Games - Cobra Commander

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	Games - Cobra Commander

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 in the mold of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, while the animated series takes a more comical approach, as was common with villains in children's television of the 1980s.

Animated Series

A Real American Hero

In the first season of the original 1980s animated series, Cobra Commander is the leader of COBRA, described in the show's theme song as "A ruthless, terrorist organization determined to rule the world". His face is always covered, either by a featureless chrome mask which covers his entire face or a hood which covers everything but his eyes. He always wore a blue military Cobra uniform, and occasionally wore a cape and carried a scepter, depending on the occasion.

Although we can only see Cobra Commander's eyes, it is clear that he is Caucasian with brown eyes. Why he wears the mask is not mentioned explicitly, but at one point, Destro walks in on him eating, prompting him to say "It takes a strong stomach to watch me eat, eh, Destro?", implying he may have some deformity. This is later confirmed in GI Joe: The Movie; as it is shown that his face was horribly disfigured as the result of a laboratory accident involving "genetic altering spores".

Cobra Commander frequently led assaults himself, but was a coward at heart and was the first to begin running when the tide of battle turned. A fairly hyperactive fellow, he frequently descended into fits of rage whenever things went badly for him, often going into extended rants. Although he often came up with original and rather creative schemes for world domination (including cloned dinosaurs, giant amoebas, and miniaturized troops hidden inside Christmas presents), he was less of an evil genius and more of a psychotic egomaniac (the writers later commented that they only found Cobra Commander's personality when they stopped writing him as an Adolf Hitler-type and started writing him more in the vein of Yosemite Sam).

Season 2 opened with the 5-episode miniseries "Arise, Serpentor, Arise!", in which the COBRA organization decided that, after Cobra Commander had repeatedly failed to lead them to victory, they should literally build a new leader. COBRA's scientists used the DNA of the world's greatest military leaders to genetically engineer Cobra Commander's replacement, Serpentor, who took control of COBRA and reduced Cobra Commander to the status of "Lackey". At the end of the episode arc, Cobra Commander managed to regain some degree of control over the organization from Serpentor when, in a rare moment of competence, he appears at the last minute wielding a flamethrower and single-handedly managed to save the COBRA forces from defeat at the hands of the Joes. Cobra Commander spent most of Season 2 trying to regain his former power, forming his own secret society called The Coil.

He was voiced by the late Chris Latta.

G.I. Joe: The Movie

GI Joe: The Movie explained Cobra Commander's origin in full, although it contradicts material from the animated series. Cobra Commander is revealed to be a former scientist and nobleman from the ancient, pre-human society of Cobra-La. He is humanoid in appearance, but has pale blue skin, no hair, and eyes with cat-like pupils. The nobleman was disfigured in a laboratory accident when a strange plant he was studying exploded and showered his face with spores, causing him to grow multiple, asymmetrical eyes all over his face, explaining why he must wear the mask. Despite this, he was chosen by Cobra-La's ruler, Golobulous, to go forth from Cobra-La into the human world, and to raise an army that would destroy human civilization, allowing Cobra-La to retake the world. COBRA was this army, but after their continuous failures, Golobulous punished the Commander by exposing him to mutating spores which began to devolve him into a snake. Escaping with Joe member Roadblock, Cobra Commander's mind began to slip away as his body transformed, attempting to retain his "humanity" as best he could. In the end, he transformed entirely into a large snake, but appeared briefly during the final battle to rescue Lt. Falcon. This allowed Falcon the opportunity to defeat Serpentor, fight Golobulus, and save the world.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Cobra Commander ]

Games - Cobra Commander

Animated Series

A Real American Hero

G.I. Joe: The Movie

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