Cobra Commander
| Fighting |
Excellent |
| Agility |
Good |
| Strength |
Good |
| Endurance |
Good |
| Reason |
Good |
| Intuition |
Typical |
| Psyche |
Typical |
| Health |
90 |
| Karma |
36 |
| Resources |
Not Applicable |
| Popularity |
0 |
Powers
None
Talents
None
Contacts
None
History
Cobra Commander is a fictional character from the GI Joe franchise. He appears in the animated series, comic books, toyline and movie. The comics generally portray him as a ruthless terrorist leader while the animated series takes a more comedic approach, as was common with villains in children's television of the 1980s. The character was created by Marvel Comics writer Larry Hama and was loosely based on controversial conservative political figure G. Gordon Liddy and the James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Although only Cobra Commander's eyes are ever openly exposed, it is clear from this partial view that he is a brown- eyed Caucasian. His reason for wearing the mask was not expressly divulged, but in one episode, Destro interrupts his unmasked privacy during a meal, prompting the Commander to wryly muse, "It takes a strong stomach to watch me eat, eh, Destro?" implying that he may have some unsightly deformity. This is later confirmed in G.I. Joe: The Movie, where his face is shown to have been horribly disfigured as the result of a laboratory mishap involving "genetic altering spores."
Cobra Commander frequently led assaults himself, but was a coward at heart and proved the first to turn tail in retreat whenever the tide of battle shifted unfavorably. Impatient and frequently hysterical, he was prone to fits of rage when things went badly, often launching into extended rants. He was also greedy and egotistical, often mistreating his own troops to the point of mutiny, and on multiple occasions saw his plans foiled by his own arrogance. While he had a knack for concocting creative schemes for world domination — including cloned dinosaurs, giant amoebas, and miniaturized troops stowed away inside Christmas presents (his immediate subordinates, particularly Destro, often remarked on the ridiculous nature of such plans) — he was less of an evil genius and more of a psychotic egomaniac.
Not much is known of Cobra Commander's past, but in his early career he was a used car salesman. While struggling to keep his business afloat, he learned that a car crash had taken the life of his older brother, Dan, who had been driving drunk.
Embittered by this tragedy, Cobra Commander became obsessed with vindicating his brother's death. The other car involved in the accident was occupied by the family of Snake-Eyes, who he then searched for. He found Snake- Eyes at a bar, where the Commander saved him from an oncoming truck and the two became friends. They travelled from state to state, acting as vigilantes. One night, Cobra Commander took Snake-Eyes to the house of a corrupt Judge who he blamed for the hardships they had both experienced: years before, the judge had presided over a case involving Cobra Commander's brother Dan, who ran a veteran's hospital. The hospital had been burned down by a patient, but the judge ruled that it was insurance fraud; Dan lost everything and turned to drinking, which led to the crash that took his life and the lives of Snake-Eyes' family. Realizing where his anger had taken him, Snake-Eyes refused to kill the man and walked away. Cobra Commander killed the judge himself and vowed revenge against Snake-Eyes for having turned on him.
Cobra Commander managed to track Snake-Eyes to Japan, where he was training to become a member of the Arashikage ninja clan. The Commander hired a mercenary called Firefly to kill him, but Firefly soon realized he was no match for his target, instead referring Cobra Commander to another assassin, Zartan, who infiltrated the clan and shot at Snake-Eyes with an arrow stolen earlier from another ninja, Storm Shadow. However, it was not Snake-Eyes who was hit, but the clan's leader and Storm Shadow's uncle, Hard Master. Storm Shadow was blamed for the murder and fled in search of the killer.
Cobra Commander returned to his domestic life, but after his wife gave birth to a son, Billy, she found out about what had happened in Japan. He took the child and left his wife, becoming increasingly paranoid and blaming all his problems on "the system". He travelled across America with Billy, seeking out people who shared his desire to topple big business and the government, using money he had earned from pyramid schemes to attract followers.
