Cobra (G.I. Joe)

Cobra

Logo of Cobra
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
Devil's Due Publishing
IDW Publishing
First appearance G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
Created by Larry Hama
In-story information
Type of organization Terrorist military group
Base(s) See Bases
Leader(s) Commander: Cobra Commander
Emperor: Serpentor
Weapons supplier: Destro
Director of intelligence: Baroness
Chief of science: Doctor Mindbender
Agent(s) Crimson Guard co-leaders: Tomax
Crimson Guard co-leaders: Xamot
Ninja bodyguard: Storm Shadow
Primary field commander: Major Bludd
Anti-armor specialist: Scrap-Iron
Dreadnoks leader: Zartan
Dreadnoks 2nd in command: Zarana
Dreadnoks 3rd in command: Zandar

Cobra (sometimes referred to as Cobra Command) is the nemesis of the G.I. Joe Team in the Hasbro action figure toylines G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, as well as their related media.[1]

Cobra was introduced when the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline was launched in mid 1982. The toyline was accompanied by a Marvel Comics comic book series written by Larry Hama, and an animated television series by Sunbow and Marvel Productions. Each medium featuring G.I. Joe has its own continuity and the origin and portrayal of Cobra has differed in each of them.

Marvel Comics invented Cobra with the concept and name coming from Archie Goodwin. When Marvel was brought in, Hasbro had not considered producing a villain for the toyline and were reluctant to make villain toys because they believed villains did not sell. According to Jim Shooter, "later...villains became 40% of their volume."[2][3]

There is an urban legend that Cobra is an acronym for "COnversion by Blackmail, Revolution and Anarchy"; however, Larry Hama denies this emphatically.

Organization

High command

For a full list of characters, see List of Cobra characters.

Though the members of the Cobra organization are all portrayed as fighting against G.I. Joe, there are many internal power struggles.

Recurring characters

Rank and file

The vast majority of Cobra is made up of legions of uniformed soldiers, nearly all of them masked to appear anonymous and widely diversified according to specialties and functions. Some of the more prominent include:

Bases

Cobra maintains a number of bases around the world. In several media incarnations, Cobra’s primary base is Cobra Island. In the Marvel Comics series, Cobra is said to have bases, underground cells, and even whole communities scattered across the globe. Following are several specific locations with names:

To hide certain aspects of its operation, Cobra maintains a number of legitimate business fronts (in addition to the town of Springfield itself and its encompassing businesses) nearly all of which appear to be anagrams of the word "Cobra".

Comic series

Marvel Comics

Cobra had its beginnings when the financially ruined man who would become Cobra Commander settled in an American town called Springfield. Blaming the federal government and big business for his misfortunes, he conceived a plan of forming a secret organization to acquire wealth and power and thereby take his revenge on the world. Springfield was a perfect place to start the organization, as the town itself had fallen on hard times and the population was disillusioned. Soon, the organization was growing with the entry of like-minded individuals from all over the country. Much of Cobra’s early funding came from pyramid schemes and other semi-legitimate business plans, and that financial success allowed a gradual and intense takeover.[5]

In a very short time, Cobra evolved from a business into a paramilitary movement. Motivated by greed and power, the group soon expanded all over the country, operating in secret, engaging in terrorism to achieve their objectives. By the time the U.S. government recognized Cobra as a threat, the organization had already gained footholds as a powerful private army and terrorist organization around the world.

Many of its members (especially those in the elite Crimson Guard units) lead seemingly normal lives, supporting Cobra covertly. Cobra attracted members with the promise of fast financial rewards and power for those willing to be ruthless enough. It also offered a world of order and strength, with its "model community" of Springfield being one example of the Cobra ideal.

Cobra would eventually achieve a temporary legitimacy by the artificial creation of Cobra Island, which was recognized as an independent nation by the international community. This allowed Cobra to have diplomatic facilities in the United States via a Cobra Consulate building acquired in New York City.

During Serpentor's tenure, Cobra's primary source of income came from arms sales to Third World nations. This led to a clash with Destro's M.A.R.S. Organization, which provided Cobra with much of its arms.

