G.I. Joe (team)

This article is about the fictional counter-terrorist team. For the real-world Hasbro franchise, see G.I. Joe (franchise).

G.I. Joe is a human military organization from the Generation 1 portion of the continuity family of the same name.

Yo, Joes.

G.I. Joe is the code-name for America's daring, highly-trained special mission force! Its purpose: to defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world!

It has been known to ally itself with the Autobots, just as Cobra tends to ally with the Decepticons.

The team is named after their founder and executive officer; Joe Colton.

Fiction

Marvel comic continuity

Generation 1 comics

"We have our orders from Hasbro!"

The G.I. Joe team was assigned to protect Power Station Alpha from harm and was involved in the events following its theft and ultimate destruction. Blood on the Tracks Power Struggle Ashes, Ashes... ...All Fall Down!

Members involved in this mission included Ace, Beachhead, Crankcase, Dial-Tone, General Hawk, Lady Jaye, Lift-Ticket, Mainframe, Mutt & Junkyard, Roadblock, Scarlett, Sergeant Slaughter, Slip-Stream, Snake-Eyes, and Wild Bill.

This crossover did not occur in the UK continuity. Instead, that series later crossed over with the Action Force comic.

Generation 2 comics

The Joe comics, of course, were far more realistic than the cartoon.

After Megatron bargained with Cobra for a new body, the G.I. Joe team attempted to invade and retake a small town under Cobra's control. Unfoldings! Realignments Goin' South Sucker Punch Final Transformations All or Nothing!

Members involved in this mission included Flint, General Hawk, Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, and Wild Bill.

Later, the Decepticons launched an all-out assault on the Earth. With Washington, D.C. turned into a smouldering ruin, the task of salvaging the United States military's counter-offensive fell to Hawk and G.I. Joe. They were not optimistic about how it was going. The Gathering Darkness

Known members involved were Hawk and Flint, but we can assume others were as well.

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

G.I. Joe was formed in the early 1990s to combat the rising threat of Cobra. When a 1996 mission went sour, Joe member D.R. Faireborn and his daughter Marissa were saved by Optimus Prime, beginning an odd "relationship" between Prime and Marissa that persisted for years. 2007 TakaraTomy Transformers timeline

Presumably, this date for the founding of G.I. Joe places the events of the G.I. Joe cartoon in the early '90s, several years after they were actually broadcast. But placing the creation of the group after the Transformers awoke on Earth does help to explain where Cobra and the Joes got all those lasers!

Dreamwave Transformers / G.I. Joe comics

The war was a dark time.

In 1938, Europe was overrun by the combined forces of the Decepticons and Cobra. G.I. Joe was formed to combat them and were led to their Terrordrome in the Fera Islands by a map carved out of the USS Hama's hull by treacherous Cobra operatives. While engaging Cobra troops commanded by Storm Shadow, the Joes encountered the Autobots, who soon repaired and revived themselves. The Joes soon found themselves under fire from a squadron of Rattlers and Seekers led by Wild Weasel, but these were driven back by Lady Jaye and the Aerialbots.

While the Cobra aircraft were driven off, they left behind paratroopers and Rumble. The Joes managed to defeat the troops, and Bumblebee and Scarlett destroyed Rumble, but Zartan managed to murder and replace Breaker in the confusion. He was quickly discovered, but not before he allowed Soundwave to capture Flint.

Storm Shadow left the main Cobra force to engage in a deadly duel with his sword-brother Snake-Eyes, now a member of G.I. Joe. Despite the intervention of Ravage, Snake-Eyes defeated Storm Shadow, who was then eaten by a shark.

Soon, Cobra prepared to defend the town of Torhavn against the approaching Autobots and Joes, using slaves as human shields. Another Cobra air attack was foiled by Lady Jaye and Superion; soon afterwards, Lady Jaye defeated Major Bludd and the Dreadnoks. Meanwhile, a small Joe strike force infiltrated the Terrordrome, destroying Frenzy in the process.

As the Joes, Autobots, and an Allied fleet neared, Shockwave destroyed Superion and a number of ships, damaging himself severely in the process. But despite heavy losses, the Autobots soldiered on.

Destro and the Baroness took advantage of the chaos to unleash their monstrous creation Bruticus upon both sides—but not before slaying their co-conspirator, Starscream. Bruticus' attack crippled Cobra Commander, allowing the Baroness to execute him with Megatron's pistol form. Her victory was short-lived—before the Commander's body could cool, she and Destro were arrested by Scarlett and Snake-Eyes. As the metal monster tore through the Autobots, Snake-Eyes took the Matrix from the Commander's corpse and destroyed it, killing the Autobots, Decepticons, and Bruticus and ending the threat of Cobra.