He then moved to the town of Springfield, where the businesses were struggling and the population had become disillusioned with existing policy. He applied his influence to corrupt the township and eventually took control of it. Within the town, he established a clandestine terrorist group called COBRA. Billy, realizing that his father's actions had become insane, fled to join an anti-COBRA underground organization, but Cobra Commander cared little. Storm Shadow's search for his uncle's killer eventually led him to Cobra, which Storm Shadow joined, pledging loyalty to Cobra Commander as his personal bodyguard.
COBRA's agents spread throughout the world, overturning or subverting unstable third-world governments, and becoming an international threat. Eventually, COBRA became so large that Cobra Commander could no longer control it on his own and created a "High Command", which included Zartan, Baroness Anastasia DeCobray, the Scottish arms dealer James McCullen Destro, and Australian mercenary Major Sebastian Bludd. This dubious staffing led to frequent power-struggles within the organization, and ultimately the Baroness and Major Bludd contracted an anti-COBRA agent to assassinate Cobra Commander.
The hired killer turned out to be young Billy, but he was intercepted before he could effect his task. Cobra Commander had become such a rabid megalomaniac by this point that he had no qualms about torturing his own son, yet Billy refused to surrender any information identifying who had sponsored the hit. Such tenacity impressed Storm Shadow, now employed in COBRA's ranks, so he freed Billy and they both escaped to New York, where Storm Shadow trained Billy in ninjitsu. Billy was later involved in a fight between COBRA and a group of Ninja, in which a missile attack blew off his leg and left him in a coma.
It was during this time that both Cobra Commander and Destro were trapped underground, presumed dead, and were forced to work together to make their way back to COBRA. In the course of the storyline, Cobra Commander and Destro were both shown without their ubiquitous masks, although Destro wore a fake beard and wig to appear older. Cobra Commander was depicted as an average-looking WASP-ish American with a beatnik image evinced by a pony tail, beret, green-spectacled sunglasses and a slender mustache — a motif that resurfaced on subsequent occasions when he was seen without his mask.
After several failed world domination schemes and the creation of Serpentor by Dr. Mindbender, Cobra Commander learned of Billy's injury. He located him and promised to now try to be a better father, bringing Billy to the Crimson Guard soldier Fred VII, a mechanical genius who built Billy a new robotic leg. Upon seeing that Fred VII had also constructed a suit of battle-armor for Cobra Commander, who was once again plotting to take over the world, Billy walked out on his father. The incident left Cobra Commander to reflect on the folly of his ways: he decided he should quit the organization, but Fred VII was so angered to see his commander throwing away what he had dedicated his life toward that he shot Cobra Commander in the back, apparently killing him.
Unaware that he was being watched, Fred VII buried the body. It was exhumed by another Crimson Guardsman, Fred VIII, who discovered that Cobra Commander was not dead after all, and managed to revive him. Still thought dead by the rest of COBRA, the Commander began to form a new organization in secret. When Dr. Mindbender went to Cobra Commander's supposed grave to harvest DNA for the genetic creation of a new leader, he instead discovered the empty grave.
Cobra Commander eventually returned to control COBRA, this time even more maniacal than before, filled with rage at Billy for the attempted assassination, and at himself for having considered abandoning COBRA. He relinquished all traces of morality and humanity, and rebuilt a new command infrastructure by instituting a brainwashing program to compel allegiance from those around him, including Destro, The Baroness, Zartan, Storm Shadow and Billy.
Not long after, COBRA forces fell to a unified assault organized by the G.I. Joe leader, General Hawk. Cobra Commander managed to escape, becoming an international fugitive as the remnants of his organization retreated into hiding. He spent the next seven years sheltered in non-extradition countries, rebuilding his organization from the shadows.
By the time he had fully restored the terrorist group, however, he was usurped by Destro's illegitimate son, Alexander, who hoped to impress his father by eliminating his old rival and leading COBRA to victory. Alexander was defeated by the G.I. Joe team, and Cobra Commander was freed by Storm Shadow, retaking his organization soon after. He then proceeded to attack Destro, believing him responsible for Alexander's coup. Destro shortly cleared himself of such suspicions and offered to atone for Alexander's actions by serving COBRA again.
