Betty Cooper
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Elizabeth "Betty" Cooper (1941- ) is a fictional character of Archie Comics, the blonde-haired daughter of Hal and Alice Cooper. Older brother Chic Cooper and older sister Polly Cooper have both moved out of Riverdale, their hometown, but occasionally appear in flashbacks to her childhood. In addition, Polly visits Riverdale occasionally and stays with Betty and their parents. Betty likes sports, and is also a cheerleader. Betty was created in December of 1941. Chic Cooper primarily appeared in Little Archie, although he has come back home on occasion in the main continuity.
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[edit] History and character
The quintessential 17-year-old girl next door, Betty's middle class upbringing is a world apart from the flashy lifestyle of her wealthy friend Veronica Lodge.
Nowhere is this more evident than when she and Veronica are competing for Archie Andrews's heart, and yet they remain best friends. In the late 1960s, the two girls joined Archie's band, a garage band appropriately named The Archies. Both sang (usually backup), and Betty played tambourine, while the presumably more musically talented Veronica played organ.
Betty enjoys writing and keeps a diary. She wants to be a famous writer someday, an aspiration that her teacher Ms. Grundy approves of. She is very concerned with the environment and other social issues.
Betty's talents include sports, repairing cars (mostly that of her crush Archie Andrews, which is named "Betsy"), cooking, and making her own clothing. She also has a doll hospital in her garage.
She does very well in school and is considered one of the smartest girls at Riverdale High. Unlike the stereotypical dumb blonde, she has a moderately high IQ, although is not quite as gifted as her friends Dilton Doiley and Jughead Jones.
She loves children and sometimes babysits Jellybean with Jughead.
[edit] Relationships
Betty will always be involved in a love triangle with Archie and Veronica, and sometimes she becomes a second fiddle to Veronica. Archie cannot decide which girl that he prefers, but often chooses Veronica over Betty.
Archie says on many occasions that he considers Betty to be his best friend, someone that he can confide in, and is more comfortable with her. That doesn't stop him from seeing Veronica or other girls. Deep down inside, Betty will always hope that, in the end, Archie will choose her.
Frequently, Betty dated Reggie Mantle early on in the titles' runs and occasionally still, more often than not as a casual date when Veronica beat her to the punch to have Archie take her out. Although Reggie never admits it, he genuinely likes Betty, but his self-image sometimes is more important as the most popular jock in school, and he's afraid to damage their friendship, so they date frequently but without any attachment.
Jason Blossom has genuine interest towards Betty instead of the popular Veronica, and both of them date occasionally, which makes Archie jealous.
[edit] Feminism
In the early years, Betty had mastery of the traditional feminine domestic skills that Veronica was hopeless at. With the rise of the influence of feminism, Betty has also been depicted with a wide variety of talents such as auto mechanics. In addition, she is typically depicted as calm and cool in the face of crisis and often has ready solutions for whatever problem comes up in her featured stories. Betty also is fond of children, since she is often featured in stories where she is babysitting or spending time with the kids in her neighborhood.
Betty appears in all of the current Riverdale-related titles that are published by Archie Comics. Specifically, Betty stars in "Betty" and costars in "Betty and Veronica" and "Betty and Veronica Spectacular".
[edit] Interests and trivia
- Betty's musical loves include Bruce Springsteen and KISS. She also loves Michael Jackson's music videos. While Betty plays the tambourine in The Archies, she has also learned to play electric guitar and bangs on Jughead's drums to relieve tension.
- She plays the Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit board games and loves playing computer and video games, even becoming the Super Nintendo Champ of Riverdale with her asciiPad controller.
- Her movie interests include Cary Grant films and James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause".
- She also likes to read comic books and Jane Eyre. She's also seen a few television adaptations of Jane Eyre.
- Depicted as a sporty girl and also a cheerleader, she exercises by going on daily walks (and listening to her favorite tapes while doing so to make the walks less dull) and using a treadmill. She also dances (particularly the style featured in "Flashdance") and plays sports such as basketball, tennis, skiing, water skiing, sledding, ice skating, volleyball, swimming, snowboarding, bicycling, beachball, running on the beach (at least 2 miles) to stay in shape for track, soccer, baseball, and lifting dumbbells.
[edit] Favorite Foods
Betty's favorite foods include popcorn with lots of butter, Coke, grilled and roasted hot dogs, cotton candy, corn on the cob, cereal, chocolate chip cookies, apple pie, chicken, hot chocolate with extra-heavy whipped cream, ice cream cake, pizza, sandwiches, bottled water, chocolates, cola, fish, mints, ice cream from a cone, coffee and pastries for dessert, soda, and licorice.
[edit] Friends
Betty's close circle of friends includes Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, Moose Mason, Dilton Doiley, Jason Blossom, Veronica Lodge, Cheryl Blossom, Jughead Jones, Ethel Muggs, Midge Klump, Nancy Woods, and Chuck Clayton.