USA! USA! USA! USA!

Members involved in this mission included Beachhead, Breaker, Duke, Flint, Grunt, Lady Jaye, Leatherneck, Lifeline, Roadblock, Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, and Stalker.

Some 45 years after the conquest of Europe, Cobra rose again, and G.I. Joe returned to combat it. Headquartered in the Pit, G.I. Joe was led by Duke, a veteran of the last Cobra war. In 1985, a G.I. Joe team led by Flint attacked a Cobra shipping facility. While the facility was largely destroyed, Destro and Scrap-Iron managed to escape via Trouble Bubble, an act that led to Flint being reprimanded. Soon afterwards, the Joes detected the crash of an Autobot shuttlecraft near Portland. Flint was sent to retrieve it with a team of rookies, and he managed to repel a Cobra strike team and recover an unconscious Blaster. Hours later, the team was briefed by Duke, Stalker, and Scarlett on the threat posed by the Transformers.

Members involved in this mission included Airtight, Alpine, Barbecue, Bazooka, Blowtorch, Clutch, Cover Girl, Doc, Duke, Flint, Grand Slam, Gung-Ho, Mutt & Junkyard, Quick Kick, Rock 'n Roll, Scarlett, Shipwreck, Snake-Eyes, Spirit, Stalker, and Wild Bill.

As Dreamwave went bankrupt after only one issue of this series was published, it is unknown whether Snake-Eyes is in any way related to his 1930s counterpart.

Devil's Due G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers comics

After Cobra discovered the Ark and turned the Transformers within it into remote-controlled war machines, the G.I. Joe team was formed to oppose them. (The team was modelled on a 1970s group, the Adventure Team)

Members involved in this mission included Ace, Barbecue, Bazooka, Breaker, Clutch, Dial-Tone, Doc, Duke, Flash, Flint, Gung-Ho, Grunt, Hawk, Lady Jaye, Leatherneck, Lifeline, Mainframe, Mercer, Mutt & Junkyard, Quick Kick, Roadblock, Rock 'n Roll, Scarlett, Sci-Fi, Shipwreck, Snake-Eyes, Spike, Spirit, Stalker, and Wild Bill.

Two years later, an attempt by Cobra to seize control of Teletran 3 resulted in several Transformers being sent to various eras in Earth's history, threatening to alter the timestream catastrophically. Cobra and G.I.Joe were forced to work together to neutralize the threat. During this period, an America-Cybertron technology exchange meant the Joes briefly had awesome battle mechas.

Heavy metal.

Members involved in this mission included Barbecue, Bazooka, Beachhead, Chuckles, Cover Girl, Dial-Tone, Dusty, Duke, Gung-Ho, Jinx, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, Stalker, Scarlett, Shipwreck, Snake-Eyes, and Spirit.

After the U.S. government's Serpent O.R. project awakened, several Joes were captured by his Decepticon forces, forcing the rest of the team to mount a rescue operation to Cybertron.

Members involved in this mission included Barbecue, Beachhead, Duke, Dusty, Firewall, Flint, Hawk, Lady Jaye, Mainframe, Roadblock, Rock 'n Roll, Scarlett, Sci-Fi, Snake-Eyes, Stalker, Storm Shadow, and Tripwire.

Unicron was summoned to Earth by Cobra-La, and a small team of Joes stopped him from devouring the planet.

Operatives involved in this mission included Bushido, Joe Colton, Countdown, Duke, Firewall, Flash, Flint, Hawk, Lady Jaye, Mainframe, Payload, Red Spot, Roadblock, Scarlett, Sci-Fi, Snake-Eyes, Snow Job, & Windmill.

Notes

• The original Marvel G.I. Joe and the Transformers crossover storyline was not printed in the UK at the time that the Generation 1 comic was referencing it. So in the UK Generation 1 reprints, lines of dialogue were changed, and different circumstances were concocted for Bumblebee to be destroyed and rebuilt as Goldbug. Years later, G.I. Joe and the Transformers WAS finally reprinted, but no effort was made to work it back into continuity.

Foreign names

• Japanese: G.I.ジョー (G.I.Jō, "G.I.Joe")
• Portuguese: Comandos em Ação (Brazil)
• Spanish: Comandos Heroicos (America)