Sly Cooper

*"Crime? I haven't stolen anything... yet."*
**Sly Cooper** is the eponymous protagonist of the *Sly Cooper* series. He is a male raccoon with grey fur and brown eyes. He is best friends with Bentley and Murray, who are also members of his gang, and has a complicated romantic relationship with Inspector Carmelita Fox, who was his partner when he worked for INTERPOL after faking amnesia. He is currently stuck in ancient Egypt.

Sly first appeared in *Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus* at the age of eighteen. His current age is unknown, as he was 21 in *Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves*, but an undisclosed amount of time passed between that and the fourth game. He was born to two parents in 1984.

He is voiced by Kevin Miller in all of his video game appearances and by Ian James Corlett in the upcoming film adaptation.

## Biography

### Early life

Sly was born into the lineage of the Cooper Clan under the tutelage of his father, Conner Cooper. Between his father and his gang pulling off jobs, Sly would spend time with his father's friend, Jim McSweeney. At the age of three, Sly was taken by his father to a museum on the Ligurian coast in Italy where they met up with McSweeney, who then took the map to the Cooper Vault and hid it in the museum.

Sly's parents bought a farm and this was where Sly grew up and learned about his family's history as master thieves. He was to follow in his family's footsteps and inherit their legacy, the *Thievius Raccoonus*, at the age of 8. On the night Sly was to inherit the book, a mysterious gang of criminals known as the Fiendish Five infiltrated the Cooper farm. Try as he might, his father failed to defend himself, his wife, and his son from the gang. In the end, both of Sly's parents were murdered. The Fiendish Five ransacked the house in search of the book as Sly helplessly watched while hiding inside of a closet. After they found it, they tore out its pages and split it among themselves before leaving. Sly, without parents, ended up in an orphanage where he met his lifelong friends, Bentley and Murray. Sly was determined to grow up as an accomplished thief and live up to his namesake.

#### The orphanage

*"This must be the sweetest tasting failed mission ever, huh guys?"*
—A young Sly Cooper in the orphanage
As children, the trio planned to steal the orphanage's cookie jar from Mrs. Puffin, the Director of the orphanage, who would keep the children's holiday cookies for herself. Seeing that Murray couldn't sleep nights because he wanted them so badly, the three decided to do something about it and became the *Cooper's 3*.

Bentley eventually came up with the perfect plan. Sly hid in Mrs. Puffin's trash can and waited until she left for the night. By Bentley's calculations, they only had about five minutes until the janitor, Scary John, came in to clean her office. Bentley, talking to Sly outside the office window via the Cupinator, a device made from two paper cups on a string, told Sly to get in to position two. Sly then pushed Ms. Puffin's desk and then her lamp near the bookcase where the cookie jar was located. He told Bentley that all the furniture is in place. Bentley, realizing that Sly doesn't have the cookie jar yet, told him to abort the mission as they're out of time. Sly then quickly jumped on the desk and swung on the lamp's cord to gain enough momentum to reach the jar. Reaching the jar, Sly heard the janitor at the door. Murray decided to take the initiative and saved Sly by speeding away on his tricycle while Sly held onto the Cupinator, getting pulled out of the window before he could get the jar. Murray then crashed the tricycle because of the lack of breaks. He apologized for crashing the tricycle while Sly lamented that they were lucky. Bentley asked Sly how they could be lucky, as the mission was a failure. Sly then took his cap off and revealed that he stored all the cookies from the jar in his cap before Murray saved Sly from the janitor. The trio then began to eat the cookies. With the mission a success, the Cooper Gang was born.

#### Meeting Carmelita

*"You remember the first time we met? At the Opera?"
"How can I forget?"*
—Sly and Carmelita reminiscing about the first time they met
Sly, just arriving in Paris for the first time, was jumping around the rooftops exploring the city. He then sneaked into the Paris Opera House. The Opera House was empty apart from three people, a rookie policewoman, Carmelita Montoya Fox, Inspector Barkley and Ms. Tuskinanny (an opera singer and owner of the Diva Diamond) talking. Sly overheard Barkley roaring at Carmelita, the Inspector, nearing retirement and wanting to know that he was making the right choice in promoting her to his position, thought she wasn't up to the job of protecting the Diva Diamond and securing the Opera House. Sly, enamored by the fox, devised a plan to meet her.

He went to the roof of the opera house and took out a map of Paris to see the lay of the land. Carmelita, ventured to the roof to find Sly overlooking the city. She called for some guards and they apprehended him, just as he had planned. They then tied and locked Sly in the janitor's closet. Fortunately, the janitor opened it, giving Sly enough time to cut himself free and escape to the Opera House's ventilation system. He then spied Barkley yelling at Carmelita because of Sly's escape, Carmelita then stormed off angrily. Realizing the trouble he got Carmelita in, Sly tried to help get her back in Barkley's good books.

Backstage, while Carmelita was looking for traces of Sly, Sly spotted Pierre, the stage manager, stealing the Diva Diamond amid the chaos. Sly knocked Pierre out and took the diamond, he then tied Pierre up, put a paper bag over his head and suspended him above the opera stage. Carmelita, Inspector Barkley and Ms. Tuskinanny then went on the opera's stage. Realizing the diamond was stolen, Tuskinanny began wailing while Barkley started shouting at Carmelita, reducing her to tears. Sly then cut the rope suspending Pierre, and dropped him in front of the three. Carmelita removed the mask to find Pierre with the Diva Diamond around his neck. She looked inside the bag to find Sly's calling card. Watching from the seats at the back of the opera house, Sly saw a real hero in Carmelita, who was then promoted to Inspector for protecting the Diva Diamond and arresting Pierre. Sly and Carmelita would later meet each other numerous times in the future.

