Baroness

This article is about the evil human. For her heroic mirrorverse counterpart, see Cisarovna.

The Baroness is a member of Cobra from the G.I. Joe portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Two European accents in one picture!

The Baroness Anastasia de Cobray is Cobra's chief intelligence officer. She is a master of disguise, has a romantic relationship with Destro, usually tries to off the Cobra Commander (although sometimes she gets to be Cobra Commander), and is universally considered to be excessively hot. This is vaguely disturbing when one considers that her card bio mentions she's a burn victim.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

G.I. Joe and the Transformers

On Cobra Island, the Baroness watched while Cobra Commander berated Zartan for allowing his Dreadnoks to reveal Cobra's interest in Power Station Alpha. Blood on the Tracks Later, she flirted with new Cobra leader Serpentor over some quail (much to the disgust of Destro), and watched as Doctor Mindbender seized control of Power Station Alpha. Power Struggle After Serpentor and Shockwave struck a Cobra-Decepticon alliance, the Baroness departed the island in a Rattler and met with secret Cobra conspirator Senator Barbara Larkin in Washington, D.C. for a nice cup of tea. Larkin was unhappy about her involvement in the Power Station Alpha affair, but the Baroness curtly dismissed her concerns. Ashes, Ashes... Back at Cobra Island, she saved Mindbender from their treacherous "ally" Bombshell and went to Seattle where Cobra and G.I. Joe had entered into an alliance to stop Power Station Alpha, which was now under Decepticon control. The Baroness grudgingly teamed with Scarlett and Goldbug to plant explosives on the power station, to be detonated if and only if the Decepticon control of the station could not be overrode... but the Baroness blew it up anyway. Later, she had Senator Larkin shot. Man. ...All Fall Down!

Marvel Generation 2 comic

Much, much later, Destro and the Baroness decided to defect against Cobra Commander's rule and hid out in the Silent Castle. They managed to get a G.I. Joe team to retrieve them from Cobra's clutches while using the castle's transformation to distract their enemies. Unfoldings! Shortly thereafter, they were reunited with Zartan at Cobra Island and, with Hawk, deduced that Cobra Commander was planning to resurrect Doctor Mindbender. Realignments With the help of Zartan, they retook control of Destro's castle while Cobra Commander was busy attending to his deal with Megatron in Canada and Milleville. Goin' South

G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers

"You went to college? Penn State?"
"No, state pen."

After learning from Destro about a crashed spaceship, the Baroness and Cobra Commander dug up the vessel and found it filled with deactivated robots. Cobra reprogrammed the giants to serve them, and the Baroness participated in Cobra's attack on Washington, D.C. by manning Hiss-14's turrets. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #1 She later greeted Destro when he arrived at Cobra Island, and warned Doctor Mindbender and Major Bludd against making fun of his mask. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #2 When Cobra lost control of the Transformers, the Baroness grabbed a S.N.A.K.E. suit and used it to save Destro from Rumble. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #4 The S.N.A.K.E. squad was later beaten up by a group of Autobots, but the Baroness apparently got away. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #5

One of the rare occasions where she doesn't end a sentence in "darlink".

Two years later, the Baroness was transported to Cybertron while overseeing a Cobra project in Boston. As the malfunctioning supercomputer Teletran 3 had accidentally placed Earth in great danger, Cobra called a temporary truce with the G.I. Joe troops that had also ended up on planet. In order to save Earth, the Baroness teamed up with Beachhead, Roadblock and a single Cobra Viper named Percy, and traveled back in time to look for missing Transformers. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #1 The team ended up in 1930's Chicago, where the Baroness refused to use commando tactics like crawling around on filthy rooftops, instead suggesting that they blend in and do things stealthily. The others ignored her advice until they found themselves having to infiltrate a nightclub, at which point the Baroness seduced and drugged the local mafia boss. Eventually, they managed to locate all the time-lost Cybertronians and returned to the present. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #2 After some additional trouble with Shockwave, the crisis was averted and the Baroness returned to Earth. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #4

The Baroness later found Zartan spying on Cobra Commander while he remote-operated his plot to control the Matrix. She said she could have Zartan killed for it, but since she was also curious as to what the commander was up to, she didn't really mind. Cobra Commander was aware of his underlings' eavesdropping, but didn't seem to care. The Art of War #4

Destro was now hanging out with Mistress Armada instead, but according to G.I. Joe's list of criminals, at least the Baroness hadn't been captured. Black Horizon Part 1

Transformers/G.I. Joe

The Baroness was among Cobra's higher-ups as they used the Decepticons to conquer Europe in 1939. The Line When Megatron attempted to rebel against them, she speculated out loud that Transformers' eyes might be a flashing, red weakness. This amused Megatron, who declared that she would have made a fine Decepticon, were she not tragically human. Trial by Fire The Baroness and Doctor Mindbender later tortured Flint using decades-old tools. Trenches

