America I#237, p9, pan2 (first appearance)
Captain America I#252, p21, pan2 (as teacher)
Captain America I#261, p1 (with Sam and Steve)
Captain America I#600, p46, pan2 (more recently)
Captain America I#284, p9, pan4 (Diana Nicholis)
Appearances:
Captain America I#237 (September, 1979) - Chris Claremont (plot), Roger McKenzie (script), Sal Buscema (pencils), Don Perlin (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Captain America I#241 (January, 1980) - Mike W. Barr (writer), Frank Springer (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Captain America I#244 (April, 1980) - Roger McKenzie (writer), Don Perlin (pencils), Tom Sutton (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#245 (May, 1980) - Roger McKenzie (writer), Carmine Infantino (pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#246 (June, 1980) - Peter Gillis (writer), Jerry Bingham (pencils), Alan Gordon (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#247-250 (July-October, 1980) - Roger Stern (writer/plot), John Byrne (plot/pencils), Josef Rubinstein (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#252 (December, 1980) - Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#258 (June, 1981) - Chris Claremont (plot/writer), David Michelinie (writer), Mike Zeck (artist), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#261 (September, 1981) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Mike Zeck (pencils), Quickdraw Studios (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#268-269 (April-May, 1982) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Mike Zeck (pencils), John Beatty (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#275 (Novemebr, 1982) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Mike Zeck (pencils), John Beatty (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Captain America I#284-285 (August-September, 1983) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Kim DeMulder (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Captain America I#303 (March, 1985) - Michael Carlin (writer), Paul Neary (pencils), Dennis Janke (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Captain America I#316-317 (April-May, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (pencils), Dennis Janke (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)
Captain America I#380 (December, 1990) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Ron Lim (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#600/3 (August, 2009) - Roger Stern (writer), Kalman Andrasofszky (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
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Last updated:
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