### Stealing back the *Thievius Raccoonus*

*Main article: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus*
*"On this mission, I would either become a master thief like my ancestors before me or fail and allow my family name to bite the dust."*
—Sly Cooper
#### Police Headquarters

Ten years after the Fiendish Five stole the *Thievius Raccoonus*, Sly had garnered a reputation as a cunning thief and had entangled the interest of Carmelita Fox. Sly embarked on the quest to steal back his inheritance and avenge his father's death. In Paris at 4:20 AM, Sly broke into Police Headquarters in Paris and recovered a file in Carmelita's office. The file contained her collected data of Sly's background and history, as well as information on the members of the Fiendish Five and their locations. After attempting to slip out through the fire escape, Sly encounters Carmelita and reminisces on their last meeting in Bombay when he stole the The Fire Stone of India, and she replies by explaining the function of her new Shock Pistol. Sly quickly leaps down the fire escape and runs through the parking lot, leaping into the back of Murray's van before the gang drives off, Carmelita shouting "You can't escape me, raccoon!"

#### Welsh Triangle

Sly then headed out to the Isle O' Wrath, off the coast of the Welsh Triangle. On the journey, he studied up on their first target, Sir Raleigh the Frog. Once they arrived, Sly traversed Raleigh's lair until he found a way into Raleigh's storm machine.

Inside, Sly confronted Raleigh and explained his desire to take back his section of the *Thievius Raccoonus*. Enraged, Raleigh attacked Sly. Beaten, Raleigh ranted about how his defeat wouldn't save Sly from Muggshot, the local gangster of Mesa City, Utah. The pages that Raleigh had taken included details of Rioichi Cooper and his Ninja Spire Jump. With Carmelita in hot pursuit, Sly escaped with the Cooper Gang.

Satisfied with the defeat of Raleigh, they prolonged their visit in England, Sly stealing Her Majesty's Big Bag of Crown Jewels, before returning to hideout, excited for their next heist.

#### Mesa City

Sly examined data on Muggshot shortly before arriving in Mesa City. He quickly infiltrated the "stronghold," and broke into Muggshot's Casino. Inspector Fox caught up to Sly, but was quickly lost among the rooftops.

Muggshot, surprised that the one responsible for ruining his operation and killing his guards was Sly, drew his guns and attacked Sly. Using his wit, he destroyed all of Muggshot's weapons and defeated him; the gangster, taken aback by Sly's victory, commented on how he would need to defeat Mz. Ruby to retrieve the next part of the *Thievius Raccoonus*. Muggshot's pages talked of Tennessee Kid Cooper and his rail walk and rail slide move that he used to travel across the west. Sly evaded a second confrontation with Carmelita and the Gang enjoyed their stay in America, stealing souvenirs, soon heading back to the hideout to prepare for their next mission.

#### Haiti

After reviewing what was known on the mystic, Sly arrived in Haiti and sneaked into Mz. Ruby's compound, and got past her guards. Through supernatural dealings and a bit of running around, Sly was able to infiltrate Mz. Ruby's lair. Along the way, Bentley took note of a hovercraft Mz. Ruby used in her operation and how it was nothing that he ever seen before. Ignoring the advanced machinery, Sly pushed on and confronted the third member of the Fiendish Five.

Both exchanged banter of creeping the other out, Ruby's rather sarcastically. After a brief encounter, Mz. Ruby teleported and challenged Sly to reach her by playing a game of, as Sly called it, "Voodoo Simon Says". Succeeding and defeating her, Mz. Ruby admitted Sly's skill to beat her at her own game, but explained that it wouldn't help him defeat the Panda King in China. Confident, Sly believed that he, like the previous three Fiendish Five, would go down. Finding her pages within her lair, Sly collected the third section of the *Thievius Raccoonus*. The pages elaborated on the first known famous Cooper, Slytunkhamen Cooper II who developed the invisibility technique in Egypt to steal from corrupt Pharaohs. Carmelita's arrival cued Sly's exit and the gang enjoyed the beaches of Haiti, working on their tans in preparation of their next caper.

#### China

Sly examined the profile of the Panda King before passing through his stronghold undetected and fighting through his personal guards. During the night, Sly found yet another hovercraft like Mz. Ruby's and Bentley identified it as identical in design to the one found in Haiti. Sly kept it in mind and continued on, finding Inspector Fox to have caught up to him. Sly begged her to open her eyes and realize that she was within a criminal's center of operation. Carmelita refused to listen, certain Sly was simply trying to confuse her and obstinately believing Sly was planning something illegal. She gave chase and Sly managed to escape her once again, continuing onward and finally breaching the Panda King's home atop a statue at the center of his headquarters. The Panda King took note of Sly's cane and recognized him as a member of the Cooper Clan and asked if he sought revenge to take back his section of the *Thievius Raccoonus*. Sly remarked it was his original intention but now intended to end the Panda King's villainous operation, burying villages in avalanches of snow with his fireworks. The Panda King said his methods were not an issue, as both of them were thieves.

Sly protested and denied Panda King's claim, rebutting his claim and that while Sly was a thief, the Panda King was simply a "frustrated firework artist turned homicidal pyromaniac." Enraged at Sly's disrespect, the Panda King attacked Sly with his new firework technique, Flame-Fu. Despite his ability to conjure flames from his hands, the Panda King was defeated, commenting on Sly's mastery with his father's cane. Bentley quickly radioed him after the battle, alerting Sly that he studied the hovercraft's composition and discovered that its location comes only from the Krack-Karov Volcano in Russia. Bentley deduced the fifth member of the Fiendish Five was located there and instructed Sly to leave as soon as possible. Before leaving, Sly retrieved the stolen section of the *Thievius Raccoonus* from the Panda King which included designs and schematics conceived by Otto Van Cooper.

Sly avoided a frustrated Carmelita once again while coming down the mountain and all three Cooper Gang members relaxed in Hong Kong, with Sly stealing food from the local market, before heading back to the hideout. Using Otto Van Cooper's designs, Murray was able to integrate several weapon systems into the van ready for their next move.

