James Cooper is the father of John Cooper and Ross Cooper.
He was a very skilled bounty hunter proficient with guns and knives. Specifically John learned the skills with knife from him.
In the flashback of Desperados III, he together with his son John Cooper pursued Frank for the bounty. James leaves John behind to practice his knife throwing at a tree in an upper courtyard while he goes alone after Frank. After some time, John hears gunfire and moves towards his fathers last position. He finds that he's been captured and subsequently beaten by Frank. John makes his presence known by knifing one of the guards but is still outnumbered by Frank and an "unknown" longcoat. Frank decides to give John a chance to shoot him by giving him his fathers Colt but also holding his father at gunpoint. Without the proper practice of firing a weapon John instead hits his father. John resolves to seek revenge on Frank for his fathers death.