Editing Cobra Commander (section)

==Comics==

===Marvel Comics (1982–1994)===
Cobra Commander first appeared in the [[Marvel Comics]] series ''[[G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel Comics)|G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero]]'' #1 (June 1982).

While Cobra Commander's birth name and childhood are unknown, he is believed to be a North American citizen born in the mid-twentieth century. His only known relative, an older brother named Dan, enlisted in the military during the [[Vietnam War]], and volunteered for repeated tours to spare his younger sibling from [[conscription]]. During this time, the man who would become Cobra Commander worked as a used car salesman. When Dan returned from Vietnam, he displayed deep psychological trauma, and took to self-destructive behavior, resulting in his death in a car collision with another family. Devastated by the loss of his brother, the future Cobra Commander blamed the family's survivor: another war veteran, against whom the young Cobra Commander formed an elaborate revenge scheme.<ref name="Marvel 26">{{Cite comic | writer=[[Larry Hama|Hama, Larry]] | penciller=[[Larry Hama|Hama, Larry]] | inker=[[Steve Leialoha|Leialoha, Steve]] | story=Snake Eyes: The Origin | title=G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero | volume=1 | issue=26| date=August 1984 | publisher=[[Marvel Comics]] | location= }}</ref><ref name="Hidalgo 2009 71-72">{{cite book |title= G.I. Joe vs. Cobra: The Essential Guide 1982–2008|last= Hidalgo|first= Pablo|year= 2009|publisher= Random House|isbn= 978-0-345-51642-8|pages=71–72}}</ref>

Cobra Commander tracked the former soldier to Japan, where he was training to become a member of the [[Arashikage]] [[ninja]] clan. The Commander approached the mercenary [[Firefly (G.I. Joe)|Firefly]] to assassinate the soldier, but Firefly referred Cobra Commander to [[Zartan]], another assassin who infiltrated the clan, but ultimately killed the wrong man (the [[Hard Master]]). [[Storm Shadow (G.I. Joe)|Storm Shadow]] was blamed for the murder, and his search for his uncle's killer would eventually lead him to join Cobra, where he would pledge loyalty to Cobra Commander as his personal bodyguard, in order to get close to him and find the real assassin.<ref name="Marvel 26"/> The soldier left the ninja clan soon after, to live in seclusion in the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] mountains, until enticed to return to service on the G.I. Joe team as [[Snake Eyes (G.I. Joe)|Snake Eyes]].<ref name="Marvel 27">{{Cite comic | writer=[[Larry Hama|Hama, Larry]] | penciller=[[Frank Springer|Springer, Frank]] | inker=Mushynsky, Andy | story=Snake Eyes: The Origin Part II | title=G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero | volume=1 | issue=27| date=September 1984 | publisher=[[Marvel Comics]] | location= }}</ref>

Cobra Commander returned to his wife and newborn son [[Billy Kessler|Billy]], but when his wife found out what had happened in Japan, she threatened to go to the authorities. Cobra Commander abandoned his wife, taking Billy with him. Living on the road and earning a living by increasingly illicit [[scams]] and [[Confidence scheme|con jobs]], the soon-to-be Commander blamed all his problems on the American social system, and traveled in search of people who shared his desire to topple big business and the government, using money earned from [[pyramid scheme]]s to attract followers. It was during these early meetings that he first began wearing a blue hood to mask his civilian identity.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #10 (April 1983)</ref><ref name="Hidalgo 2009 74">{{cite book |title= G.I. Joe vs. Cobra: The Essential Guide 1982–2008|last= Hidalgo|first= Pablo|year= 2009|publisher= Random House|isbn= 978-0-345-51642-8|page=74}}</ref>

