Cobra Commander

Cobra Commander is a (more or less) human character in the Generation 1 continuity family.

Oh yeah. I went there.

Whether he's the scion of a bizarre ancient civilization, a former used car salesman driven to the brink of insanity, or a renegade European scientist, Cobra Commander really hates G.I. Joe. As the leader of the ruthless terrorist organization Cobra, he frequently tries (and fails) to take over the world. No matter what maniacal scheme he comes up with, be it raising an island from the sea to form his own independent nation, editing elementary school text books to read pro-Cobra or etching his face onto the moon with a laser, G.I. Joe is there to try and stop him.

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon

Voice actor: Chris Latta (English), Ryōichi Tanaka (Japanese), Bernd Simon (German)

Urban Cowboy/Terrorist

By the year 2006, the once mighty Cobra organization had apparently been defeated. Cobra Commander, who was the only one of his organization that had not been put in jail, was now going by the alias "Old Snake". He was left with little to do to pass the time but hire out his services. He was an independent contractor—of terror!

A mob boss named Victor Drath had hired Old Snake once in the past, and decided to hire him again to learn the secret of synthoid technology so that he might use it against the Autobots. Snake took the job and used the synthoid technology to craft "human" bodies for Rodimus Prime, Arcee, Springer, and Ultra Magnus, then somehow transferred their minds inside them. Drath planned to then destroy the Autobots' now mindless robot bodies, but Old Snake dissuaded him, noting what excellent weapons they would make.

Eventually, the Autobots managed to return to their original Cybertronian bodies and Victor Drath and his gang were arrested. However, Snake managed to escape capture.

They don't make lozenges like they used to, either.

After watching Drath and his gang get hauled away, Old Snake walked into the sunset. He mused to himself that "they just don't make terrorists like they used to", and began shouting the old Cobra battlecry to the heavens, perhaps for old times' sake.

He was, unfortunately, cut short by a coughing fit. Only Human

Marvel Generation 1 comics

On Cobra Island, Cobra Commander berated Zartan for the careless actions of his Dreadnoks, which had revealed Cobra's interest in Power Station Alpha to G.I. Joe, and ordered him to send Zarana to retrieve the uncouth mercenaries. He feared that the incident had left him vulnerable to the manipulations of his would-be usurper, Serpentor. Blood on the Tracks He was right to be concerned, as he was apparently deposed soon after by Serpentor, who took command of Cobra. Power Struggle

After Megatron appeared in Destro's castle (believing it was a Transformer, since it was a shape-shifting building), Cobra Commander offered him a deal: a new body in exchange for Cybertronian technology. Megatron agreed, but Cobra Commander betrayed him, infecting Megatron's rail gun (the new version of his fusion cannon) with a computer virus to disable it. Megatron discovered the virus, removed it and transferred it to the Cybertronian technology he gave to Cobra. Better luck next time, Cobra Commander.

Trivia

• As of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Snake goes by the code name Old Snake. Spoiler alert: Cobra has a Metal Gear.
• Fans have been known to compare Cobra Commander with Starscream. Both were notoriously treacherous. Both had a superior that they wanted to get rid of. And of course, they were both voiced by Chris Latta.
• Following the trend started by Latta, of the three English-speaking actors to have portrayed the various Starscreams in subsequent animation and films, two have also voiced contemporary incarnations of Cobra Commander. Michael Dobson provided the voice of Unicron Trilogy Starscream and Cobra Commander in the Spy Troops and Valor vs Venom movies, while Charlie Adler performed Movieverse Starscream and the Resolute version of Cobra Commander. Whether or not either of these were deliberate instances of duplicating the old Latta formula is unknown, but we're sure Tom Kenny and Marc Thompson feel left out.

External links

Cobra Commander at Yojoe.com