#### Russia

On their trip to Russia, Sly examined the pages of *Thievius Raccoonus* that he had retrieved. He noted that the book had little information on the final member of the Fiendish Five. While gazing at the multiple pictures detailed in the book, Sly noticed a consistent pattern in some of them: a shadowy owl-like figure seemingly pursuing them in the background. Sly checked police images again in his file and recognized them as matching the owl silhouette of the Fiendish Five's mysterious leader, Clockwerk. Sly wondered whether or not this disturbing revelation was a coincidence. However, they soon arrived at Clockwerk's lair. Greeted by the owl's powerful Death Ray, Sly and company combated Clockwerk's mechanical minions and deadly weapons to reach the inside of his volcanic lair. Once inside, Sly, Bentley, and Murray drove deeper inside until they gained access to the Death Ray's control tower. Sly leaped in and attempted to sabotage the weapon but found the immediate defenses dangerous.

However, Sly found Carmelita captured and trapped on the other side and, despite Bentley's protests of it being a trap, proceeded past the defenses to rescue her. Once inside the chamber, the doors closed and Sly found his cane to be ineffective in breaking the glass. Carmelita, unaware of the situation, assumed Sly was responsible for her capture and Sly quickly denied it. Immediately, the chamber filtered in poisonous gas and the shadowy image of Clockwerk appeared upon the viewing screens. The owl laughed, mocking Sly's actions as paralleling his clan's sentimental nature and their downfall. After disconnecting his view of Sly's demise, Clockwerk's victim was saved by his cohort, Bentley, who hacked into his database and shut off the gas chamber. Sly regained consciousness and Carmelita apologized for blaming him and said she would make it up to him. He freed her and both ran to the lair's exterior. Carmelita questioned why Sly freed her after hunting him down for years and Sly replied that she wasn't his enemy, Clockwerk was. In agreement, Carmelita suggested an alliance which Sly joyfully accepted but she warned him it was temporary until Clockwerk was taken down and that she would go after him once it was all over, giving him only a ten second head start.

One of Clockwerk's mechanical owls swooped down and swiped Sly's cane, flying across the lava before being shot down by Inspector Fox. The cane, high atop Clockwerk's facility, was out of reach and Sly desperately begged that they retrieve it. Carmelita told Sly her jetpack was also high atop Clockwerk's Death Ray before she was captured and said he should also try taking it after grabbing the cane. She provided covering fire as he traversed the facility's exterior, shooting down Clockwerk's minions until he finally reached his cane and recovered it. Sly immediately entered the vicinity of the Death Ray, the inside of the volcano. Bentley alerted Sly that Carmelita's support fire had destroyed the weapon's magnatronic support field and that the weapon was sinking into the lava quickly. Rushing to grab the jetpack across the top of the huge laser weapon, Sly climbed the crumbling device as it slowly fell into the molten sea beneath it.

After equipping Carmelita's jetpack, the object of Sly's vendetta finally revealed himself. Clockwerk took flight and confronted the Cooper, objecting to Sly's escape from his gas chamber and destruction of his Death Ray. He was surprised, grudgingly admitting how Sly's family always found a way to beat him, confirming Sly's suspicions of the identity to the shadowy figure in the *Thievius Raccoonus*. Questioning him, Clockwerk vaguely answered the Cooper and told him that he was immortal and beyond aging, his anger, jealousy, and hatred creating the perfect formula to preserve his life within its cybernetic shell. His reasoning was also mysterious, describing his desire to simply surpass the Cooper Clan's thieving reputation. Clockwerk engaged him, his armor unaffected by Inspector Fox's weaponry. However, Carmelita noticed her Shock Pistol created vulnerabilities for the cyborg and told Sly to take advantage of her shots. He did, and Clockwerk's body was ravaged by the sudden onslaught. Unable to fly and plummeting into the lava, Bentley noted to Sly his belief that Clockwerk was dead.

However, Clockwerk's body had emergency engines and he arose again from the lava, determined to kill Sly there. Sly contemplated Clockwerk's words and actions, certain he knew that night he stole the *Thievius Raccoonus* that his father had a child and questioned why the owl let him live. Clockwerk answered directly, believing the world would see that without the Cooper Clan's book, they were nothing compared to him. Sly interjected, claiming that Clockwerk was fooled by the concept and that the Cooper's created the *Thievius Raccoonus*, not the other way around. Angered, Clockwerk ceased their conversation, seeking to end the charade and finish him off. After a second battle, the cyborg owl was defeated again and plummeted into the lava, Sly leaping down from his jetpack to finish him off. Bentley warned Sly of Clockwerk's auto repair circuitry and the raccoon sprinted across the destroyed wreckage of Clockwerk and his Death Ray before leaping upon the owl's back and bashing his head in.

Before finally shutting down, Clockwerk warned Sly that he could never escape him, and finally the last member of the Fiendish Five was defeated. Snatching from his claw the last pages of the *Thievius Raccoonus*, Sly succeeded in recovering the entire book and avenged his family by taking down the Fiendish Five. Shortly after Bentley and Murray arrived to the volcano's base, Carmelita confronted Sly to arrest him. As she promised, she gave him a ten second head start. Smiling, Sly stood there as the countdown occurred, waiting until the last second before slipping Carmelita a kiss. While dazed and blushing by his sudden show of affection, Sly handcuffed her to the ruins of Clockwerk's facility in those few moments and escaped with the Cooper Gang, leaving an enraged Carmelita behind although he felt she would escape and be chasing after him very soon.

#### Restoration

Shorty after Clockwerk's defeat, Sly restored the *Thievius Raccoonus* back to its original state with the help of Bentley and Murray. According to him the other ancestors simply inherited the book while he got the chance to earn it. Sly has finally earned the reputation and title of "Master Thief".

