This article is about the Woodbury resident. You may be looking for his appearance in the Novel Series, or his TV Series or Road to Survival counterparts. For other pages with the same name, see: Bruce |
“ | What'd you do? We saw the explosion--that was you, wasn't it? You blew up the depot, didn't you? Did you really think I wouldn't recognize you from before, you sniveling little coward? You should never have come back here.
―Bruce Cooper to Glenn Rhee right before shooting him.[src]
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Bruce Allan Cooper is an antagonist and is a survivor of the outbreak in Image Comics' The Walking Dead. He is a resident of Woodbury and is one of the Governor's right-hand men and most trusted allies. He served as an antagonist for Volume 5: The Best Defense and Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life, and as the secondary antagonist of Volume 7: The Calm Before.
Overview[]
Perhaps the Governor's most loyal soldier, Bruce follows his leader's orders without question and is perfectly willing to assist him in his atrocities, up to and including bodily mutilation and rape. As such, he is implicitly trusted and highly valued by the Governor, not only for his loyalty but also his physical strength. When Bruce discovers the Governor incapacitated after being brutally tortured at the hands of Michonne, he goes out of his way to save his leader's life. He demonstrates quick thinking under pressure, enlisting the help of Bob Stookey to save the Governor's life.
Pre-Apocalypse[]
Location Unknown[]
- Main article: Bruce Cooper (Novel Series)
Post-Apocalypse[]
Woodbury, Georgia[]
- Main article: Bruce Cooper (Novel Series)
The Best Defense[]
When Rick Grimes' small group arrive at Woodbury, he and Gabe accompany the Governor as his bodyguards. When the group are lead above the arena, Bruce is ordered to close the door by them. Following the Governor's declaration of feeding strangers to the biters, Bruce takes position behind Michonne Hawthorne and cautiously watches her. Shortly after, he is ordered to pin Rick's head to a table, and assists in the forced amputation of his right hand. Michonne, in retaliation, leaps onto the Governor and bites his left ear. Bruce quickly pulls her off but she manages to tear a part of his ear off with her teeth. Bruce awaits orders to kill her immediately but is reprimanded by the Governor, who has other, far worse plans for her.
Bruce and Gabe carry Rick's limp body to the infirmary to be treated by Dr. Stevens. Shortly after Bruce gets the Governor and tells him that Michonne has calmed down a bit. They head to her cell where her arms are tied up and she's talking to herself. The pair wait for a minute outside and think she's crazy. Philip orders Bruce to take her pants off and tie her legs to opposite ends of the wall which he does without question. After he's done he closes the door on his way out and gives them some privacy while standing guard outside the door.
- Main article: Bruce Cooper (Novel Series)
After hours of torture, the Governor finally finishes and is let out by Bruce. Glenn is eventually moved into the cell next door to Michonne's by Gabe. The Governor asks Bruce if she's ready which she's clearly not so Bruce opens up the cell door for the Governor's "round two".
- Main article: Bruce Cooper (Novel Series)
The Governor realizes that Rick's group come from a prison because of their riot gear and jumpsuits. He, Gabe and Bruce wait outside the infirmary for a moment while Dr. Stevens tells Rick all about the Governor's horrific leadership. They enter and Bruce points his gun at Rick. Philip lies about letting Glenn go after he revealed the location of the prison to get a reaction from Rick. After leaving, the Governor believes their lie worked, as Rick's reaction told them everything they needed to know, and now it's only a matter of time before they figure out where exactly it is.
This Sorrowful Life[]
The next day, after Harold Abernathy is murdered by Eugene Cooney before a fight. Bruce and Philip visit Michonne's cell, where Philip offers her a week of rest, food and maybe a chair or a bed in exchange for her replacing Harold in the arena fight. Bruce opens the cell door and presents her katana which she doesn't take her eyes off of. Philip gives her twenty minutes to think about it. He and Gabe later accompany the Governor to the disastrous fight where Michonne uses her sword to immediately decapitate Eugene and kill all the captive biters. Gabe and Bruce are ordered to bring her in immediately so the two run onto the field and tackle her to the ground as the crows incessantly jeers. Shortly after Bruce and Gabe successfully restrain Michonne back into her cell after she puts up a fight. The Governor, in a rage, commands them to open her door so he could kill her, but, reluctantly stops himself and decides to think it over.