He then moved operations to Springfield, an average small American town which had suffered economic collapse. Through his criminal skills he revived Springfield's' fortunes, and used cash and charisma to win converts to his cause. Eventually he seized control of the entire town and used it as a base to grow his organization into the paramilitary group "Cobra". This corrupting rise to power distanced Cobra Commander from his son, enough that Billy eventually joined the underground anti-Cobra resistance. From Springfield, Cobra's agents spread throughout the world, overturning or subverting unstable governments to establish criminal networks and profitable arms trades. The organization also explored dangerous and experimental technology, including mind-scanners and battle robots. Cobra became a significant international threat, becoming so large that Cobra Commander could no longer control it on his own. He created a "High Command" of his most skilled lieutenants, which included Zartan, [[Baroness (G.I. Joe)|Baroness Anastasia DeCobray]], Scottish arms dealer [[Destro|James McCullen Destro]], and Australian mercenary [[Major Bludd|Major Sebastian Bludd]].<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #31–32 (Jan.-Feb. 1985)</ref>

This led to frequent power-struggles within the organization, and ultimately the Baroness and Major Bludd enacted a plot to assassinate the Commander, and seize control of Cobra. In a twist of fate, the conspirators recruited Billy to carry out the assassination, but he was intercepted by Destro.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #33 (March 1985)</ref> Cobra Commander had no qualms about torturing his own son to unearth the conspiracy, yet Billy refused to surrender who had sponsored the hit. Storm Shadow later freed Billy, and they both escaped to New York, where Storm Shadow trained him in [[Ninja|ninjitsu]]. Billy was later caught in the crossfire between the [[Soft Master]] and Cobra agent [[Scrap-Iron]], resulting in an explosion which seemingly killed Billy and several others.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #43 (January 1986)</ref>

During a failed assault on [[The Pit (G.I. Joe)|the Pit]], the secret headquarters of G.I. Joe, Cobra Commander and Destro were separated from the main Cobra force by an explosion and presumed dead.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #53 (November 1986)</ref> The two escaped and assumed civilian disguises to travel incognito. Cobra Commander was depicted as an average, physically fit [[White people|Caucasian]] with a pony tail, large round green-spectacle sunglasses, and a long slender mustache. Although only a convenient disguise at the time, this civilian look would resurface on subsequent unmaskings. A police officer soon recognized the Commander from a picture carried by an accident victim: the Commander's son Billy, who had survived the explosion, but lost a leg and an eye. Unnerved by the discovery, the Commander swore to take responsibility for Billy's condition, and promised to be a better father.<ref name="G.I. Joe 1987">''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #55 (January 1987)</ref>

Still incognito, the Commander traveled to Denver where he sought out the undercover [[Crimson Guard]] agent Fred VII, a mechanical genius. Billy eventually awoke from the coma, with acute amnesia (and a new motorized prosthetic leg built by Fred). After an encounter with the [[Blind Master (G.I. Joe)|Blind Master]] and Storm Shadow's cousin [[Jinx (G.I. Joe)|Jinx]], Billy recovered his memory and immediately rejected his father, whereupon the Commander renounced the organization he had founded, declaring that his ambitions had cost him the only things that truly mattered. Fred VII, in return, shot Cobra Commander in the back, apparently killing him.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #61 (July 1987)</ref><ref name="Hidalgo 2009 75">{{cite book |title= G.I. Joe vs. Cobra: The Essential Guide 1982–2008|last= Hidalgo|first= Pablo|year= 2009|publisher= Random House|isbn= 978-0-345-51642-8|page=75}}</ref>

Fred VII then impersonated the Commander himself, traveling to [[Cobra Island]] to vie for control of Cobra with [[Serpentor]] (eventually sparking the Cobra Civil War). Unknown to Fred VII, he had been under surveillance by another Crimson Guardsman when he buried the Commander's body. This agent discovered that Cobra Commander was not dead, and brought him back to health. Thereafter, the Commander formed an underground network of loyal agents within Cobra, and rebuilt his personal fortune and influence. When [[Doctor Mindbender]] went to harvest DNA from Cobra Commander's body for the creation of a new leader, he discovered the empty grave, upon which the original Cobra Commander revealed himself and seized open control of Cobra.<ref name="Hidalgo 2009 75"/><ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #98 (March 1990)</ref>

