Mac Cooke

## Character Overview

You might could say that Bill Duke played twin brother characters in the Val Verde Cinematic Universe. The first chronologically was Mac, or Mac Cooke in Predator. Mac dies by the hands of the Predator. Since Commando is a sequel to Predator, Bill Duke plays Mac's twin brother Bill Cooke who very well could have used revenge as a motive to get to John "Dutch" Matrix since Mac died under Matrix's leadership.

Mac had an intense dislike for Dillon, who he even threatened to kill if he did not stop giving away the team's position with his reckless movements. However, the two later seemed to develop a mutual respect for each other when they faced the Predator alone. Notably, Mac was constantly shaving, possibly a nervous habit to help calm him during combat operations.

## Biography (P)

### Early Live

Bill and Mac Cooke were twin brothers born in America. Both of them went into the United States Army and served in Vietnam. In Vietnam, Mac served together in the same platoon in the 101st Airbourne Division with Blain. During a disastrous ambush south of Khe San, the entire 32-man unit was slaughtered with the exception of Mac and Blain, who escaped without a scratch. This event was one of the defining moments in their friendship and the two became close friends. Mac would obtain the rank of Sergeant.

In 1980, they both joined Delta Force being under the command of Colonel John "Dutch" Matrix. (Bill Cook joined the Green Berets) As part of the unit, they saw operations in Angola, Cambodia, Lebanon and Afghanistan, and recently ended a terrorist siege at the Sudanese Embassy in Berlin, Germany.

### 1986 Mission to the Republic of Val Verde

in 1986, Delta Force was sent to Val Verde to help depose the acting military dictator, Arius Pérez. On Matrix's team was Bennett, Lawson, Forrestal, **Mac Cooke**, and Blain. The mission was a success and Arius was removed from office,

### 1987 Mission to the Val Verdian Boarder in Predator

In 1987, Delta Force was sent back to Val Verde on a mission of a top secret nature. Mac and his squad landed on a beach in Conta Mana, Val Verde where Matrix met former commanding officer General Phillips. Phillips requested Matrix and his Delta Force which included: Poncho, Billy Bear, Mac Cooke, Blain, and Hawkins for this mission. The goal was to rescue a Val Verdian cabinet minister and his aide who had been kidnapped by nearby Guatemalan Guerrillas at the Val Verde border in the Chapada das Mangabeiras low lying mountain range. Matrix was also reacquainted with an old friend Al Dillon. Dillon was now working for the CIA and wanted to go along with Dutch. Dutch objected at first, saying his team only worked alone but eventually agreed that Dillon could accompany them. A helicopter transported Dutch and his team deep into Guatemala and dropped them off in the jungle.

From the very beginning of the mission Mac was at odds with Dillon, whom he considered a pencil-pusher with insufficient experience in the field. When the team discovered the skinned bodies of Jim Hopper and his men, Mac in particular was disgusted with how they had died, lamenting that a soldier deserved better. When the team reached the guerrilla encampment, Mac's mistrust of Dillon was vindicated when he personally discovered the "cabinet ministers" they had been sent to rescue were actually colleagues of Dillon's from the CIA, and that the entire mission had been a set-up.

Delta Force then made their way to the extraction point unaware they are being tracked by an unidentified creature. The creature kills Hawkins and Matrix organized a search to find Hawkins’ body. During the search, Blain is killed and Mac sees the creature as it prepared to claim Blain's body. Mac, briefly shaken, quickly recovered himself and immediately opened fire, eventually using Blain's Minigun in an attempt to kill the Predator. However, he only succeeded in grazing the the creatures left leg, using up the weapon's ammunition supply and chopping down a swath of rainforest in the process. Following the incident, Mac struggled to explain what he had seen to the rest of the team, but was apparently convinced the entity had not been human.

Mac made it his own personal mission to kill the creature at any cost, promising to carve Blain's name into the creature before he killed it. When a wild boar strayed into the team's heavily defended laying up position in the middle of the night, Mac mistook the animal for the Predator and savagely killed it with his knife in a blind rage.

When an attempt to capture and kill the Predator the following day using home-made traps failed, Mac, now delirious with fear and rage, recklessly took off in pursuit of the escaping creature. He later composed himself somewhat, regrouping with Dillon and coming up with a plan to ambush the creature, but was killed when the creature which was revealed as the Jungle Predator saw him coming and shot him through the head with its Plasmacaster. The Predator later claimed Mac's skull as a trophy.

### Legacy

Mac's second mission to Val Verde would remain top secret, however news of Mac's death did reach his brother Bill Cooke. Bill, who took his twin brothers death harshly, vowed to kill John "Dutch" Matrix for his failure as a leader on the mission. The two would square off the following year in Las Angeles in the movie Commando.