Joe Colton
| This article is about the original G.I. Joe. For the vaguely evil president, see Colton. |
| The name or term "Joe" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Joe (disambiguation). |
- Joe Colton is a member of Adventure Team and G.I. Joe from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Joseph "Joe" Colton uses his uncanny resemblance to Chuck Norris to benefit mankind as the guy for whom the G.I. Joe team is named.
He was partners with Mike Power, who had a robotic arm and leg, which is more robotics than your average human has, but still much less than a Transformer.
Colton eventually teamed up with Optimus Prime, which was pretty cool. Chuck Norris has yet to team up with Optimus Prime.
Joe should never be confused with Jake Colton. Joe eats men like Jake for breakfast.
Fiction
GI Joe vs. the Transformers
In the late 1970s, Joseph Colton led the three-man Adventure Team through the Himalayan Mountains. They came under attack from the airborne forces of General Mihai, who were in turn attacked by members of Cobra-La. Working for Cobra-La was Bludgeon, who killed Atomic Man. Colton and his guide, Chok-Pa, were saved by Pythona's wish to keep the two captive. And so the original G.I. Joe went missing in action.
Colton was imprisoned for decades, during which he was tormented by Pythona about the coming of Unicron. Joe retained a silent rage. When Pythona informed him that members of G.I. Joe, Flint and Hawk, had been sent to Tibet, along with Optimus Prime, Colton freed himself and soon allied with the men and Autobot. Black Horizon, Part 1 of 2
Colton explained how Bludgeon arrived to team up with the Cobra-La civilization and helped fight their forces. He led the team to where a metal-eating spore was being cultivated as part of a back-up plan in case Unicron betrayed Cobra-La. A horde of yeti attacked, but Joe fought them all off with his kung-fu grip and interrogated a yeti, which only Joe could do.
Joe, Flint, and Prime loaded up Cosmos with the spores, intending to use Cobra-La's back-up plan to defeat Unicron. However, Joe was soon attacked and badly beaten by Nemesis Enforcer. Close to defeat, his grizzled manliness finally reached Pythona's heart. She stabbed Nemesis Enforcer in the back and saved the hero.
Cosmos and Flint deployed the spores and destroyed Unicron, and Joe later explained to Duke that he'd succeeded in his life's mission and needed to be re-purposed. Flint later briefed a group of men for a mission to explore the insides of the now-dead Unicron, a group to be led by Joseph Colton. Black Horizon, Part 2 of 2
Kre-O cartoon
Colton was among a group of Joes who went to a carnival. They tried their luck unsuccessfully at a "ring the bell" strongman contest, only to watch open-mouthed as the Terrorcons combined into Abominus and smashed it so hard it broke. Carnival Face Off
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
As the founder of G.I. Joe, Joseph Colton was one of the very few individuals who knew the secret that his forebears had passed down through the ages—that Earth itself was a gigantic Transformer named Atlas. The War Never Ends Having seen the horrors of war up close, he dedicated himself to ensuring that future generations would not endure the same nightmare he did. To this end, he spent the rest of his life developing a means of fighting wars remotely—a network of laser satellites that was known as the Coltonbolt. I Saw Three Ships Following his example, many more ways of waging remote-warfare would be developed by G.I. Joe, including the G.I.Rocket. Form Follows Function Colton himself eventually retired to a cold sleep in a bunker located underneath South America. The War Never Ends
When all looked lost for Earth, the surviving Joes enacted the "Atlas Protocol"—a last-ditch strategy that involved reviving Colton. Colton led Flint and a group of Joes underneath T.H.E. P.I.T. to a second, top-secret chamber, which housed the necessary machinery required to awaken Atlas. At the critical moment, General Flagg sent the go-ahead to Colton, who put the final stage of the Atlas protocol into play. The War Never Ends
IDW Generation 1 continuity
 Spoiler warning: Plot details for First Strike issue 1 follow. |
"Yo, bro!"