After Martínez knocks out Gabe and helps Rick, Glenn, Michonne, Stevens and Alice escape, Gabe wakes up and finds Bruce to tell him they've all gone. The pair urgently rush to the Governor's apartment to tell him the news where they find the door barricaded. Michonne frees Penny as a distraction as Bruce kicks down the door and she escapes. Jameson restrains Penny from biting Bruce and the men gaze, horrified, upon the Governor's mutilated body and wonder if he's dead.
Main Article: Bruce Cooper (Novel Series)
The Calm Before[]
Following the explosion at the National Guard Station near Woodbury, Bruce and three Woodbury guards drive out to investigate and run into the prison group at the local Wal-Mart. When Glenn reveals himself, Bruce immediately recognises him and shoots him in the chest, the bullets luckily deflect off his riot gear armor. Maggie Greene screams and reveals the other hidden survivors' positions, but Andrea acts quickly and shoots Bruce through the neck with her rifle, mortally wounding him. Michonne then kills the other two guards and Sam is ordered to surrender. He freaks out over the deaths of his fellow guards and is promptly shot too.
Made To Suffer[]
During a flashback in Issue 43, Bruce and Gabe are unsure whether or not the Governor is still alive. Penny goes for Bruce again and he goes to shoot her when the Governor moans and uses all his strength to tell him NOT to hurt his daughter. They realize that Philip requires serious medical help but Stevens and Alice are absent. Bruce thinks quick and orders Gabe to lock the doors, before racing outside to find the town drunk and former army medic, Bob Stookey, who used to fight in Afghanistan. Bruce drags him upstairs and forces him to help, but Bob vomits at the sight of the Governor's mutilated and disfigured body. Bruce presses on, and Bob quickly sobers up, agreeing to help and telling then which supplies he's going to need.
A while later after Philip has recovered, Bruce informs him that Martínez has been found dead and reanimated. The Governor decides it's finally time to reveal himself to the public. Bruce and Gabe try to gather information about any local prisons from the townsfolk. Bruce tells Philip that the closest bit of information they've got was one guy believing there to be a prison off of McAlister Lane which is a long road they haven't been able to fully search and the guy isn't even too sure about it.
Gabe informs the Governor about the National Guard Station's explosion and Bruce taking a group out to investigate. He heard gunfire nearby a few minutes later so Philip and Gabe go to investigate along with Rudy and Wes. The group discovers three corpses at the Wal-Mart and Bruce, barely alive, choking on his own blood. He tells Philip that the prison survivors did this, and Glenn, the bald one, came back. Bruce goes quiet and Philip shoots him in the head to prevent reanimation. Bruce's death saddens and enrages the Governor, making him even more vengeful than before.
Death[]
- Killed By
After Bruce shoots Glenn and orders his group to attack, he is shot in the neck by Andrea. He eventually dies from blood loss.
- Brian Blake (Before Reanimation)
After discovering him barely alive and choking on his own blood, the Governor puts him down.
Killed Victims[]
This list shows the victims Bruce has killed:
- Numerous counts of zombies and possibly unnamed people
Relationships[]
For a more in-depth look at Bruce's relationships, read here: Bruce Cooper (Comic Series)/Relationships
Allies[]
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Enemies[]
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Appearances[]
Issues | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
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Book One | |||||||||||||
Book Two | |||||||||||||
Book Three | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||||||
Book Four | 👁 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||||||||
Book Five | |||||||||||||
Book Six | |||||||||||||
Book Seven | |||||||||||||
Book Eight | |||||||||||||
Book Nine | |||||||||||||
Book Ten | |||||||||||||
Book Eleven | |||||||||||||
Book Twelve | |||||||||||||
Book Thirteen | |||||||||||||
Book Fourteen | |||||||||||||
Book Fifteen | |||||||||||||
Book Sixteen |
✔ | Appears | ✔ | Voice is heard |
👁 | Appears with no lines | ✔ | Appears in a flashback |
✔ | Appears as a walker | 🖼 | Appears in a photograph/video |
✔ | Appears as a corpse | ✔ | Appears in a hallucination/dream |
Gallery[]
- For more images of Bruce Cooper, please visit Bruce Cooper (Comic Series)/Gallery.
Trivia[]
- Robert Kirkman answered the question whether naming characters the same name, Billy, Chris, Jim, Eugene, Eric, and Bruce was an oversight, "It's not oversight at all. It's completely unrealistic for a group of people to meet at random and never encounter the same names.
- Bruce's middle name was revealed in The Fall of the Governor.