Duke (G.I. Joe): Difference between revisions
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*[[Michael Bell]] provided Duke's voice for the [[Sunbow Productions|Sunbow]] animated series, while [[Steve Blum]] provided his voice in the ''Resolute'' series of animated shorts. | *[[Michael Bell]] provided Duke's voice for the [[Sunbow Productions|Sunbow]] animated series, while [[Steve Blum]] provided his voice in the ''Resolute'' series of animated shorts. | ||
*The resemblance of Duke and his role in a military organization fighting a reptilian-themed enemy, and the title character of the [[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|2006 TV show]] ''[[Space-Age Jack]]'', is purely coincidental. | *The resemblance of Duke and his role in a military organization fighting a reptilian-themed enemy, and the title character of the [[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|2006 TV show]] ''[[Space-Age Jack]]'', is purely coincidental. | ||
*[[Buzz Dixon]], a writer for the ''G.I. Joe'' cartoon, revealed in an interview that Duke was indirectly responsible for the first death of Optimus Prime, who in turn was indirectly responsible for saving Duke's life. The writers of ''G.I. Joe: The Movie'' asked Hasbro for permission to kill Duke off, and Hasbro not only granted it, they thought it was a great idea and way to [[To sell toys|clear out older characters in favour of new ones]], so they instructed the writers of the upcoming | *[[Buzz Dixon]], a writer for the ''G.I. Joe'' cartoon, revealed in an interview that Duke was indirectly responsible for the first death of Optimus Prime, who in turn was indirectly responsible for saving Duke's life. The writers of ''G.I. Joe: The Movie'' asked Hasbro for permission to kill Duke off, and Hasbro not only granted it, they thought it was a great idea and way to [[To sell toys|clear out older characters in favour of new ones]], so they instructed the writers of the upcoming [[The Transformers: The Movie|''Transformers'' movie]] to kill off most of the original cast of the cartoon series. The Transformers movie ended up being released first, but fan (and parent) reactions to all of the character deaths, especially that of Optimus Prime, were overwhelmingly negative, to the point where a spooked Hasbro changed their minds and ordered the Joe writers to spare Duke. This lead to awkward new dialogue in the G.I. Joe movie stating that the clearly killed Duke had merely fallen into a coma, along with an inserted line at the end saying that he had awakened and was going to recover.<ref>[http://www.joeheadquarters.com/interviews_dixon.shtml G.I. Joe Interview - Buzz Dixon]</ref> | ||
===Foreign names=== | ===Foreign names=== | ||
Revision as of 03:51, 6 March 2014
| This article is about the G.I. Joe team leader. For the planet from the Armada cartoon, see Duke (planet). |
| This article is about the G.I. Joe team leader. For his Shattered Glass counterpart who's the Secretary of Defense, see Hauser. |
- Duke is a human from the G.I. Joe portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Duke, real name Conrad S. Hauser, is a member of G.I. Joe often serving as the team leader whenever Hawk is somewhere else. With his blond hair, blue eyes, and cleft chin, he really sports that whole "real American Hero" thing. That he's got the skills and combat history to back it all up doesn't hurt, either.