For a comic series predominantly aimed at children, Cobra was a relatively mature depiction of a highly successful terrorist organization. With its strong symbolic imagery, charismatic and ruthless leader, and fanatical hierarchy, the fictional group is similar to other fictional terrorist and fascist organizations such as SPECTRE of James Bond fame and the similar Marvel Universe organization HYDRA.

Larry Hama depicted Cobra troops as being motivated by money, power, and a sense of brotherhood. However, they are not fanatical to the point where they would fight to the last man and to the last breath. If all is lost, they would willingly surrender or run away had they the chance, something their leaders rarely let them do. The brutal training depicted in the file cards of the troopers are very much characteristic of ritualistic hazing.

The only instance that has shown Cobra as a suicidal fanatical organization was in issue #8 where the troopers willingly let themselves blow up on a boat after their loss.

Action Force

In the United Kingdom, G.I. Joe was marketed under the name Action Force. The original antagonists in the Action Force series were the Red Shadows. The Red Shadows were a terrorist organization led by Baron Ironblood and his lieutenant the Black Major. Prominent members included artillery expert Red Laser and tank commander Red Jackal. The latter disguised his scarred visage with a steel mask.

The Action Force series was eventually written to more closely match the American G.I. Joe universe. The "World Enemy No. 1" storyline in the Battle Action Force comic had Ironblood betraying the Red Shadows, abandoning them to die pointlessly, and going into hiding. When he emerged once ore, he had organized a new group and renamed himself as Cobra Commander. The Red Jackal tracked down Cobra Commander with the intention of killing him to avenge the treachery Cobra Commander performed. On the brink of throttling the Commander, Jackal succumbed to stun gas and passed out, not quite completing his sentence declaring his intention to destroy the former Baron Ironblood. Admiring his tenacity and resourcefulness, Cobra Commander elected not to kill the man, instead allowing him to continue to serve. To remind Jackal that, in the end, he failed to eliminate Cobra Commander, the leader renamed him 'Destro'—the last word he spoke as his former self.[6]

IDW

When IDW Publishing purchased the rights to G.I. Joe in 2008 one of the three books they announced was the G.I. Joe: Cobra mini-series, which began in March 2009. Written by Christos Gage and Mike Costa with art by Antonio Fuso, the series focused on G.I. Joe agent Chuckles going undercover into the secret organization.[7]

In the IDW universe, Cobra is a shadowy, rumored organization, led by a man only known as "the Commander"; however, there have been other Commanders in the past, elected into 'office' by the faceless body known as the Cobra Council.[8] The Baroness refers to it as "an old organization... ensconced in its own traditions"[9] that has existed for centuries. The Council's identities are unknown.

Other high ranking agents include Xamot and Tomax (corporate leaders, coerced by Cobra to merge their Extensive Enterprises organisation with them[10]), Crystal Ball (psychological tactics master and internal affairs), Major Bludd, Captain Vicuna (submarine commander), and the chief scientists Dr Mindbender and Copperback.

Cobra's standard method is to covertly further destabilize an already unstable nation, using both terrorism and shell companies to hit the economy; they then openly hire out their Crimson Guard soldiers to that country, and slowly make the population trust Cobra more than their government. One operation involved manipulating a small war in Africa, forcing the attacked nation to sell off its national assets.[11]

It has its own secret communications network, the Cobranet, unconnected to the regular Internet. Terrorist groups across the planet are somewhat aware of Cobra, and scared of it. An international aid company serves as a Cobra front, and they use a psychological test to identify potential, loyal recruits.[12] It is later revealed that a large cult, The Coil (led by Serpentor), is also part of Cobra's organization.[13] They have a prison called Section Ten and Sabine Base, located on the Moon.