Born in Rhode Island, Joseph B. "Joe" Colton graduated from the United States Military Academy with the highest honors. Inspired by the legendary World War II hero Sergeant Savage, Colton joined the Green Berets immediately after graduating. His expertise in covert operations caught the attention of his superiors, and in 1982 he was selected to join the Adventure Team. Serving alongside other elite military assets – including Miles "Mayhem" Manheim, Bulletman, and the Atomic Man – Colton received the codename "G.I. Joe" Joe Colton profile in Revolution #2 Over the course of their careers, the Adventure Team travelled the world, and on one escapade they teamed up with the British hero Action Man. Secret Raiders
One of the final missions of the Adventure Team began with a trip to Egypt to rescue Garrison Kreiger, following the trail of an unusual emergency beacon emanating from within the lost Tomb of Amtoltec. When Colton investigated, an army of robotic mummies attacked; Colton realized that they resembled to a robotic group of soldiers Savage had fought in the war. Further investigations of the tomb revealed a mysterious cassette player that soon revealed itself to be the Decepticon Soundwave, on a mission of his own. Believing that the giant robot was a human-piloted mech, Colton's questions provoked Soundwave into attacking the human, though Miles Mayhem managed to save his friend at the last moment. The two trailed the Decepticon into the center of the tomb, where they discovered a strange Talisman before driving off the Decepticon. Though their mission was a success, it also marked the beginning of the end for the team: the world was growing stranger and ordinary humans like Joe couldn't keep up. The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb
Although the Adventure Team was eventually decommissioned, the success of the group in its heyday inspired the creation of a new taskforce: the top-secret special missions group G.I. Joe, named in honor of their founder and commander. Colton was less than happy about the fact that he'd been put out to pasture and stuck in a desk job (forcing him to shave). He would occasionally return to the field when the need arose, though never enough to satisfy his craving for action. Secret Raiders Joe Colton profile in Revolution #2
In the wake of the Decepticon invasion, Colton personally commanded G.I. Joe until the "Cobra debacle" led to the destruction of Nanzhao and the mothballing of the team. Secret Raiders
When the Transformers returned to Earth, Optimus Prime wound up annexing the planet into Cybertron's pan-stellar Council of Worlds and raising a city-sized Transformer from Monument Valley. The President of the United States put Colton in charge of the Earth Defense Command, instructing him to pick up where his predecessor Marissa Faireborn had failed. White Light That would have been a really good decision if "Colton" hadn't also been replaced by a shapeshifting, invading alien! Unknown to mankind at large, the malevolent Dire Wraiths had made planetfall many years earlier and infiltrated several human governments. Colton was replaced around this time Concorde Hymn O Ship of State and unlike most Wraith victims, was lucky not to be lethally absorbed. First Strike #0
Among the faux-Colton's first actions were recalling operative Spike Witwicky to the E.D.C. fleet, and dispatching former Joes Scarlett and Roadblock to transfer captured Cybertronian sleeper agent Garrison Blackrock to a safe house, though the transfer was interrupted by Sentinel Prime's rampage across America. White Light
Using his new position of authority, "Colton" began to recruit G.I. Joe veterans into the ranks of the EDC–in reality, a method to plant more Dire Wraiths in the ranks of the United States armed forces. Concorde Hymn O Ship of State
"Colton" later met up with Scarlett and Miles Manheim to discuss the history of Cybertronians on Earth and plans for the future. During the meeting, "Colton" was very vocal about his dislike of the Transformers, and revealed to Manheim that the worldwide deposits of Cybertronian super-fuel Ore-13 were destabilizing and on the verge of destructive nuclear fission. Claiming that this must be Optimus Prime’s doing, Colton tasked Manheim with using the technology of a captive and tortured Blitzwing to disrupt Prime’s plans. Secret Raiders (Secretly, the Wraiths wanted all that sweet sweet ore for themselves) O Ship of State
After the Ore-13 beneath Mount Olympus blew up, "Colton" met with the President where he explained what Ore-13 was and that they had no real proof the Cybertronians had detonated the Ore-13, at least intentionally. In spite of his unwillingness to openly engage the Cybertronians, the President ordered G.I. Joe into action to launch an attack on a Cybertronian-human relief effort in Portland. His forces opened fire on Jazz which brought Arcee running. "Colton" found his squad completely outmatched by the pink Autobot before her reinforcements arrived. "Colton" was amazed at the power of the EMP that Soundwave used to knock out G.I. Joe's equipment before Scarlett noted he'd targeted Slip-Stream's gunship to land right atop the two only for Victorion to save them as a sign of good faith. After a few more pointless attempts to take down the Cybertronians, Rom arrived on the scene to Colton's great distress. He ordered his troops to forget the Cybertronians and focus fire on Rom only for the silver alien to kill him. Concorde Hymn Rom could sense "Colton" was a Dire Wraith infiltrator, but everyone else saw a killer robot killing a guy.