Fiction
G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers continuity
Duke helped defend the SPS Research Facility from a Cobra attack, and dramatically escaped through a window when the place was blown up. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #3 During G.I. Joe's assault on Cobra Island, Duke ordered his squadron to fire on Megatron. After the battle was won, the Autobots gave Duke a Cybertronian battle mech as a thank you for helping them defeat the Decepticons. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #6
In a far future, where Decepticons had conquered Earth and turned the world into something that looks like it's out of The Terminator, a one armed, no legged, wheelchair-bound Duke that's missing a hunk of his face led the Dreadnoks as part of the human resistance. When a small group of Joes and Cobras arrived from the past in search of time-lost Transformers, Duke was uninterested in their mission and ordered them to join his resistance group. When Barbecue refused on the grounds that they could simply "undo" this future if they succeeded, Duke called them cowards and told them to get the hell out of his face. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II issue 3
As the Decepticon invasion was successfully prevented, Duke got to keep his limbs and face. Back in the regular timeline, he was part of a team of Joes preparing to warp to Cybertron and help defeat Serpent O.R. The Art of War #4 Upon arrival, they joined up with the local Autobot forces and won against Serpent O.R.'s Decepticon army. The Art of War #5
A few months later, Duke and a few other Joes went to Cuba to stop Destro's illegal arms dealing. When they arrived, a team of Autobots had already dealt with it, although Destro had gotten away. While complaining about this, Duke was contacted by Firewall, who told him that Hawk was in trouble in Tibet. Black Horizon, Part 1 of 2 Duke promptly lead a team of Joes to Tibet, where they fought their way past Monstructor and into Cobra-La. There Duke met his idol, Joe Colton, and together they gunned down various mutants and defeated Cobra-La. Black Horizon, Part 2 of 2
Transformers/G.I. Joe
Duke was among the founding members of G.I. Joe in 1939. During the team's first meeting, he spotted and opened fire on a spy, only to be disarmed when the infiltrator pierced his hand with a laser. Along with Flint, Duke later led an attack on Cobra's base on the Fera Islands. The Line He was in charge of Strike Team One, whose task was to take out the shore defenses so Flint's team could call in the fleet. During their mission, the team accidentally reactivated several Autobots buried on the island. Optimus Prime told Duke about the Autobots' long war with the Decepticons, and offered to help the Joes with their own mission. Transformed
With the Autobots help, Duke's troops fought their way across the island, eventually making contact with Stalker, who Duke thought had died in battle. Trial by Fire After thinking up a way to counter Rumble's earthquakes, he figured that with the Autobots' help, they didn't really need the fleet after all. Wolves However, as the Joes approached the Terrordrome, Optimus Prime started regretting getting involved in their war, and told Duke that the Autobots would not aid them any longer. Duke managed to jumpstart Prime's resolve by telling him about the horrors that Cobra had done to their fellow humans, and would keep doing if they weren't stopped. Trenches Upon reaching the Terrordrome, Duke bore witness to Bruticus's activation and subsequent rampage. In the end, the Autobots were forced to sacrifice themselves to destroy the giant. Duke reflected on this, telling his fellow Joes that "There's a fine line between being a hero and being a memory." The Iron Fist
Cobra survived, however, and Duke continued to fight them for the next fifty years. By 1988, he had risen to the rank of commander of G.I. Joe, and listened to Flint apologize for a failed attempt to capture Destro. He responded that Flint's father, Nathaniel, never gave apologies, only results. A short while later, G.I. Joe uncovered two new Autobots who had crashed on Earth, and Duke decided to tell the new recruits exactly what they had found. Together with Stalker and Scarlett, he showed Flint and Spirit footage of Optimus Prime's battle with Megatron on the Fera Islands. Targets of Opportunity
Kre-O
Duke and Snake-Eyes were stuck in detention by Dr. Mayhem. They attempted to escape by parachuting out of the window, but were caught and returned to detention. The pair were finally freed when fellow captive Spock had Mayhem transported to an alien planet. Detention Escape
Notes
- A group shot drawn by Hidetsugu Yoshioka as cover art for Pioneer's Transformers 2010 laserdisk set mistakenly features Duke as a flag-waving incidental character in the crowd rather than Flint, a G.I. Joe who did appear in the series. The reproduction of the piece's lineart in Transformers Visualworks deleted Duke from the image.
- Michael Bell provided Duke's voice for the Sunbow animated series, while Steve Blum provided his voice in the Resolute series of animated shorts.
- The resemblance of Duke and his role in a military organization fighting a reptilian-themed enemy, and the title character of the 2006 TV show Space-Age Jack, is purely coincidental.
- Buzz Dixon, a writer for the G.I. Joe cartoon, revealed in an interview that Duke was indirectly responsible for the first death of Optimus Prime, who in turn was indirectly responsible for saving Duke's life. The writers of G.I. Joe: The Movie asked Hasbro for permission to kill Duke off, and Hasbro not only granted it, they thought it was a great idea and way to clear out older characters in favour of new ones, so they instructed the writers of the upcoming Transformers movie to kill off most of the original cast of the cartoon series. The Transformers movie ended up being released first, but fan (and parent) reactions to all of the character deaths, especially that of Optimus Prime, were overwhelmingly negative, to the point where a spooked Hasbro changed their minds and ordered the Joe writers to spare Duke. This lead to awkward new dialogue in the G.I. Joe movie stating that the clearly killed Duke had merely fallen into a coma, along with an inserted line at the end saying that he had awakened and was going to recover.[1]
Foreign names
- Japanese: Grant or Grunt (グラント Guranto)