### Adventure in Monaco

*"My dad was right, you don't have a plan if you don't have a plan B."*
—Sly to Bentley and Murray
Sly and the gang went to Monaco to steal The Venus De Whalo from Dimitri Lousteau, an infamous forger, during a party with Madame D'Oinkeau, his then fiancé. When he breaks into Dimitri's mansion he finds some of Dimitri's goons forging fine art. After swiftly defeating the forgers, guards come behind Sly while he's talking to Bentley. Sly knocks them out and takes their uniforms. He, Bentley and Murray dress up as these guards and inform Inspector Carmelita Fox, (who was an invited guest), that Sly has been seen upstairs. Dimitri tries to stop Carmelita from venturing upstairs but isn't able to slow her down. Realizing that he can't stop her he runs off. When Carmelita and D'Oinkeau make it upstairs, they find the forgers tied up. Carmelita finds the forged paintings and realizes that Dimitri is a forger, much to D'Oinkeau's dismay. Realizing that this was a decoy Carmelita runs back downstairs to find The Venus De Whalo gone and Sly's signature calling card with a beret on it in its place.

Meanwhile, Sly and his gang have just put The Venus De Whalo into the back of the Cooper van. When Bentley tells Sly that they were 12 minutes and 37 seconds over schedule, and that the next boat doesn't leave for another 45 minutes, Sly runs off to distract Carmelita. During this time he recalls his very first heist as a child, stealing the orphanage's cookie jar from Ms. Puffin.

He finds Inspector Fox inspecting the area and knocks her shock pistol out of her hand. They both recall the first time they met, at the Paris Opera house. Their accounts of the night vary. After they finish talking about their first encounter, Sly tells Carmelita to grab her shock pistol, because they are on a bridge and Sly has nowhere to run. She goes to grab her gun claiming she'll arrest Sly then Dimitri, but when she goes to point the gun at him he's gone. Thinking that Sly's jumped into the water she looks over the bridge. She sees Sly, Bentley, Murray and the Cooper Van on the boat that they were waiting to board. 45 minutes had passed while they were reminiscing. Carmelita curses Sly and promises that she will arrest him. They all wave at her and escape with The Venus De Whalo.

### Stealing the Clockwerk parts

*Main article: Sly 2: Band of Thieves*
*"I don't know what's in my future but I won't let it be a repeat of my past."*
—Sly Cooper
#### Cairo

Two years after the fight with Clockwerk, Sly and the gang discovered that the Clockwerk parts were saved from the Krack-Karov Volcano and were being held in a museum in Cairo. Sly, with the help of Bentley and Murray, attempted to steal the parts and destroy them. Upon Sly's arrival at the room where the Clockwerk Parts should be held, the parts were already gone, and both Carmelita and new officer Constable Neyla came out of hiding to confront Sly. Neyla hinted to Sly that the missing Clockwerk Parts were likely stolen by a dangerous criminal coalition known as the Klaww Gang and Sly took the opportunity to escape while Neyla and Carmelita bickered. He quickly escaped along with Bentley and Murray to track down the Clockwerk Parts.

#### Paris

The gang quickly found the location of the Clockwerk Tail Feathers in Paris, where the Klaww Gang member, Dimitri used it to forge money. Overnight, the gang destroyed Dimitri's operation and left France with the Clockwerk Tail Feathers in hand as Carmelita and Neyla arrested the forger. As a deserving reward, Sly and the gang spent a week in Monaco. A few weeks later, Sly and the gang tracked down the Clockwerk Wings to India, where they were held by another Klaww Gang Member, Rajan.

#### India

Sly crashed the party at Rajan's palace in disguise, and danced with Carmelita to distract the crowd during their operation. With the success of the dances on the part of Sly and the operation, the gang carried away the Clockwerk Wings and Rajan retreated into hiding. After a small break in Bollywood, the gang learned that Rajan also had the Clockwerk Heart. During the operation, Neyla willingly helped Sly collect half of the Clockwerk Heart and agreed to a date with him after the job was over. Unfortunately for Sly, Neyla double crossed him and knocked him out, leaving Murray to defend him against Rajan. Shortly after the fight, Neyla showed the Contessa, a member of INTERPOL, her capture of the Cooper Gang and Rajan and also framed Carmelita for conspiring with the gang. The Contessa arrested them all, as Bentley witnessed events at a distance.

#### Prague

With Sly and Murray in a rehabilitation clinic in Prague, Bentley was Sly's only hope. Bentley discovered Sly was held in 'the hole' isolation area of the facility, left in the dark day after day for his mind to rot. The heroic turtle also discovered that the Contessa was secretly a member of the Klaww Gang who brainwashed criminals into revealing where they had hidden their loot. Bentley took out the security systems to free Sly and the two of them set everything up to free Murray. Realizing the gang had escaped, the Contessa quickly escaped on her blimp, and Sly and his friends celebrated their breakout.

Sly was overjoyed to have the gang back together after the brief parting, and after their escape, the Cooper Gang discovered that the Contessa had hold of the Clockwerk Eyes and also held Carmelita captive for hypnosis. As Sly and the Cooper Gang attempted to free Carmelita and make off with the eyes, they discovered Neyla had set up shop with an army of mercenaries bankrolled by Interpol to take down the Contessa. The gang freed Carmelita, and Sly chased the Contessa across the rooftops. They fought, and Sly emerged victorious with the Clockwerk Eyes. The gang escaped along with Carmelita (much to Sly's 'eternal' delight). Sly and Carmelita went their separate ways, with Carmelita now a fugitive against Interpol following the incident in India.

#### Canada

A week or two later, the gang hunted down the chief of transport in the Klaww Gang, Jean Bison. They found out he was in possession of the Clockwerk Stomach and Lungs and promptly performed three train robberies and made off with them. Sly realized at the end of this operation that he sorely needed to help Carmelita redeem herself to Interpol, and knew that he'd need to do it some way other than turning himself in. After discovering that Jean Bison had escaped to a Canadian Lumber Camp, the gang then decided enter the Lumberjack Games that Bison had organized. Sly and his gang raided the facility and cheated using underhanded methods to obtain the Clockwerk Talons.

However, fate once more reared its ugly head, and Sly was captured, being held in the underbelly of the sawmill along with his friends. When Bentley was entered into a brutal struggle with Bison, Sly used logging machinery to defeat the Klaww Gang lackey. Meanwhile, Jean Bison's guards raided their safe house and sold all the Clockwerk Parts to the chief machinist and leader of the Klaww Gang, Arpeggio. The Gang defeated Bison and stowed away on a battery that they'd emptied out earlier and dealt with their losses. Sly spent the time agitated and restless, awaiting action—any action.

