Cover Loki as DB Cooper. | Photo: Marvel
Loki as DB Cooper. | Photo: Marvel
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Marvel Studio's Loki just referenced a DB Cooper on its very first episode and some are freaking out while others are clueless. Tatler revisits the tale of this mysterious hijacker in real life. Read on to see the real story of photos of the real event. Spoilers ahead!
Marvel has retold the stories of its heroes and villains from the comics for years, garnering them over USD22 million as of last year which is expected to skyrocket this year following recent releases of WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki which was also well-received by MCU fans.
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Those who have seen the Loki series might have felt conflicting emotions throughout the first episode which is imbued with Marvel's subversive humour (often having gods thrown out of frame) and a heart-clenching scene centred on the titular character's life.
Above Loki as DB Cooper. | Photo: Marvel
Loki as DB Cooper. | Photo: Marvel
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In the first episode, the god of mischief is shown footages of his life—from the past and future—which is kept by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), the people who have captured Loki for altering the timeline, as first seen in the movie Avengers: Endgame.
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One of the videos shown to Loki was a baffling unsolved case in history that involved a mysterious hijacker named Dan Cooper, famously known as DB Cooper.
In the video, Loki is seen wearing a business suit, drinking bourbon and soda while waiting for the plane to take off, asking for ransom money before jumping out of a moving plane, and blasted back to Asgard with the help of Heimdall. All because Loki lost a bet to his brother Thor, the god of thunder. Once the video ended, Mobius exclaimed, "I can't believe you were DB Cooper!"
Above Sketch of DB Cooper, the man referenced in Marvel's Loki. | Photo: Britannica.com
Above Sketch of DB Cooper. | Photo: fbi.gov
Sketch of DB Cooper, the man referenced in Marvel's Loki. | Photo: Britannica.com
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Who was DB Cooper?
In 1971, on a seemingly pleasant afternoon in Portland, Oregon, a man named DB Cooper bought a one-way ticket to Seattle, Washington at the Northwest Orient Airlines. Cooper was described as a man in his mid-forties wearing a business suit, white shirt, and a black tie, which he removed just moments before jumping out of a Boeing 727 aircraft.
Above During the hijacking, Cooper was wearing this black J.C. Penney tie, which he removed before jumping; it later provided us with a DNA sample. | Photo: fbi.gov
During the hijacking, Cooper was wearing this black J.C. Penney tie, which he removed before jumping; it later provided us with a DNA sample. | Photo: fbi.gov
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Before then, Cooper quietly sat on his seat. And as portrayed in the first episode of Loki, DB Cooper asked for a drink while waiting for take-off. While the plane was in the air, Cooper handed a stewardess a note saying, "Miss, I have a bomb here and I would like you to sit by me".
The hijacker demanded USD200,000 (estimated PHP9,629,300) in twenty-dollar bills. Once the plane landed in Seattle, Cooper received the money and parachutes in exchange for the flight’s 36 passengers. But Cooper kept some of the flight crew members before the plane took off and headed for Mexico City.
However, around Seattle and Reno, Cooper jumped out of the back of the plane with a parachute and the ransom money, leaving only his black tie behind.
Above Money from the DB Cooper case. | Photo: fbi.gov
Money from the DB Cooper case. | Photo: fbi.gov
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Above Parachute from the DB Cooper case. | Photo: fbi.gov
Parachute from the DB Cooper case. | Photo: fbi.gov
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Was the case ever solved?
The FBI has worked on the case for years, with more than 800 suspects, yet to no avail.
Richard Floyd McCoy, one of the suspects on the list, was once arrested for hijacking and jumping out of a plane in 1972. Although his methods were seemingly comparable to Cooper's, he was ruled out as his physical features were not a match.
In 1980, a young boy camping with his family unearthed USD6,000 cash while digging a firepit along the Columbia River. The dollar bills were bound with elastic bands. Some believed that the money must have been washed away from the waters, while others theorise that Cooper must have buried the bills himself.
Either way, Cooper's disappearance was never solved and remains one of the most mysterious cases in the world.
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Christine Andas is a features writer and the style lead of Tatler Philippines. She mostly covers style-related content but enjoys writing about space, sneakers, and her favourite stars. She acquired a master's degree in Creative Writing at the University of Santo Tomas and has written young adult short stories which can be read online.