As G.I. Joe and the Autobots' combined army approached the Cobra Terrordrome, the Baroness and her secret lover, Destro, came together to overthrow Cobra Commander. As Destro betrayed his other ally, Starscream, the Baroness helped out by shooting the Decepticon in a weak spot, defeating him. She and Destro then unleashed Bruticus, which led to Cobra Commander being trapped in a rockslide. The Baroness was nice enough to end his suffering using Megatron's gun mode, and then planned to end things by betraying the only person left: Destro. Unfortunately for her, she was soon arrested by Scarlett, who promised her and her "lover" that they would be tried for crimes against humanity. The Iron Fist

2005 IDW continuity

Somehow managing to avoid capture after the fall of Cobra, Baroness managed to stay out of trouble for several years until she was finally caught in Monaco, arrested on reckless driving charges. After this, she was taken in by the newly reformed and international G.I. Joe and secretly held prisoner without trial aboard their new underwater base Lemuria. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #5 After discovering an anarchist group in Greece organizing under the banner of Cobra, Scarlett attempted to interrogate Baroness about whether or not Cobra had begun reforming but she refused to give up any information, only complaining about the quality of the food and the fact that she was being illegally held prisoner. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #2 Though she was the only one who knew that Baroness was aboard the Lemuria, Scarlett saw fit to share this information with her second-in-command Roadblock, who was slightly disturbed by them holding someone prisoner without trial. Because of this, Roadblock would leak Baroness' location to the now ex-Joe Duke, G.I. Joe vol. 5 #5 who would soon arrive to free her and her fellow prisoner Crystal Ball so that they could be tried for their crimes. As she was escorted out, Baroness taunted Scarlett by promising that they'd see each other again soon. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #7

While en route to their trial in The Hague, Baroness seemed completely unconcerned about her situation, teasing Duke about his fall from grace before a mob of Cobranarchists suddenly descended upon the armored car, aiming to free Baroness and Crystal Ball from captivity! G.I. Joe vol. 5 #8 Once they were let out by the Dreadnoks, Baroness ordered Crystal Ball to make himself useful before strongly chastising the Dreadnoks for their sloppy tactics, causing the bikers to shape up long enough for them to capture Duke. Before she got a chance to kill him though, a G.I. Joe team led by Scarlett arrived and shot the gun out of her hand. Ordering the Dreadnoks to kill them, Baroness and Crystal Ball slipped away in the chaos of the ensuing firefight and made their way to a serpentine temple where the Cobranarchists had been congregating. Addressing them and promising a new world order, Baroness took the stage alongside Crystal Ball, Destro, Doctor Mindbender, and a Dire Wraith sorcerer before donning a hood and declaring herself the new Cobra Commander! G.I. Joe vol. 5 #9

With Miles Mayhem away on Cybertron with the rest of the Iron Ring, Cobra Commander took the remaining members of V.E.N.O.M. under her organization's wing, earning their loyalty by having Scrap-Iron rebuild their destroyed vehicles. She then sent the three of them to back up Firefly as he broke into the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg to steal a certain antediluvian artifact that was on display there, his louder than expected methods earning him his Commander's ire. Ordering Firefly to make a much more subtle entrance this time, Cobra Commander next directed him and V.E.N.O.M. to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art for another heist. G.I. Joe: First Strike Though the V.E.N.O.M. agents were defeated and captured, Firefly was still able to accomplish his mission with help from Storm Shadow and his ninja. Now that Crystal Ball had the necessary artifacts, Cobra Commander demanded an update from Cesspool to see how their efforts to melt the polar ice caps was going before strongly correcting Destro when he referred to her by her old title. M.A.S.K.: First Strike

As Crystal Ball and the Dire Wraiths opened a portal to Cobra-La, Cobra Commander ordered the Wraiths to force several unwilling Cobranarchists inside, making them reemerge as Vipers. With the portal remaining stable, Cobra Commander turned on the Wraiths and allowed her new soldiers to feast upon them. Ignoring Destro's horrified reaction to both her betrayal and the anrchists' transformation, she ordered Crystal Ball to round up the rest of the Cobranarchists and force them into the portal as well. Scarlett's Strike Force #1 After chastising Destro for almost interrupting a crucial ritual that Crystal Ball was performing, she heard his report that G.I. Joe had found them. She then ordered Destro to send Croc Master and Raptor to take care of them. Scarlett's Strike Force #2 After Storm Shadow and Tempest returned from slowing down Quick Kick and, thus, the rest of the Joes, Cobra Commander heard their report and, after again criticizing Destro, asked Crystal Ball if the time was right for the "Ascension". After Spitfire unknowingly kicked this Ascension off by gunning several Vipers down, causing their blood to consecrate the alter they were gathered around, Cobra Commander and her closest followers gathered atop a mysterious rock that then shot up into the sky as she dramatically declared this marked the beginning of her empire's rise and the birth of Cobra's god. Scarlett's Strike Force #3