#### Arpeggio's blimp

On their way to Arpeggio's blimp, Sly realized they had little time to stop the under-going reconstruction of Clockwerk. As soon as they arrived on the blimp, Sly rushed to a balloon where the Clockwerk Parts were being held. It was there that he learned that Neyla and Arpeggio were conspiring the entire time to collect the robotic bird for themselves. In an impassioned attempt to stop the construction, Sly indirectly locked the Clockwerk Parts into place. Neyla and Arpeggio confronted him, and Arpeggio revealed his master plan of using the Northern Lights to hypnotize everyone below the blimp into a fit of rage (the thing that kept Clockwerk alive) so that he could remain immortal inside Clockwerk forever.

Neyla suddenly betrayed Arpeggio and entered the Clockwerk Frame herself to form Clock-La and killed Arpeggio with a single crushing blow. She broke out of the blimp, ready to absorb the power of hate to live forever. Sly and his gang labored to dismantle parts of the blimp to stop the evil conglomeration, finally putting out a signal to Carmelita Fox, who arrived in a police helicopter.

Carmelita agreed to join up with Sly to defeat Clock-La, and Sly willingly joined the fight as her tail gunner. With expert firing on the part of Sly, Sly and Carmelita defeated Clock-La in a dogfight over the skies of Paris, but the owl flew from the action and captured Murray and Bentley in her claws. Sly paraglided after them in an epic chase as dangerous components of the blimp were scattered into the air. Sly eventually reached Clock-La and defeated her again. As the frame crashed to the ground, the gang realized that she was still alive. Bentley remembered hearing Clock-La mention a Hate Chip, and as Bentley attempted to take the Hate Chip out of the Clockwerk frame, the beak closed on him, resulting in paralysis from the waist down. Clock-La was blown apart.

Sly, however, noted that the parts were still undamaged, as if nothing could actually destroy them. Luckily Carmelita, who was angry at not having a whack at Neyla herself, smashed the Hate Chip and rendered Clockwerk's parts useless thus killing Neyla in the process. The four survivors watched as the parts faded to dust.

Sly was struck by an overwhelming flood of relief as he watched the Clockwerk Parts disintegrate; he was free from the curse of Clockwerk, and so were his family line—and future children. In spite of the emotion of the moment, Sly and his somewhat fractured gang were promptly placed under arrest by Carmelita. In a selfless act, Sly willingly agreed to take the fall for the entire affair and persuaded Carmelita to let Bentley and Murray leave without quarrel. Carmelita agreed and was given a promotion by her superior, Inspector Barkley.

Sly was taken on board a helicopter for transport into Interpol custody. Although initially silent, the two of them got to talking and recounted over past adventures and even told each other about their favorite things, prompting Sly to relate the experience to a first date. However, as Carmelita was about to share some champagne she'd been saving for Sly's arrest, she realized that the short journey had taken over two hours. Whilst Carmelita went to the cockpit to check on the lack of progress, Sly realized that Bentley and Murray left with a little parting gift by rigging the chopper to fly in circles. Sly promptly parachuted out of the chopper to freedom. Carmelita swore that she'd get him as he flew off, and remarked that she'd see him again soon.

### The Cooper Vault job

*Main article: Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves*
*"Getting inside the place would take precision, creativity, and moreover, it would take an army of world-class thieves. Finding and bringing together that much talent won't be easy, but to get inside the Cooper Vault and collect my inheritance, I was willing to pay the price."*
—Sly, after visiting Kaine Island for the first time
#### Stealing the map

Sly visited Jim McSweeney in Heathrow Penitentiary after McSweeney had contacted him via messenger pigeon. Sly sneaked into the prison and found his cell. McSweeney initially doubted Sly's true identity, but after passing a test, he told Sly about the Cooper Vault. He also showed him the location of the map to Kaine Island: a museum in Italy. After a failed attempt to get the map, Sly and Murray realized that they needed Bentley's brains. Sly was able to bust Bentley out, but Murray stayed behind to fight off the armed guards that showed up mid-bust.

Carmelita, taking over the case of the failed museum heist, unknowingly took the map as evidence when she bagged a canvas that Sly had touched. Sly sneaked into her office while she was sleeping and took the map from the canvas. After escaping, he met back up with Bentley who had made alterations to a wheelchair to suit his needs. As the two talked, Murray came into the Parisian safe house, clothes tattered, and told the two that he was leaving the gang for their betterment.

Despite having lost a member of the Cooper Gang, Sly and Bentley headed out for Kaine Island. When they arrived however, they saw that the island had been transformed into a fortress by a mandrill scientist named Dr. M. With security "as tight as Fort Knox," Sly realized that it would take a team of specialists to be able to sneak onto the island and reach the Cooper Vault.

#### Venice

Sly and Bentley first re-recruited Murray, who left them after blaming himself for Bentley's paralysis and went on a spirit journey to find inner peace with himself. Sly felt that Murray was too much of an asset and friend, and set out to Venice with Bentley to find him. Murray agreed to re-join only if "the black water ran pure." This "black water" was the pollution of the water around the city with tar, caused by crime lord Don Octavio. Sly and Bentley foiled Octavio's plan and had him put away in the process. With his Guru's request fulfilled, Murray re-joined the gang.

#### Australia

Sly next went after Murray's teacher, the Guru, who the gang acquired the services of after saving his home from excavation workers and a cursed mask in Australia.

#### Holland

Their new RC expert, Penelope, who later becomes Bentley's love interest, was recruited to the gang after they defeated her in an aerial racing competition called ACES in Holland.

#### China

They also managed to employ the former Fiendish Five member, the Panda King, on their side as a demolitions expert after rescuing his daughter from a forced marriage by the ruthless General Tsao high in the Kunlun Mountains.

#### Caribbean

Finally, they recruited former Klaww Gang member Dimitri as an underwater operations expert after recovering his grandfather's old diving equipment from pirate captain LeFwee off the coast of Blood Bath Bay.

