"So what we got here, Nashy?"

Cooper was a mercenary dispatched by booking agent Udesky to assist Paul Kirby’s search party in finding Eric Kirby and Ben Hildebrand, who had both gone missing on Isla Sorna some time prior.

Cooper was part of the search party that arrived on Isla Sorna looking for Eric and Ben. He was killed by a Spinosaurus shortly after the team set down on the island.


Preparations for the mission

Prior to departure for Isla Sorna, Cooper and Nash test-fired the rifles they intended to bring on the expedition, using the wreckage of a plane — its nose crudely dressed to resemble a dinosaur’s head — as target practice; with one shot what was left of the plane was obliterated. While the trigger-happy duo revelled in the destruction they had caused, Udesky was on the phone discussing arrangements for the Kirby trip, mentioning that he hired “two of the very best men [that he] could possibly have hired” to accompany them, although adding that “[he hadn’t] worked with them personally” before.


"Cooper! If you see anything, yell up!"
"Naw, I thought I'd keep it to myself!"
—Udesky and Cooper, bantering as the plane flies over the island(src)

During the flight to Isla Sorna, Dr. Alan Grant’s companion Billy Brennan made smalltalk with Cooper, asking him about how he knew the Kirbys; in an attempt to keep his status as a mercenary concealed Cooper bluffed in response, stating that he knew the family through their local church. As the plane flies over the island in search of a landing strip, Udesky jokingly yelled out to the sunglasses-wearing and lethargic-seeming Cooper sat at the back of the plane to let him know if he sees anything, to which he sardonically responded that he “thought [he’d] keep it to [himself]”.

When Dr. Grant realized that the Kirbys were intending to land on the island, he left his seat in protest, in an attempt to convince the pilots to turn back. Paul blocked his path and attempted to reason with him in some way, but before he could do so Cooper snuck behind Grant and knocked him out with the stock of his pistol, much to the shock and surprise of everyone on board.

Arrival on the island and death

Following the altercation on-board the landing went through as planned, with the Kirbys revealing their true motives for arriving at Isla Sorna to an incredulous Dr. Grant and Billy. On the runway, Cooper, Nash and Udesky armed themselves to secure the perimeter and headed into the jungle — Cooper deviated from the path Nash and Udesky took, however. When Grant awakened, he requested for Paul to pinpoint his attacker, with Paul identifying Cooper as being responsible.

Amanda, by repeatedly yelling her son’s and boyfriend’s names through a megaphone, had inadvertently attracted the attention of the island’s resident Spinosaurus. In the jungle, Cooper and his colleagues encountered the creature as it approached the landing strip. A firefight ensued, and Cooper — being a distance away — was abandoned by Udesky and Nash, who made for the runway. Although Udesky tried to reassure the others that Cooper can handle himself as they all ran aboard the plane, Cooper was not so lucky. Despite putting up a fight, the creature wounded him and he lost his rifle in the struggle. With the plane still taxiing down the runway, the injured Cooper made a dash toward the airstrip, pursued by the massive carnivore.

Once Cooper reached by, he raised his hands into the air and tried to stop the approaching plane from leaving; Nash, unable to stop the plane for fear of allowing the Spinosaurus to catch up, refuses. Nonetheless, Cooper uttered a disconsolate plea for him to stop the plane but soon found himself left at the whim of the Spinosaurus. As he stood on the runway badly wounded and reduced to tears, the Spinosaurus suddenly burst out from the jungle to his left — Cooper cried out in terror and tried to flee at the last second, but the Spinosaurus quickly snatched him in its maw, killing him almost instantly before devouring him. A horrified Nash tried to take off with the Spinosaurus blocking the plane’s path, but the plane clipped off its sail, causing him to lose control of the aircraft and crash into the nearby treeline.

Two days later, with the search party now greatly reduced in size, the group attempted to hike to Isla Sorna’s coast to signal for help. Cooper’s remains had now turned to dung left by the Spinosaurus, and his sunglasses and watch were found as the survivors searched for Paul’s satellite phone, which had been consumed by the dinosaur also.

Personality and traits

Cooper, being a mercenary, was a highly-skilled marksman who had practiced shooting at dinosaurs at a plane scrapyard prior to the Isla Sorna trip, having obtained powerful weapons with his colleague Nash; visibly trigger-happy, Cooper revelled in the resulting destruction after blowing up what remained of a small plane, which had been crudely disguised as a dinosaur. In addition, he was a somewhat sarcastic individual, who made quips in response to various situations and bantered with his colleagues, namely Nash, with whom he shared a close friendship.

In spite of his somewhat immature side, Cooper was protective of his clients — albeit to an extreme degree — having gone as far as to knock out a riled-up Dr. Grant after he protests against landing the plane on the island, merely noticing him walking in Paul’s general direction. Although taking his role within the group extremely seriously and doing whatever he could to protect his clients in the hostile environment of Isla Sorna, Cooper’s “tough-guy” act was not infallible — in fact, he dropped it almost immediately once he came face-to-face with the Spinosaurus, being reduced to a shell of his former self out of pure, unadulterated fear before being cut down and devoured by the beast.


Cooper was armed with an Iron Horn 20mm heavy caliber sniper rifle and carried an unidentified pistol holstered on his right thigh. He lost the former while combating the Spinosaurus, while the latter was devoured along with him shortly thereafter. He also wore a silver watch on his left wrist and donned sunglasses during the flight, which he pocketed during the mission itself. He also wore a military webbing set for carrying extra equipment on his person.

Behind the scenes

During the pre-production of Jurassic Park III, on the website called "Dan's JP3 Page", a part of Cooper's script had allegedly leaked, along with the wealthy man named Paul Roby and his son, Miles Roby. Cooper was supposed to be a bodyguard in this script. The script also implied a much larger role for Cooper, with him trying to be caring to Miles in light of Paul being a negligent father.[1][2][3] 