Mainframe first stumbles across the global Cobra conspiracy by accident, and was believed to be crazy by General Hawk. Determined to reveal the organization, he went AWOL. Later, Snake Eyes goes AWOL looking for Cobra too. The Joes later hear the word "Cobra" mentioned after busting one of Destro's arm shipments,[14] but are unaware of what it truly is. Duke believes the organization is just a myth and Hawk now believes it is the codename for an operation, but by this point Scarlett believes Cobra is a real, large-scale threat. As a result, she kept unauthorized contact with Snake Eyes about it. At about this time, Chuckles is sent to infiltrate a secret organization which, it is soon discovered, is in fact Cobra.[15]

Thanks to Mainframe and Snake Eyes, Cobra is revealed to the Joes. At the same time, Xamot and Tamox reveal they've used Chuckles (whom they knew was a spy all along) to feed selective information to the Joes in order to intimidate them. Chuckles goes rogue in order to bring the organization down, and succeeds in assassinating the Commander and causing the nuclear obliteration of a Cobra island base.[16]

After a series of catastrophic losses to the Joe team (including the destruction of Section Ten, the loss of the M.A.S.S. Device, and the subsequent abandonment of the lunar Sabine Base[17]), the Cobra Council responded by creating a contest to determine who'd be the next Commander - whoever murders the most Joes takes on the role of Commander.[18] A ruthless agent named Krake wins the competition, largely by revealing that he had killed and replaced one of his rivals with Zartan, doubling his kill score and showing the initiative to break the rules to win.

The Commander orders the open invasion of the Southeast Asian nation of Nanzhao and successfully convinces the world at large that Nanzhao was a brutal regime that profited off the international drug trade; in reality, the invasion is a front for acquiring the country's massive gold reserves and driving up the price of heroin, a drug that Cobra itself deals in. The new Commander then slaughters the Cobra Council and assumes full control of Cobra.[19]

Animated series

Sunbow

The Sunbow cartoon did not explore how Cobra began. It was only in G.I. Joe: The Movie that it is revealed that the organization was a front runner for a 40,000-year-old underground civilization called Cobra-La, whose snake-like inhabitants were driven underground by the advent of humankind. Cobra Commander was, in actuality, a member of this underground race. He was tasked with creating an organization that would overrun the world at large. This revelation, though, contradicts what was established in the first season of the series. It is also revealed that the creation of Serpentor was an initiative by Cobra-La: through the use of a biological mind controlling device, they implanted the idea into Dr. Mindbender's mind.

The creation of Cobra-La was an unintentional side effect of Hasbro's demand that the heretofore unintroduced Cobra Emperor Serpentor be inserted into the series, despite the fact that Cobra Commander had long been established as the one-and-only head of Cobra. Series story editor and writer Buzz Dixon offered two possible storylines to make it work: one had the senior Cobra leadership, fed up with Cobra Commander's constant failures, deciding to literally build a better leader. The other presented Cobra as being a front for a vast, secretive, and far more sinister organization whose leadership finds Cobra Commander lacking and sends Serpentor as a replacement. Hasbro, liking both ideas, had the series writers combine both concepts.

The writers despised the name "Cobra-La" and had only originally intended to use it as a working name to be replaced by a "real" name in the finished product, but were overruled by Hasbro. Buzz Dixon originally had a much different idea for the origin of Cobra. In a story entitled "The Most Dangerous Man in the World," it was to be revealed that Cobra was originally organized around the political theories of a Karl Marx/Friedrich Nietzsche-type figure, whom Cobra Commander locked away when the Commander began corrupting the Cobra philosophies away from its original principles.[20] A first-season two-part episode, "Worlds Without End," portrays an alternate reality in which Cobra has established control over the United States (and apparently all of the world). Although Cobra's reign is totalitarian, it does not use its power to promote any ideology beyond glorifying its leadership, and there is no sign of Cobra-La or other inhuman backing.

None of the senior Cobra leaders, except Destro and the Baroness, likes the others. During the encounter with the Gamesmaster, for example, Zartan accuses Destro of kidnapping Cobra Commander; Destro refuses to bargain for Zartan's release from G. I. Joe, and regards Cobra Commander with contempt; the Baroness disbelieves Cobra Commander's promise that he will send help after escaping via helicopter, and prefers G. I. Joe member Lady Jaye to use the vehicle; and Cobra Commander only trusts himself. Even after Cobra's complete victory in "Worlds Without End" distrustful rivalry between Cobra Commander and Destro persists, bringing the regime to the brink of civil war.