#### Kaine Island

The Cooper Gang arrived at Kaine Island for the final Cooper Vault heist. During the initial stages of the operation, Sly was captured by one of Dr. M's monsters and was being crushed to death. As Sly felt his last moments were imminent, he had a flashback recounting how he and the gang gained four more allies in the lead-up to the heist on the island.

As the flashback ended, Sly mentally begged for the pain to stop, but was saved from death by the rest of the gang and Carmelita. Sly recovered from his injuries after copious bed rest, and the group managed to gain access to the Cooper vault.

As the vault was meant for Coopers only, Sly went inside alone while Murray and Bentley guarded the entrance. Sly overcame many challenges based on the Cooper family's thieving abilities, with each test built by one of Sly's ancestors. Sly even learned a new skill to slide along lasers in a chamber built by his late father.

At the heart of the vault, Sly was confronted by the evil Dr. M, who had followed him inside. It was revealed that Dr. M was actually a member of the old Cooper Gang with Conner Cooper and Jim McSweeney and the mandrill considered himself to be a tool to Conner at best. This sparked something inside Dr. M that made him think that all Coopers were the same. Sly objected, vehemently maintaining that he was not his father. The ensuing battle led to the vault's collapse, and Carmelita arrived to arrest both Sly and Dr. M. The doctor fired a laser blast at Fox, but Sly jumped in front of it and took the blast himself. Carmelita defeated Dr. M and went to help Sly. As Sly came around, she discovered that he had (fake) amnesia, and had no memory of who he was or what his occupation was. When he asked her, she lied and claimed he was her partner, "Constable Cooper". Believing her words, Sly and Carmelita escaped the vault, leaving Dr. M to his fate as it collapsed on him.

The gang looked for Sly but to no avail, however before going off with Carmelita he managed to leave them with some of the Cooper treasure, his signature pouch, and his cane. The Cooper Gang then went their separate ways, with Murray becoming a racing driver, Bentley hoping to build a time machine with Penelope, and Sly beginning a new chapter of his life with Carmelita.

After an undisclosed amount of time, Bentley is seen spying on the Sly and Carmelita with his Binocucom. He catches a glimpse of Sly glancing back at him with a wink. Bentley remarked on Sly's sneakiness with a closing remark: "That sneaky devil!"

### Time travel

*Main article: Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time*
*"We were going to travel back in time, stop those responsible and fix the damage they've done."*
—Sly Cooper
In *Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time*, Sly and the gang have returned to save the Cooper Family's history, literally. The game begins, as always, with Sly narrates some events that have occurred since the previous game.

#### Paris

When the game itself begins, Sly, Bentley, and Murray are pulling the van up in an alley across the street from a museum in Paris from which they have to steal a samurai dagger to use the time machine. The museum they're stealing from is the same one that Sly himself was about to steal from right before Bentley and Murray came back into the picture, and is also owned by the mysterious Frenchman known as The Collector. They pull off a fantastic heist, Sly going after the dagger itself, while Murray and Bentley handle the security measures, guards and the laser grid system around the dagger. As soon as Sly grabs the dagger, Carmelita bursts into the room with extreme anger. Sly then climbs back up through the sunlight onto the roof and, before he leaves, says "I'll call you." When Sly gets back to the van and meets up with Bentley and Murray, they hop in and frantically drive around the museum courtyard, smashing through numerous shipping crates scattered around the building as well as fences, also bumping into several of The Collector's men and their trucks. Then Murray drives up a ramp and over the fence and gets ready to make the jump while Sly regards that they're trapped. Murray then "punches it" on the van and they go back in time to Feudal Japan.

#### Feudal Japan

Once they get to Japan, after their hideout is set up, Sly goes out to take recon photos for Bentley, taking photos of some elite-style guards, the dragon gates, the prison that Rioichi Cooper is locked up in, Rioichi's sushi shop, and the geisha house. After the photo of the geisha house is taken, El Jefe comes out and starts roaming around while Sly takes a recon photo. Next, Sly steals pieces of a suit of Samurai Armor to get into the prison. After Sly gets the armor, he goes up to the prison gate, but the guard stops him, remarks that he's a bit short to be a commander, and demands Sly's name. Sly comes up with an alias, "Major Muggshot," the guard says he's never heard of him. Sly then says that he's been an officer since the guard was "a squealing piglet" and threatens to report him to the general, jokingly saying that the general loves pork chops. The guard then, out of fear, says he just didn't recognize Sly and lets him in. Sly then sneaks through the prison, and when he gets to Rioichi, asking if he's okay. Rioichi, not knowing who the man is, remarks that all of the guards make very poor jokes. Sly then takes off the armor and reveals himself to Rioichi who refers to him as a fellow ninja. Sly then makes his way to Rioichi, avoiding the guards, using the armor to protect himself from fire traps, and finally, pickpocketing a key from a guard to open a gate to a bridge that leads to Rioichi's cage. Upon walking onto the bridge, he steps on a large button, which makes the bridge collapse and activates some more dragon fire traps. He spire jumps and leaps from hooks onto platforms where he has to destroy the traps by putting on the samurai armor and deflecting the fireballs shot by the traps. After he gets to the cage, Rioichi remarks that only a "true Cooper" could get to the cage, and Sly admits that he's Rioichi's relative from the future. Then Sly looses his grip, but Rioichi quickly saves him by grabbing Sly's cane and catches Sly with the hook, pulls him up, and they both escape by climbing up the chain that Rioichi's cage was hanging from.

Rioichi then fills the gang in on the workings of El Jefe when he arrived in town and turning the place into a high security military base. They then work to free the town of El Jefe's grasp.

First order of business was to retake Rioichi's sushi restaurant, where his knives served as door keys in the place. Rioichi and Murray go to steal Madame Geisha 's outfit for Murray to disguise himself to lure away El Jefe and steal his map. Bentley then tails El Jefe with his RC car to get information on his fortress.

