Zartan
- Zartan is an affiliate of Cobra from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Zartan is the leader of the Dreadnoks, the mercenary biker gang often employed by Cobra. He is also a master of disguise and occasionally a ninja. Destro considers him uncouth and thus hates his guts.
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
He is ninja.
Blood on the Tracks Ashes, Ashes... ...All Fall Down!
When Destro and Baroness, escaping from Cobra Commander to the abandoned Cobra Island, they found the Commander awaiting them, but he was really Zartan in disguise. Destro and Baroness didn't recognise Zartan, who had a new appearance with a leather jacket and an orange mohawk. He resumed his original appearance for brief seconds to allow them recognise him. The three former Cobra members and Hawk found that Doctor Mindbender's cloning chamber had been taken away, and deducted that it was likely as part of a plan to revive the doctor. Realignments He helped Destro to recover his castle in Trans-Carpathia by tricking the Vipers disguised as Cobra Commander. Zartan (as the Commander) ordered them to drop their weapons, and then Destro and Baroness left their hiding places to retake the castle.Goin' South
G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers
Zartan and Firefly were hired by Destro to participate in Cobra's attack on the SPS Research Facility, during which Zartan would infiltrate the complex and steal a module necessary to control the SPS Satellite. Using stolen Cybertronian cloaking technology, he turned himself and his Flight Pod invisible and sneaked into the facility, where he knocked out Quick Kick, Mutt and Junkyard and got his hands on the module. When Quick Kick and Mutt woke up and chased after Zartan, he sicked Ravage at them and escaped in an air vent. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #3 He returned to Cobra Island and asked for the second half of his payment, only to be attacked by Soundwave when Cobra's captured Transformers were suddenly freed from their reprogramming. After getting chased across the island by Rumble, Zartan and Destro were saved by the Baroness. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #4 The Cobra group was later attacked by a group of Autobots, but it is unknown what Zartan did about the situation. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #5
Two years later, Zartan was among the Cobras and G.I. Joes sent to Cybertron by a malfunctioning wormhole computer connected to Teletran 3. It soon turned out that malfunction had also sent various Cybertronians to different points in Earth's timeline, and if they weren't retrieved, time travel "feedback" would cause the destruction of Earth. Zartan formed a rescue team with Storm Shadow, Snake-Eyes and Lady Jaye, but he was not happy about having to experience the 1970's again. Although Lady Jaye didn't agree with his suggested methods (killing people), Zartan helped track down the three time-lost Transformers in San Francisco and returned with them to the present. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #1
During Cobra Commander's attack on Area 52, Zartan reminded his leader that there was no need to deliver rousing speeches to a bunch of mindless robotic soldiers, and also ordered the formation of Cobratron. He and Cobra Commander then used a Buzz Boar to infiltrate the complex, where Zartan joined his sister Zarana in killing the guards inside before defeating Bumblebee with an electromagnetic scrambler. The three activated the sentient bioweapon Serpent O.R., who sadly had no intention of serving Cobra, and attacked them. Zartan managed to plant a control device on Serpent O.R.'s neck, but it had no apparent effect, and he was knocked into a wall and fell unconscious. The Art of War #1 By the time he woke up, a team of Autobots and G.I. Joes arrived and captured the Cobra members. Fortunately, Serpent O.R. attacked the heroes, allowing Zartan and the others to escape in the confusion. The Art of War #2 After returning to the Cobra Terrordrome in Siberia, Zartan got curious about Cobra Commander and Doctor Knox shutting themselves inside a tech room for days on an end. He attempted to spy on them, and made a deal with the Baroness to tell her anything he found out. The Art of War #4
Several months later, Zartan was on G.I. Joe's list of Cobra members who were still eluding capture. Black Horizon, Part 1
Transformers/G.I. Joe
When G.I. Joe and the Autobots attacked Cobra's headquarters on the Fera Islands in 1939, Cobra Commander sent out Zartan on a special mission. Transformed Sneaking up on Breaker, Zartan murdered the Joe and stole his identity in order to infiltrate Flint's squad and find out about their battle plan. Trial by Fire His disguise and acting were flawless, but unfortunately, Flint recognized that the radio "Breaker" was operating wasn't one of theirs. Revealing his true face, Zartan fought with Flint, while simultaneously observing his every move and learning how to act like him. After figuring that he had learned enough, he ordered Soundwave—disguised as the radio—to capture Flint and take them both back to headquarters. After all, there was no need to infiltrate the enemy if they could just torture their battle plan out of Flint. Wolves
Disguising himself as Flint, Zartan went to greet Lady Jaye and Duke when they reached the shores near the Cobra base. As he stopped Lady Jaye from killing Major Bludd (punching him out personally instead), he claimed to have escaped from Cobra's captivity. Unfortunately, Lady Jaye saw straight through his disguise, saying that the real Flint would've happily let her kill Bludd. Before Zartan could process this, Lady Jaye killed him with a makeshift javelin. The Iron Fist
Shattered Glass
Zartan's grinning face was part of the logo for the band Cold Slither. The Desert Heat!
Notes
- His trademark hood looks rather like hair, to the confusion of many over the years.
