G.I. Joe: The Mythology of a Real American Hero

Cover to G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1. Art by Herb Trimpe.

Long before the name “G.I. Joe” became synonymous with heroism, there was one man: Joe Colton. In the shadowy depths of Cold War America, Colton emerged as one of the greatest soldiers of his generation—a secret operative handpicked by President John F. Kennedy himself to create a counterterrorism force capable of stopping threats before they reached American soil.

On the very day Colton’s elite team was commissioned, JFK boarded a plane to Dallas. Alongside his partner Jane and a cadre of handpicked adventurers, Colton undertook classified missions for over a decade. He retired in 1978, leaving behind a legacy of valor and secrecy. But the world was changing. A new kind of threat was rising.

In 1982, in response to an emergent terrorist organization, the U.S. government formed a clandestine strike force named Special Counter-Intelligence Team Delta. In honor of Colton’s legendary service, they were codenamed G.I. Joe. The first to join was Clayton M. Abernathy, later known as General Hawk, under the direction of General Flagg. These were soldiers handpicked from all military branches—trained for missions where failure wasn’t an option.

At the same time, in the shadowy corners of Middle America, a failed used car salesman and conspiracy theorist began peddling household products in a pyramid scheme. This seemingly unremarkable man would become Cobra Commander, the architect of a global terrorist empire known simply as Cobra.

The true origins of Cobra Commander are buried in rumor and disinformation—possibly spread by the Commander himself.

Some say he’s the last scion of a forgotten terrorist network, The Red Shadows. Others whisper of a succession of Cobra Commanders, each donning the same mask like a modern-day Hydra. And the most outlandish of all? That he is a servant of Cobra-La, an ancient civilization that abhors technology and worships organic evolution.

Cobra’s inner circle is just as enigmatic. His most loyal lieutenant, The Baroness—aka Anastasia DeCobray or Cisarovna depending on the telling—is a deadly operative and heiress to one of the fortunes that helped fund Cobra’s rise. Her loyalty is fickle, however. She's betrayed the Commander more than once, always in pursuit of power.

Destro, Cobra’s arms supplier and its most complicated villain, hails from a lineage of Scottish war profiteers. The McCullen family, bound by honor, dons a ceremonial iron mask in remembrance of their ancestor’s betrayal by Cromwell. James McCullen Destro XXIV, the current patriarch, is a calculating arms dealer, romantically tied to the Baroness, and often at odds with Cobra Commander’s recklessness. In time, he would found his own private army: the Iron Grenadiers.

Cobra’s reach extends far beyond battlefields. It manipulates economies through Extensive Enterprises, a front run by the twin Corsican capitalists Tomax and Xamot, legal predators who wage war in boardrooms instead of bunkers. Their private army, the Crimson Guard, blends into suburban life, surgically altered and deeply embedded within American society. They could be your neighbor.

Cobra’s ambitions are supported by an arsenal of eccentrics and mercenaries: Firefly, a saboteur with no known past; Scrap-Iron, an explosives enthusiast who dreams of razing the world; Copperhead, a speed freak drowning in debt; Raptor, a falconer turned accountant turned madman; and Crystal Ball, a mystic hypnotist with rumored psychic powers.

Chief among them is Zartan, master of disguise and deception. With chameleon-like skin and voice-mimicking technology, Zartan is the leader of the Dreadnoks, a feral biker gang living in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. He rules alongside his siblings Zandar and Zarana, and his daughter Zanya, feeding his mercenaries grape soda and donuts while sending them out to terrorize the world.

The G.I. Joe team operates from The Pit, a five-story underground fortress hidden beneath Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island—radiation-shielded, self-sustaining, and ready for war. As Cobra's reach spreads, the team is forced to adapt, shifting to mobile command centers and new headquarters. Internally, G.I. Joe faces its own bureaucratic threat: The Jugglers, a shadowy group of Pentagon generals who pull the strings behind the scenes, often treating Joe operatives as expendable.

At the heart of this war stands Snake Eyes, the team’s most iconic warrior. A silent, masked ninja-soldier, Snake Eyes was disfigured in a helicopter crash saving his partner and lover, Scarlett.

Their bond remains unbreakable. A former commando, Snake Eyes trained with the Arashikage Clan, an ancient ninja order ruled by Obake Obasan, the "Demon Granny." There he befriended his sword-brother Storm Shadow, who would later join Cobra in pursuit of vengeance for his murdered uncle, the Hard Master—an act wrongly pinned on Snake Eyes.

Storm Shadow’s path is tragic. Though he committed many atrocities as Cobra’s ninja, his motivations were always driven by honor. Eventually, he defected to G.I. Joe, seeking redemption. He even trains Billy Kessler, Cobra Commander’s own son, who rebels against his father’s evil.

The personal intertwining of destinies runs deep: Snake Eyes’s family was killed by a drunk driver—Cobra Commander’s own brother. This trauma set both men on opposite sides of the same war. Snake Eyes, the lone wolf with a scarred face and loyal wolf Timber, becomes the soul of the Joe team. Cobra Commander, the demagogue with a hunger for domination, becomes the face of fear.

Cobra’s reach expands through artificial islands, mountain fortresses, sleeper cells, and corporate proxies. Their most infamous strongholds include Cobra Island, The Silent Castle, and their prefabricated Terrordromes—war fortresses dropped into any battlefield. Cobra even dabbles in dark science. Led by Dr. Mindbender, a mad ex-dentist, they pioneer brainwave manipulation, bionic augmentation, and battlefield androids. His crowning achievement? Serpentor, a clone amalgamated from the DNA of history’s greatest conquerors. Serpentor sparks a Cobra civil war, fracturing the organization into warring factions—until he is assassinated by Zartan, only to be resurrected again and again.

Beyond Cobra, G.I. Joe contends with other global threats: The Red Shadows, a fascist cult led by Baron Ironblood; Revenge Industries, a rogue A.I. building killer androids; and The Headhunters, international drug traffickers. Occasionally, allies arise—such as the Oktober Guard, the Soviet counterpart to G.I. Joe.

The team is global, morally complex, and impossibly diverse: Stalker, the streetwise ranger; Roadblock, the rhyming chef with a heavy machine gun; Spirit, the spiritual tracker; Shipwreck, the wild sailor; and Lady Jaye, the undercover specialist—and cousin to the Destro clan. Together with Duke, Flint, Beachhead, Sgt. Slaughter, and even obscure members like Agent Helix, a rescued child molded into a living weapon, they represent the best humanity can offer in the face of tyranny.

And always, the battle rages on—from the snowy peaks of Antarctica to the jungles of Sierra Gordo, a fictional Latin American nation in perpetual revolution. The war is everywhere, fought in silence and in spectacle, in alleys and palaces, in minds and machines.

G.I. Joe vs. Cobra is not just a tale of heroes and villains. It’s a myth of freedom versus control, individuality versus authoritarianism, and honor in the face of corruption. It is a modern war story told through action figures, comics, and cartoons—but make no mistake, it’s a legend.

Because knowing is half the battle.