The myth of D.B. Cooper is a strange one in American history. Loki, the upcoming show on Disney+ is a strange one as well. From the looks of it, Loki is taking on the myth of D.B Cooper and how he hijacked a plane in 1971.
For the uninitiated, let’s dive into what and who D.B. Cooper is.
Cooper, his pseudonym, was a man that hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft heading between Portland and Seattle on November 24th, 1971. He originally purchased his airline ticket under the name Dan Cooper, but somehow that was changed to D.B. at some point. On the 30-minute flight, he took a seat at the rear of the plane. Nothing was off kilter about his demeanor, he ordered a drink, and the plane took off.
What happened next is stuck firmly in the minds and collective conscious of Americana. He grabbed the attention of a flight attendant, Florence Schaffner.
Miss, you’d better look at that note. I have a bomb.
D.B. Cooper
A Slice Of American History For The Loki Show
We don’t know exactly what the note said, because Cooper grabbed it before he made his getaway. Cooper sat Schaffner down to show her the bomb in his briefcase. His demands? $200,000 in negotiable American currency, four parachutes, and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft upon arrival. Schaffner relayed the information to the pilots and when she returned, Cooper was wearing dark sunglasses.
The pilot notified Seattle-Tacoma Airport control, who relayed it to the authorities. He didn’t take hostages, and the other passengers were told that it was a “minor mechanical difficulty”. For two long hours, the aircraft spiraled around to allow Seattle Police to meet Cooper’s demands.
We’ll continue the story, but first you have to check out the context of the Loki show. It’s all about Loki being captured by the TVA. You can read a bit more about the TVA and how Owen Wilson’s character has to do with it, here. It looks like Loki is going to be traveling through time and space during the show. There are more clues throughout the trailer, but the biggest one is the shot of that old style 727 jet.
Continuing Cooper’s Hijacking And Escape
The plane landed after Cooper was told that his demands were met. All other passengers, attendants, and personnel on the plane were told they could leave, he just needed the pilot, copilot, flight attendant, and the flight engineer. They took off and were back in the air heading towards Mexico. Cooper told the crew they could all remain in the cockpit with the door closed. They were alerted when Cooper opened the airstair located in the back of the plane.
He made his jump, carrying the sack of money, and two of the parachutes. Cooper was never seen again. All that was found near the drop zones were some of the bills from his ransom.
Now What Does Loki Have To Do With This?
What we do know is that this is almost certainly Loki pulling the stunt that Cooper did. The recipe is all there, and I’m all for it. Marvel does it’s best work when they take other ideas and other situations and add superheroes to it. So the mystery of D.B. Cooper being “solved” by Marvel just makes it that much more awesome.
From the trailer it looks like we’re getting plenty of action throughout time and space from the show. With the Tesseract, anything is possible. So I guess we’ll have to see how D.B. Cooper fits into the timeframe and story of Loki.
Cooper’s identity and the money has never been recovered. People wonder to this day just how he could have survived in the terrain, but the real question to ask now is, where does the Bifröst take Loki?
So, what do you think of this theory?
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