‘Loki’ Head Writer Explains That D.B. Cooper Flashback Scene

Marvel Studios’ Loki is a superhero show unlike any other—primarily because it’s a lot of other types of shows before the superhero part ever comes to mind. It’s a thriller, a crime series, a workplace comedy, a time-travel caper, and a mystery. The series, which drops Tom Hiddleston’s god of mischief into the custody of the TVA (Time Variance Authority) and tasks him with using his wily ways to fix the damage he’s done to the timeline. Or, rather, that’s kinda what the show is? Listen—just watch it. It’s even weirder than that elevator pitch.

As an immortal Norse god, Loki’s seen it all and—as we learn in the premiere episode of Loki—he’s had his hand in a few mysteries that still confound us IRL. One such mystery is that of D.B. Cooper, a notorious plane hijacker who pulled off one of the wildest getaways of the 20th century. So, who was D.B. Cooper and how does Loki factor into all this? Keep reading!

Who was D.B. Cooper?

If I had the answer to that question, I wouldn’t be here turning out a dozen or more articles every single week—I’d be in charge of the FBI! The mystery is that no one knows who D.B. Cooper is or was, or even if he survived his infamous heist. The only thing history knows for certain is what Cooper did in the air on November 24, 1971.

A man who purchased a ticket under the name Dan Cooper (a mispronunciation on a news broadcast led to everything thinking the name was D.B. Cooper) boarded a Boeing 727 in Portland en route to Seattle. Once in-air, Cooper—just like Loki does in the episode—handed a note to the flight attendant. When she assumed it was a phone number and started to pocket it, Cooper whispered, “Miss, you’d better look at that note. I have a bomb.” Loki got that part spot on.

Cooper requested that upon landing in Seattle, the plane would be refueled and he would be provided with four parachutes—oh, and $200,000. His demands were met in Seattle, and all the passengers safely exited the plane. Then the plane took off again, as Cooper demanded. A half hour after takeoff, Cooper tied what was presumably the moneybag around his waist, strapped on a parachute, and leapt out of the plane. And that was that—and he was never caught. He also may not have survived, but then his body was never found either. Some of the money was found way later… but that’s it.

If you want to learn a lot more about Cooper, as well as the hunt to track him down and the stories of a few of the many, many suspects at one point believed to be D.B. Cooper, you can watch The Mystery of D.B. Cooper on HBO Max.

How did D.B. Cooper become part of Loki’s history?

The D.B. Cooper interlude wasn’t part of the initial pitch for the series, nor was it something that was suggested by Marvel. It all comes from Loki head writer Michael Waldron having fun with the show’s premise (or the perceived premise).

“That was me writing the pilot, or writing the first episode, having fun with Mobius showing Loki the scenes from his life,” Waldron told Decider. “People, I think when they heard about this show, they always thought, ‘Okay, it’s Loki traveling through time influencing historical events. So we’re gonna see Loki riding with Paul Revere and doing the most basic, PBS sort of stuff.’ And I got excited about, what is the deep cut, really fun stuff that we can imagine [for Loki]? And I just love D.B. Cooper. It’s a great piece of American folklore and now it’s canon: Loki is DB Cooper [in the Marvel Cinematic Universe]. We solved the riddle.”

Tom Hiddleston also delighted at the opportunity to travel back to 1971 and don the hijacker’s suit and sunglasses. “Yeah, it’s just really fun,” Hiddleston told Decider. “I thought it was great, really fun. And as far as I’m aware, we still haven’t tracked D.B. Cooper down so…”

Then, of course, there’s the fact that… uh, the FBI composite sketches of D.B. Cooper actually look a bit like Hiddleston as Loki as Cooper?

Hiddleston joked, “Yeah, so maybe we found the answer.”

You can stream the season premiere of Loki right now on Disney+. New episodes of Loki debut on Wednesdays.

Stream Loki on Disney+

Stream The Mystery of D.B. Cooper on HBO Max