| This article is about Hal Cooper, who resides in Riverdale. You may be looking for his Rivervale counterpart, Hal Cooper (Rivervale). |
| “ | This is a town of sinners, Betty. And Sinners have to die. Your speech at the Jubilee. Riverdale must do better. We must do better. Reminded me of a promise that I'd made to my mother. That this town will do better. We must do better. So I picked up my father's sword, and I continued the work that he and my grandfather started. The purging of sin. | ” |
Harold "Hal" Cooper was a recurring character and the hidden, secondary antagonist of the second season of The CW's Riverdale. He is portrayed by Lochlyn Munro.
Hal is the father of Betty and Polly Cooper, as well as the ex-husband of Alice Smith, with whom he used to edit and co-own the Riverdale Register. He holds a fanatical hatred for the Blossom Family due to a feud that occurred generations before.
After terrorizing the town of Riverdale, Hal revealed to Betty and Alice that he was the Black Hood. Betty's speech at the 75th Anniversary Jubilee reminded him of a promise he made to his mother that Riverdale would do better.
After being arrested, Hal faked his death and escaped a prison bus in route for Hiram Lodge's prison. After escaping the fiery crash, he took back up the mantle of the Black Hood and resumed killing, starting at the Prom, where he murdered three students. It's later revealed that Hal had been in cahoots with the Red Dahlia, Penelope Blossom and the Gargoyle King, Chic. After Hal failed to stop Betty and her friends, he was shot in the head and killed by Penelope.
In 1955, Hal is the proud owner of RIVW, a television station on which he presents several programs with his wife. He had an affair with his housekeeper, Mildred Muggs, from which Ethel Muggs was born.
Early Life[]
Hal was born to Louis Cooper and an unnamed mother. He grew up being taught that sinners should be gotten rid of. When he was a child, his father killed the Conway family because Mr. Conway had blackmailed him about Louis' father's secret. Hal was then told to convince Joseph Conway, the only survivor, to name someone else as the murderer of his family. He eventually married his high school sweetheart, Alice and later had two daughters: Betty and Polly. Hal and the former would often spend time together by working on vehicles.
During his high school years, Alice, who was simply his girlfriend at the time, became pregnant with FP Jones's baby. Hal tried to pressure her to have an abortion, as he didn't want to take responsibility for the unborn child, which he believed was his. Alice refused an abortion and instead gave the baby up for adoption once he was born.
Hal also owned the local newspaper, The Register, alongside his wife. Due to his family's history with the Blossom family, he harbored a deep hatred for members of the Blossom family.
Throughout Riverdale[]
Physical Appearance[]
Hal was a middle-aged man of average height, around 5' 11", with a muscular build. He had tan skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. Like his wife, Alice, Hal was typically dressed in professional clothing, suits or collared shirts and vests.
Relationships[]
Alice Smith[]
Hal and Alice were both raised in Riverdale and were high school sweethearts. During their senior year at Riverdale High, Alice learned that she was pregnant, and at the homecoming dance, she told Hal about the pregnancy, which led to a big fight between the two, as Hal wanted Alice to abort the baby. Instead, she went to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, where she lived for five months until the birth of her son, who the sister's arranged to be quietly adopted. Alice and Hal later got married and had two daughters together, Betty and Polly. They also owned the local newspaper, The Riverdale Register. After Polly got pregnant and it was revealed that Hal secretly tried to have Polly get an abortion, their relationship drastically changed, resulting in Alice kicking him out the house. Hal would eventually return but after the arrival of Chic and the subsequent revelation that Hal was the Black Hood, the two ended their marriage.
Betty Cooper[]
- Main article: Betty and Hal
At face value, it seemed that Hal and Betty had a healthy relationship, especially in comparison to their relationship with Alice, who was very controlling and overbearing towards them both. Hal respected Betty and never spoke down to her, and it was from her father that Betty learned how to work on cars. However, their relationship deteriorated following the Black Hood attacks and the discovery that he was the killer. Though Betty didn't know at the time that her father was the killer, he'd often call her as the Black Hood and they'd have discussions about Riverdale and how it's full of sin, as well as the fact that it was Betty's speech at the Jubilee that motivated him to become the Black Hood. After discovering that her father was the man under the hood, Betty and Alice assisted in his imprisonment, though they remained connected to some degree, as Betty even sought advice from her father after the fact while he was imprisoned.
Polly Cooper[]
Hal's relationship with his daughter, Polly, became estranged after she got pregnant with Jason Blossom's babies. Jason being of the Blossom family, who Hal openly despised, only made matters worse between them, as Polly never understood the root of his hatred for them. Hal's desire for Polly to abort the babies only left them further estranged as Polly chose to keep them. Shortly after she got pregnant, Hal disowned Polly; he refused to have as he put it "Blossom blood in his household." However, after revealing that the real reason he was upset about Polly's pregnancy was because she and Jason were blood relatives, the relationship became less hostile. They even attended Clifford Blossom's Will-Reading together, along with Betty.
Appearances[]
Season 5[]
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Season 6[]
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Season 7[]
- "Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen: Don't Worry, Darling"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen: Skip, Hop, and Thump!" (mentioned)
- "Chapter One Hundred and Twenty: Sex Education"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three: Peep Show"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Four: Dirty Dancing"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Five: Hoop Dreams"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Six: Betty & Veronica Double Digest"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Seven: American Graffiti" (mentioned)
- "Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight: Halloween II"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine: After the Fall" (mentioned)
- "Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Two: Miss Teen Riverdale"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Five: For A Better Tomorrow!"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six: The Golden Age of Television"
- "Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Seven: Goodbye, Riverdale" (mentioned)
Trivia[]
- In Archie Comics, Hal and the Black Hood are not the same person. The Black Hood is actually Matthew Burland, a former police officer who is magically bound to do good and fight for justice whenever he puts on the hood, which enhances his physical abilities. Hal, on the other hand, is a simple pharmacist.
Gallery[]
- See also: Category:Images of Hal Cooper
References[]
- ↑ Aguirre-Sacasa, Robert (writer) & Correa, Gabriel (director) (October 9, 2019). "Chapter Fifty-Eight: In Memoriam". Riverdale. Season 4. Episode 1. The CW.