The gang then breaks into El Jefe's stronghold, only for the tiger to steal Rioichi's cane. Sly climbs up after El Jefe up his statue fortress where a battle ensues. Sly emerged victorious, but before he could reclaim Rioichi's cane, he gets ambushed by the gas-masked rat guards who swipe the cane and retreat back into a huge time machine blimp, where Sly gets a shadowy glimpse of The Collector. One of the rat guards accidentally drops a sheriff's badge in his haste, which Sly takes to use for the time machine.

#### Wild west

Sly and the gang head for the Wild West, where they learn that Sly's ancestor, Tennessee Kid Cooper had been jailed before he was able to carry out his legendary bank heist due to the interference of new sheriff, Toothpick. Sly was forced to get himself thrown in jail in order to bust Tennessee out. Once freed, they get the whole story from Tennessee about Toothpick.

To Sly's surprise, he found Carmelita was there in the Old West, taken hostage. Once saved by Tennessee, Sly , Bentley, and Murray get caged by Toothpick. After being rescued by Carmelita and Tennessee, Sly tries to explain himself to her, who wouldn't hear any of it as she was still sore about him returning to being a thief again. Sadly, the Gang didn't manage to free the van, which made them stuck in the Wild West forever.

Bentley informs Sly, Carmelita, and Murray that they had to take part in some games to win the keys to the train. Sly had to complete an obstacle course race while rolling on his prison ball to win his key.

Sly and Tennessee raid the train, where Toothpick managed to steal Tennessee's cane and Murray got his van back. Sly goes up to fight against Toothpick, but again, the cane was taken away by the rat guards. Sly was forced to make his escape off the train as it was headed for an incomplete bridge. Unfortunately, the van's breaks were out and they soon plummeted off the cliff. Fast thinking from Bentley, he used Murray's fossil necklace to time travel out of there, right into the Ice Ages.

#### Ice age

The gang gets trapped in the Ice ages where core components have scattered about the area. Carmelita continues to act cold towards Sly and storms off by herself despite the dangers, leaving the raccoon saddened. As Sly scopes the place out, he comes across Grizz, who was working an egg operation. Also to his surprise, Sly comes across his prehistoric ancestor, a caveman Cooper whom Sly dubbed as "Bob".

Sly tails The Grizz in order for Bentley to hack into his phone to get the entry codes and schematics for his base of operations. Unfortunately, The Grizz smashed his phone in anger before Bentley could get them. To Sly's surprise and pleasure, Carmelita shows up, as she revealed she's got the information Bentley needs. She tells Sly the only reason she's talking with him right now is just to get the info to Bentley.

Everyone then goes to raid Grizz's base where everything seems to go according to plan, until Murray accidentally falls and winds up going another route than intended, leaving Sly to take over his role to stop the resetting of the base's security system. In turn, Murray takes over Sly's initial role to face The Grizz and takes him down himself. Sly congratulates him, saying that he's the hero this time around. They then cop Grizz's crown to use to travel to the Middle Ages. Sly was also happy Carmelita had cooled down somewhat as she had to accept that she has to stick with them if she ever wants to return back to the present.

#### Medieval England

Sly and crew arrive in England, where the streets are being patrolled by cybernetic wolf knights. Learning about Sir Galleth Cooper's fall in occupation as a circus jester, Sly goes to the circus to help him. Before that, he was told by Bentley to find some quality wood, metal, and leather for him to fashion an outfit for Sly to use. Armed with the archer's outfit, Sly breaks into the big top where Galleth was held and freed him.

Galleth explains that things went downhill when someone called the Black Tyrant arrived and took over the kingdom with his robotic weaponry, and that his cane was taken. Sly and the others had to keep him from venturing out on his own before they could make an effective plan.

Sly is then tasked with getting shots of the Black Knight, who continues to remain a mystery as he doesn't meet any of Interpol's criminals. Once getting shots, Sly managed to steal back Galleth's cane.

When Galleth goes off to face the Moat Monster, Carmelita follows to make sure he was all right. Sly is shown to be visibly upset at this, saying that he doesn't recall her watching his back on any jobs, which she replies that she does, when trying to capture him.

It came as a shock to Sly's gang, even more to Bentley, when they discovered the identity of the Black Knight was in fact the missing Penelope. Bentley tucked away inside his shell overcome with despair about his own girlfriend's betrayal. Sly and Murray were unable to get him to come out, and Sly vows that Penelope will pay for her treachery and for hurting Bentley emotionally.

Sly, Carmelita, and Galleth were forced to come up with a plan of attack as Bentley was in no condition to plan anything at the moment. After breaking into the castle, Galleth rushes forth to fight the Black Knight, only to get tossed aside and his cane taken away. Penelope then drops the gate, causing Carmelita to shove Sly out of the way before he could get impaled by it, but now he's trapped with Penelope's giant Black Knight mech. Sly managed to literally disarm the mech using only arrows, but then gets trapped under the wreckage. Before Penelope can finish him off, he is saved by Bentley, who was now wearing a modified mech suit. After Bentley defeats Penelope, he apologizes to Sly for not being there for him, but he tells him not to worry about it as they're friends. They all leave the Middle Ages for Ancient Arabia, thanks to a coin Carmelita pocketed back in the museum for evidence.

#### Ancient Arabia

The gang arrive in Ancient Arabia, where they discover an aged Salim al-Kupar, who was in a slump just before he was about to retire being a thief. They find out his three fellow thief partners were captured by Miss Decibel, so they work to free them.

Sly goes to tail Miss Decibel who was meeting Le Paradox, the Collector, gathering info about the mysterious door in the lamp shop. To Carmelita's displeasure, and Sly's happiness, Carmelita was instructed to dress up as a belly-dancer in order to distract the guards at the door while Sly and the rest try to force it open. What they find was a huge docking station for Le Paradox's time machine blimp. Sly is then forced into a battle with the cacophonic Miss Decibel.

Sly emerged victorious, but it was short-lived as Le Paradox revealed that he's got Salim's cane, as well as Carmelita hostage, before disappearing to the present.

