Loki episode 1 has “solved” one of America’s greatest true-crime mysteries, with the first instalment of Marvel’s Disney Plus series surprisingly addressing the decades-old D.B. Cooper plane robbery. So who is the mysterious D.B. Cooper, and how did Loki “solve” a case that the real-world FBI couldn’t crack?
Who is D.B. Cooper in Loki episode 1?
D.B. Cooper is the name given by a man who hijacked Flight #305 in 1971, managing to convince the FBI to assemble $200,000 from several Seattle banks in ransom money, before parachuting out of the back of the plane. The identity of D.B. Cooper has never been revealed, though Loki has provided a fun spin on the notorious crime.
In Loki episode 1, Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius shows the God of Mischief one of his “favorite” examples of his many escapes. This then cuts to Loki onboard the famous ’71 flight to Seattle, Washington, where he hands the air stewardess a note before revealing that he is carrying a bomb. The stewardess refers to Loki as “Mr Cooper,” revealing that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Loki was the perpetrator of this crime all along.
As was the case in the real-world crime, the flight stops at Seattle where Loki is handed the $200,000 and the passengers are released, before the flight takes off once again with Loki on board. Loki then jumps out of the plane, before being transported back to Asgard. In reality, Cooper leapt out of the plane with four parachutes given to him alongside the cash, with the only evidence left behind being his black J.C. Penney tie that he removed before his incredible jump.
In the real world, there have been some suspects profiled by the FBI, but none matched the identical physical descriptions given of D.B. Cooper by witnesses on the flight. While it remains an unsolved mystery, many believe that Cooper may have died following the jump from the plane, given his lack of appropriate clothing and the fact that he descended into a wooded area at night. This speculation is backed up following a young boy’s 1980 discovery of a rotting package of $5,800 in twenty-dollar bills, with this money matching the serial numbers of the cash given to Cooper.
While the FBI may have never caught D.B. Cooper in our world, the MCU’s take on one of America’s most notorious hijackings is an interesting one, and shows how present that Loki has been throughout history.
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