"Colton"'s corpse was analyzed where Doc found non-human DNA, alerting the Joes to the Wraith infiltration. O Ship of State
The exposure of the false Colton's fate would hang over the Joes for some time. While beating the Wild Bill Wraith to death, Rock 'n Roll angrily demanded to know what the Wraiths had done to Colton. D.T.A. Even after fighting alongside Rom in Monument Valley, Beach Head remained in denial that Rom had not killed the true Colton, Reinforcements, Part 1 and upon meeting Rom again in Schleteva, Mayday by reflex referred to Rom as the murderer of Colton. Crisis Intervention
Meanwhile, the real Colton had escaped (minus a hand!) somehow and came crawling to Kreiger's secret lair, infected with Wraith bio-matter. He not only needed a cure, he was sure Kreiger was (depressingly) right that aliens were secretly taking over and there was nowhere else to turn; and wrongfully believing the Wraiths were in league with the Transformers, he'd worked out a pitch list of villains to recruit for a retaliatory, genocidal attack on Cybertron. Kreiger had an intricate knowledge of Transformer biology via Miles Mayhem First Strike #0 and Centurion Strange Visitors and access to the extraterrestrial Talisman, which could be easily weaponized and become corrosive to Cybertronian life. First Strike #0
Unwilling to draft his old team of Joes into the fight for humanity's future, Colton, now sporting a new cybernetic hand, became "Baron Ironblood", concealing his old identity behind an ominous new helmet and costume as he gathered more allies for the coming battle. On a trip to the Redcliffe Club in London, he recruited Doctor X for her ability to counter Cybertronian threats. He also won the loyalty of Storm Shadow and her legion of Red Shadows, promising to use the Talisman to upgrade the cybernetically enhanced ninjas far in advance of human technology.The Origins of Evil, Part One: Redcliffe Club
Joined by Kalistanian leader Count "Iron Klaw" von Rani, the team began searching for the Talisman. Enter The Shadow The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb Part of their plan involved taking over an old Cobra base on the moon, though to his irritation Action Man ended up there. Ironblood sensibly wanted to kill the hero but clashed with Doctor X, who wanted a more elaborate solution; this led to Action Man bringing his allies up to the moon, forcing the villains into a retreat. Enter The Shadow
The cabal of villains, accompanied by Centurion, alerted the reluctant Tomax Paoli, the newest Cobra Commander, that the heroes would be after him next. The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb The Baron went to Kalistan to speak with the Iron Klaw and admire his new allies, the Predacons. They were unprepared for a sneak attack by Snake-Eyes, who disguised himself as Tomax. They used a replica of the Talisman to experiment on Blackrock but found themselves punked when it turned out "Tomax" was Snake Eyes in disguise; the ninja beat up the Baron before he and his friends ran off with data taken and the Predacons disabled. In the aftermath, Ironblood advocated cutting ties with the real Tomax and Centurion. The Iron Klaw
Sometime later, Ironblood and his cabal of villains made themselves known on Cybertron during the official ceremony to commemorate Earth joining the Council of Worlds. Backed by a legion of Red Shadows, Iron Grenadiers, the Dreadnoks, and Destro Ironblood coordinated the initial attack on Iacon. First Strike #1
Notes
- Colton's spacesuit at the end of "Black Horizon" is derived from the outfit worn by the "Super Joe Commander" in Hasbro's late 1970s "Super Joe" offshoot of the G.I. Joe toyline. Obscure!
- Colton was the commander of the Joes during IDW's third and fourth volumes, all of which comes under IDW Generation 1 continuity but isn't that relevant to this wiki's purposes.
Maybe it's Maybelline.
- His secret identity of Baron Ironblood was the evil leader of the Red Shadows, the baddies from Action Force, G.I. Joe's British antecedent-slash-counterpart. His true identity and face was obscured by his bucket helmet (though the cover of Battle #422 shows him in all his smirky glory). Famously for old-school fans, when Hasbro acquired the Force and folded it into G.I. Joe, IPC's Battle Action Force had Baron Ironblood become Cobra Commander. Hence in IDW continuity, First Strike sees him take command of Cobra.
- Action Force spun out of Action Man like G.I. Joe spun out of G.I. Joe, hence "Ironblood" being tied to Action man by IDW.
External links
- Joe Colton on YoJoe.com
- Joe Colton at the IDW Hasbro Wiki