#### Present day Paris

Sly sneaks aboard Le Paradox's blimp where he finds Carmelita tied in the darkness. He goes to free her, but she screams it's a trap. Soon, the both of them get encased in a glass capsule where Le Paradox plans to throw them into a wormhole where they would forever bounce through time. The two get rescued in time and broke out as the blimp began to collapse on itself due to the wormhole going out of control. Sly tells Bentley and Murray to take Carmelita and get off the blimp as quickly as possible while he goes to finish things with Le Paradox. Carmelita immediately began to feel regretful of how she's treated Sly up til now.

Sly then faces off against Le Paradox. During the fight, Sly calls him out about how his entire plan was downright stupid as it was all just to feed his over-inflated ego when he already had it good as a billionaire art collector. Sly easily defeats Le Paradox, but failed to get off the blimp thanks to Le Paradox's theft of Sly's Paraglider. He had been missing for weeks, but Bentley, Murray and Carmelita continue to search for him, believing that he's still alive out there.

It was then revealed that Sly is indeed alive, but now finds himself in ancient Egypt.

### Other appearances

#### *PlayStation Move Heroes*

*Main article: PlayStation Move Heroes*

In *PlayStation Move Heroes*, Sly and Bentley were trying to free Murray from a prison cell. As Sly plants bombs at the cell door and makes way, the wire he was connected to broke by a laser. Just as he was about to fall into the laser grid, his world was paused. Sly thought it was Bentley who helped, and a worm hole comes by taking both Sly and Bentley and leaving Murray in his cell. they dropped down on a barren planet along with Ratchet, Clank, Jak, and Daxter. Sly and Bentley start hiding from them, and they get off on the wrong start. Bentley and Clank from the Ratchet and Clank series explain how they landed here, and to top it all off, a mysterious alien duo named Gleeber and Lunk invites them to the first annual "Inter-Universal Hero Games". They say that they "hit pause" on their home worlds. Everyone agrees to the challenge and Lunk gives them the equipment. However, after returning back to Paris and ending up right where they left off, Murray managed to bust himself out so Sly told him about what just happened while Bentley successfully fixes a communication with Clank.

#### *PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale*

*Main article: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale*
Sly appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting game *PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale*. His in game rival is Nathan Drake. Sly's storyline begins outside the Cooper Van with Bentley alerting Sly to the fact the *Thievius Raccoonus*' last pages were ripped out. Sly sets out to find the culprit, and after arriving in the boss stage by parachuting in, he finds Drake with the pages trying to figure out what they mean. Sly lands and quickly taunts him about carelessly handling the pages, Nathan responds by challenging him to a fight. After defeating the boss of the game, Sly returns to Bentley and Murray with the pages, and Bentley promptly notices that they've been translated into ancient Mesopatamian, and the only translator that Bentley knows of is in Istanbul. Using the all-star power to enhance the Cooper Van's performance, they set off for Turkey.

## Characteristics

### Physical appearance

Being a raccoon, Sly has grey fur with black stripes and mask. His ensemble consists of a blue elbow-sleeved shirt with a yellow collar, blue boots, blue gloves with yellow cuffs, and a blue cap. Around his waist is a belt with the buckle shaped in the form of the Cooper symbol. He initially wore a red backpack, which contained goods and calling cards, but traded it out for a leg pouch in *Sly 2: Band of Thieves*. He wore both a leg pouch, for goods, and a brown backpack with the Sanzaru Games logo on it, for paragliders, in *Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time*.

### Personality

Sly Cooper is a cunning, devious, quick-witted, charming, suave, gentleman thief. He uses his wit, courage, and skills to pull off jobs, and often crack jokes and sarcastic comments to an expense of others. Sly is also very calm, laid-back, level-headed, rational, and manages to keep a cool head in stressful and chaotic situations. Despite being slick with the comebacks, his girlfriend, Carmelita Fox, becomes increasingly infuriated with him, especially during their travels through time. Through all of his hardships, he remains loyal and dedicated to any he calls his friend, especially his life-long friends, Bentley and Murray.

In the beginning of the series, Sly is very arrogant and driven by his own personal goals. On occassion, he'll scold Bentley and Murray for failing missions. He often disregards Bentley's advice and warnings, and is sometimes rude to Murray.

By *Sly 2*, Sly had developed more of an appreciation for his team. He is much more respectful of his team than he was in the first game. He fully came to appreciate them after being captured by Contessa.

In *Sly 3*, Sly had become an entirely new thief with the sarcasm, witty banter, quips and debonair charm still in tact. He can't imagine his life without his team. Throughout the game, he takes the feelings of Bentley and Murray seriously, always on the look out for when they were bothered or sad.

### Abilities

Sly's primary weapon in the series is his family's cane, which is a brown staff ending in a golden hook. Many of his ancestors also had weapons incorporating the trademark hook, and the cane has become an infamous symbol of the Cooper Gang. Sly is also very capable with his cane and is a powerful opponent in a fight, repeatedly being shown beating opponents much larger and better equipped than himself.

Years of training and natural ability passed down through the Cooper bloodline have given Sly vast agility, balance, and reflexes, allowing him to perform feats that few can equal. In addition, he has learned every ability detailed in the Thievius Raccoonus, including balancing on the tops of sharp points, rope and pole climbing, invisibility, swinging on hooks, and running on wires. His skills include parkour, gymnastics, pickpocketing, safecracking, mastery of disguise, time manipulation, and others.

## Reception

GamesRadar listed Sly on their list of "The 25 best new characters of the decade", stating that "'Gentleman thief' is an archetype that’s woefully underrepresented in videogames". They also listed him on their list of "The sexiest new characters of the decade", saying "Sly’s the kind of character romance-novelists wish they could write". Sly won an award at the Game Developer's Conference for the best "Original Game Character of the Year" in 2002. In 2012, GamesRadar ranked him as the 74th best hero in video games, calling him "the Danny Ocean of gaming."

## Gallery

*Main article: Sly Cooper/Gallery*
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