Hardened by his "death" and betrayal at the hands of those he once thought loyal, the resurgent Commander was even more ruthless than before. His first act was to eliminate those who tried to murder him or subsequently learned of the act: Fred VII, [[Raptor (G.I. Joe)|Raptor]], Firefly, Mindbender, Zartan, Billy, and numerous unnamed Cobra personnel, all of whom he had buried alive within a volcano. Later, he established a brainwashing program to compel allegiance from those around him, including Destro, the Baroness, Zartan, Storm Shadow, and Billy.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #149 (June 1994)</ref> The returned Commander was far more willing to kill, pulling the trigger himself rather than relying on others to kill for him, as when he murdered the Borovian rebels Magda and the White Clown.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #145 (February 1994)</ref>

As Marvel's ''G.I. Joe'' series drew to a close, Cobra Commander and Snake Eyes finally battled each other in issue #150. Snake Eyes eventually won against an armored Cobra Commander, but the Commander would have the last laugh, as he captured Storm Shadow and successfully brainwashed him back to the allegiance of Cobra.<ref name="Marvel 150">{{Cite comic | writer=[[Larry Hama|Hama, Larry]] | penciller=Gosier, Phil | inker=Wallace, Crusher | story=Slam-Dance in the Cyber-Castle | title=G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero | volume=1 | issue=150 | date=July 1994 | publisher=[[Marvel Comics]] | location= }}</ref> Shortly afterward, Cobra forces in Europe fell to a unified attack by regular military forces. In the wake of this conflict, most of Cobra's high command disappeared, and Cobra Commander himself became an international fugitive. Soon after, the military disbanded the G.I. Joe team.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #155 (December 1994)</ref>{{Clear}}

===Devil's Due (2001–2008)===
Among the few revisions Devil's Due instituted was the expansion of Cobra Commander's origin. After his brother's death, the future Commander sought out the surviving son of the family killed by Dan. He found the soldier ([[Snake Eyes (G.I. Joe)|Snake Eyes]]) at a bar, where the Commander saved him from an oncoming truck and the two became friends. They traveled from state to state, acting as vigilantes. One night, Cobra Commander took Snake Eyes to the house of a corrupt Judge who he blamed for the hardships they had both experienced: years before, the judge had presided over a case involving Cobra Commander's brother Dan, who ran a veteran's hospital. The hospital had been burned down by a patient, but the judge ruled that it was insurance fraud; Dan lost everything and turned to drinking, which led to the crash that took his life and the lives of Snake Eyes' family. Realizing where his anger had taken him, Snake Eyes refused to kill the man and walked away. Cobra Commander killed the judge himself and vowed revenge against Snake Eyes for having turned on him.<ref>SNAKE EYES: DECLASSIFIED #2 (September 2005)</ref><ref name="Hidalgo 2009 72">{{cite book |title= G.I. Joe vs. Cobra: The Essential Guide 1982–2008|last= Hidalgo|first= Pablo|year= 2009|publisher= Random House|isbn= 978-0-345-51642-8|page=72}}</ref>

Years after the [[G.I. Joe Team]] has disbanded, [[Kamakura (G.I. Joe)|Kamakura]] finds evidence that Cobra Commander has returned to the United States. Snake Eyes forwards this information to [[Duke (G.I. Joe)|Duke]], who uses it to have the G.I. Joe Team reinstated. Cobra Commander calls together the members of his organization, to let them know about his plan to take over the United States with nano-mites. [[Destro]] is the last to arrive, but after hearing the Commander's plan, he turns the tables on Cobra Commander, and takes control of Cobra.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' vol. 2 #1 (October 2001)</ref>

Cobra Commander eventually regains control with the help of [[Storm Shadow (G.I. Joe)|Storm Shadow]], and creates plans to get revenge on both Destro and [[Hawk (G.I. Joe)|Hawk]].<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' vol. 2 #6–9 (2002)</ref> Later, Storm Shadow breaks free of Cobra's mind control, and contacts [[Billy Kessler|Billy]] for help. Billy recruits Snake Eyes and Kamakura to assist him in rescuing Storm Shadow, but not before Cobra Commander brainwashes him again. A battle between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow ends in a stalemate, leaving Storm Shadow in the control of Cobra Commander.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' vol. 2 #20–21 (2003)</ref>