Cobra Commander took part in a meeting of Earth's heroes and villains, who'd come together against the looming threat of Unicron. Assembly

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

When the Joes stormed Cobra's newest hideout, the Baroness and Cobra Commander attempted to slip away as they had done so many times in the past. Scarlett and Duke happened upon them as they boarded their Rattler though, and soon the terrorists were being pursued by a whole squad of Joes through the air. The situation became even more complicated when the Cybertronians Bumblebee and Starscream joined the fight. Then, Scarlett managed to hit the terrorists' plane with a Creeper arrow, shattering the plane's cockpit window, and temporarily blinding the Baroness. The Rattler was then blown out of the sky, seemingly killing her. The Golden Boys

Though scarred, the Baroness survived with her full faculties intact. Cobra Commander, apparently, wasn't as lucky; the once great leader had been left in a vegetative state. The Baroness renamed herself the Serpentress, and took control of the splintered and rudderless Cobra Empire. After garnering enough manpower, she and her troops scooped up the Cybertronians Rumble and Laserbeak following a clash the pair had with the Joes. She offered the Decepticons sanctuary on Earth, and welcomed them into the ranks of her terrorist organization. I Saw Three Ships

"We have tried everything. Dynamite, scorpions, dynamite tied to scorpions..."

Later, the Serpentress led her troops in an attack on the USS Flagg, believing she was interrupting a funeral held for General Hawk. In truth the whole scene was a set-up, meant to draw Cobra into the open. The Joes had not foreseen Cobra's alliance with the Decepticons however, and the Serpentress led a devastating offensive while riding atop of Laserbeak. Despite the added strength of its Cybertronian members, Decepticobra was forced to retreat, and regrouped at the island base of Decepticobropolis. Funeral for a Friend It was there that the Serpentress and Destro decided to shoot Cobra Commander dead as he lay in his coma. This would assure he would never awaken to wrest away the Serpentress's control over his empire. As they unmasked him, they found that they didn't have under their care the true Cobra Commander, but one of his body doubles! Everybody Hates Metroplex Despite this setback, The Serpentress and Destro forged ahead with their plan of a hostile take-over of the Earth. Accompanied by Shockwave and Starscream, she burst into the United Nations building to intimidate the world's leaders. Her address was interrupted when a brawl between Optimus Prime and the Joes broke out nearby. Infuriated, the Serpentress joined the battle atop of Laserbeak, and berated Hawk for "stealing her thunder." The fight became even more chaotic as other players became involved, including hordes of cobra-men and GIJONIN ninjas. It ultimately dissipated once Optimus took off, with each faction going their own way. Expelled from the Garden

After Billy joined up with Cobra, he approached the Serpentress in the hopes she could arrange a meeting between him and his father, Cobra Commander. The Serpentress instead sent him after his father's "assassin," Snake-Eyes. This ultimately led to Billy's dismemberment. FCBD Funnies

Games

Transformers: Earth Wars

Viper

Baroness is the Cobra partner of Viper.

• Class: Aerial
• Lowest Star Rating: 1 star
• Ability: Bombing Run - Drops 12 bombs in a line across the target dealing damage.
  • Cost: 4 ability points, +1 for reuses.

Toys

G.I. Joe and the Transformers

• The Epic Conclusion! (2013)
  • Accessories: 2 rifles, pistol, Ravage on chain leash

An exclusive release for San Diego Comic-Con 2013, the Baroness is a new release of the G.I. Joe 3.75" figure line. She is accompanied by a (non-transforming) Ravage on a leash. They come as part of a massive box set, which includes a retooled Sky Striker representing Jetfire, a G.I. Joe VAMP redecoed into Hound, a new Snake-Eyes figure bearing an Autobot symbol, a Bludgeon figure, and a Blaster boombox accessory with cassette pieces representing Steeljaw, Ramhorn, and Eject.

Although the inclusion of Ravage and the Baroness is an homage to the Devil's Due miniseries, the overall theme of the box set (and its predecessors in 2011 and 2012) is based on the Marvel miniseries.

The box set was announced via a USA Today article on June 5, 2013, along with Hasbro's other Comic-Con exclusives.

Collaborative

• Megatron H.I.S.S. Tank and Baroness (2022)
  • Crossover with: G.I. Joe

Merchandise

First 4 Figures

Sure, people who walk cats are weird, but YOU try telling her that.

• Baroness & Ravage Statue

At the 2006 UK Toy Fair, First 4 Figures revealed a statue of The Baroness and Ravage based on the art from the Convention Edition of G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 3. However, this statue will not be released [1]—which is sad, since it's awesome.

Your bargaining posture is highly dubious. Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Notes

• Baroness has been voiced by Transformers alumni Morgan Lofting and Grey Griffin.

External links

• Baroness at yojoe.com
• Baroness at the IDW Hasbro wiki