Cobra Commander quickly proved himself deadlier than ever, smuggling a nuclear warhead into the United States, and used a decoy ship as a means for Storm Shadow to infiltrate the G.I. Joe base and assassinate Hawk. Unfortunately, both plans ended in failure, with the Joes capturing the warhead and Snake Eyes arriving to stop Storm Shadow. (It is hinted that it was Storm Shadow himself who informed Snake Eyes of the assassination attempt.)
Not long after, Cobra Commander was betrayed by one of his own troops, the Dreadnok Zandar, who brought him to Cobra Island and presented him to his new leader, Serpentor. Serpentor's army, the COIL — which also included another Cobra traitor, Dr. Mindbender — struck out at the world. During their campaign, a group of Joes that included Snake-Eyes was captured and thrown in the same cell as Cobra Commander. The prisoners managed to escape along with Cobra Commander while G.I. Joe and COBRA attacked the island. The Commander came across Serpentor, who took him captive and ordered the Commander to remove his helmet. The Commander did so, handing it to Serpentor, but his face was still concealed by a balaclava worn beneath the helmet. Cobra Commander then activated an explosive in the helmet and landed a kick that sent Serpentor falling out a window to his seeming death.
Cobra Commander then contacted Storm Shadow, and together they sought out the Red Ninja Clan for protection. The two were tracked down by a G.I. Joe team but managed to escape while the Joes battled the Red Ninjas. Cobra Commander then made his way back to the U.S.
His rivalry with Destro soon resumed as each set in pursuit of the Tempest, a device that could seed clouds to cause rainfall, which had great potential as a weapon of mass destruction in providing a ready mechanism for the distribution of biological or chemical agents. Cobra Commander won out and was soon making plans to use the Tempest to unleash a killer virus codenamed "Deathangel". A test firing prompted the Pentagon to authorize a nuclear strike on Cobra Island, but the Commander had been alerted of this attack by a corrupt Pentagon official and moved his operations from the island. He summoned the numerous members of Serpentor's COIL to Cobra Island then watched contently as they were all killed when the bomb was dropped. Later, a G.I. Joe team led by General Phillip Rey (Hawk's temporary replacement) managed to track COBRA to their new base, where they defeated COBRA forces and destroyed the Tempest.
Although Cobra Commander was able to elude capture, he became a target of the Red Shadows, a secretive organization that sought to eliminate G.I. Joe and COBRA alike. A Red Shadow operative named Dela Eden tracked down the Commander and shot him. While some seemed happy with Cobra Commander's sudden disapearance, Hawk and Duke believed him alive and still dangerous. Hawk sent Spirit in search of the Commander, and after a long hunt, the tracker found his prey but was captured by Cobra Commander, and imprisoned. Duke went on his own search for the Commander but instead found a squad of B.A.T.s who took him captive. The androids were under the control of a former Crimson Guardsman who had a grudge against the Commander and wanted him dead, planning to launch a missile at his position. Duke managed to free himself and to stop the missile's launch, learning its target location from a computer screen: Washington DC.
In Washington, a group of presidential advisors ask to speak to the President, but he tells them to take it up with his Chief of Staff — Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander tells the men that he has taken the place of, and is impersonating the real Chief of Staff, and then kills the men, having his own operatives replace them. Cobra Commander then proceeds to tell the President that the abilities of the GI Joe team is lacking, and organizes his very own Elite Anti Terrorism team, Phoenix Guard, led by one time GI Joe commander General Rey. He then sent the team to destroy numerous Cobra cells around the world, a step ahead of the Joe teams own efforts. He then accompanied the President on a tour of the secret GI Joe base, the Rock, where Colton reveals to them that they have the Baroness secretly in custody. After the trip, Cobra Commander sends new orders to Phoenix Guard, sending them to the Rock, in order to prove which team is really "America's Elite."
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