Sgt. Savage and the Screaming Eagles

In the pilot episode of Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles, General Blitz states that he helped create Cobra, during a teleconference between Blitz and Cobra Commander.

Sigma 6

Several of the prominent members stated above, such as Cobra Commander, Destro, the Baroness, and Zartan are featured prominently in the series. Many of these members are given some form of cybernetic enhancements. The Sigma 6 version of Cobra maintains B.A.Ts as the primary bulk of their army with human personnel acting mostly as technicians.

Renegades

Here Cobra is presented as Cobra Industries, a company involved in communications, pharmaceuticals, and military technologies. The government has long suspected them of criminal activity, but has no evidence. The Joes, here framed as criminals for their attempt to discover the truth, attempt to find evidence of Cobra's plans of world domination. Cobra Commander, Baroness, Destro, Doctor Mindbender, Major Bludd, Storm Shadow, Zartan, and Firefly all appear as members of Cobra.

Live-action films

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Despite its title in the live-action film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Cobra as an organization does not appear as such. Instead, M.A.R.S. Industries, owned by James McCullen, are presented as the main antagonists. While McCullen builds up his company and convinces NATO to fund his Research & Development projects to build more advanced weapons. He also conceives an elaborate plan to take over the world by creating an enemy that would inspire fear on a global scale and make everyone turn to the most powerful individual on Earth: the President of the United States. To this end, McCullen turns M.A.R.S.'s unlimited resources towards espionage and terrorism.

While not present, there are several hints throughout the film of what will become Cobra, such as the presence of M.A.R.S. Industries elite warriors, called Neo-Vipers, and the Doctor taking the alias of "the Commander," stating that "the time has come for the cobra to rise up and reveal himself" while escaping in a submarine branded with Cobra's logo. At the end of the film, the Commander and McCullen, now known as Destro, are imprisoned in the USS Flagg while Zartan appears at the end impersonating the U.S. President.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

While the Commander and Destro are still imprisoned, Cobra reappears in the sequel film G.I. Joe: Retaliation, under the leadership of the U.S. President, who is secretly Zartan in disguise. Zartan recruits ex-Joe Firefly and Storm Shadow to free the Commander, but leaves Destro in prison.

References

  1. ↑ Fletcher, Dan (2009-08-07). "A BRIEF HISTORY OF G.I. Joe". Time. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
  2. ↑ jimshooter (2011-07-06). "The Secret Parts of the Origin of G.I. Joe". Jim Shooter. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
  3. ↑ "Comics Interview #36-7 interview with Larry Hama". web archive. 2007-10-07. Archived from the original on October 7, 2007. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
  4. ↑ Santelmo, Vincent (1994). The Official 30th Anniversary Salute To G.I. Joe 1964-1994. Krause Publications. p. 91. ISBN 0-87341-301-6.
  5. ↑ G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #10 (April 1983)
  6. ↑ "Blood For The Baron!!!". Blood For The Baron!!!. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
  7. ↑ Richards, Dave (2008-10-08). "Marching Orders: Schmidt talks G.I. Joe". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  8. ↑ "G.I. Joe enters the Cobra Civil War". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
  9. ↑ Cobra: Civil War #1
  10. ↑ Cobra Special #1
  11. ↑ Cobra #4
  12. ↑ G.I. Joe Origins #20
  13. ↑ Cobra #5-8
  14. ↑ G.I. Joe #0
  15. ↑ Cobra #1-4
  16. ↑ Cobra #12-13
  17. ↑ G.I. Joe #26-28
  18. ↑ G.I. Joe: Cobra Civil War #0
  19. ↑ Cobra Vol.2 #10
  20. ↑ "G.I. Joe Interview - Buzz Dixon". Joeheadquarters.com. Retrieved 2011-07-19.

Further reading

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.