A distress call from [[T'Jbang]] leads the Joes to Tibet, where Cobra Commander and Storm Shadow are hiding with the [[Red Ninja (G.I. Joe)|Red Ninja]] clan. Snake Eyes defeats their leader Sei Tin, and becomes the new master of the Red Ninja clan.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' vol. 2 #27 (February 2004)</ref> The Joes are then sent on a mission to Cobra Island, where Cobra Commander has returned to power. Meanwhile, Destro is double-crossed by the president of Sierra Gordo, and makes a deal with Duke to deliver Cobra Commander. Destro is traded for Cobra Commander, but not before the Commander shoots Hawk in the back, and in turn is shot from behind by the [[Baroness (G.I. Joe)|Baroness]].<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' vol. 2 #28–32 (2004)</ref> Cobra Commander is freed by the [[Dreadnoks]], and revealed to have been [[Zartan]] in disguise.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' vol. 2 #36–38 (2004–2005)</ref>

Cobra Commander takes back complete control of Cobra, and sends a unit to destroy [[The Pit (G.I. Joe)|The Pit]], as Cobra discovers a weather control weapon named the Tempest, and moves it to their new Monolith Base in Badhikstan. Cobra uses the Tempest to unleash the Deathangel Virus on the county of Badhi, as G.I. Joe attacks Cobra's new stronghold. Cobra Commander escapes, but not before shooting [[Dr. Mindbender]], who dies helping G.I. Joe to disable the Tempest.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' vol. 2 #39–41 (2005)</ref> The Red Shadows organization then steps forward, targeting members of both G.I. Joe and Cobra. They are defeated by G.I. Joe, and the team is then deactivated by order of the President, given that Cobra as an organization has fractured, although Cobra Commander remains at large.<ref>''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' vol. 2 #43 (June 2005)</ref>

====America's Elite====
One year after the previous series, satellites begin falling out of orbit and crashing into major cities, resulting in massive civilian casualties. Thinking that Cobra is responsible for the attacks, the G.I. Joe Team is reactivated to deal with the new threat. The team eventually discovers that a man named [[Vance Wingfield]], who once attempted to start a nuclear war and was presumed dead, is behind the attacks.<ref>''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' #0–5 (June–November 2005)</ref> Meanwhile, Cobra Commander, who has been rebuilding his forces since the end of the previous series, infiltrates the U.S. government by disguising himself as [[White House Chief of Staff]] Garrett Freelowe. He tries to convince the President to shut down the G.I. Joe team. When he fails, he creates a new team called the [[Phoenix Guard]] led by [[General Rey (G.I. Joe)|General Philip Rey]], a former G.I. Joe commander.<ref>''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' #13 (July 2006)</ref> The Phoenix Guard infiltrates G.I. Joe headquarters, and manages to capture several Joes, until General Rey discovers the true identities of the Phoenix Guard members. G.I. Joe then captures most of the Phoenix Guard, and after the failed attack on G.I. Joe headquarters, Cobra Commander abandons the White House.<ref>''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' #17–18 (Nov.-Dec. 2006)</ref>

The Baroness then pursues a campaign of revenge against her betrayers, Cobra Commander and [[Wraith (G.I. Joe)|Wraith]]. During her quest, she finds Wraith in a club in Prague, and lures him into a cemetery where she confronts and defeats him, shooting him in the head. She trades his armor to the Red Shadows, in exchange for information on the whereabouts of Cobra Commander. The Baroness locates the Commander in Honduras, but finds that Destro, her husband, is also present. After a brief fight, Destro agrees to trade the M.A.R.S. corporation, his [[Iron Grenadier]] forces, and his eldest son Alexander to Cobra Commander, in exchange for his and the Baroness' baby. Cobra Commander avoids capture, by revealing that he possesses the personal information of every G.I. Joe agent, because of his time working in the White House.<ref>''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' #21–24 (March–June 2007)</ref>

Cobra Commander uses his control of M.A.R.S. weapons to create conflict all over the globe, in a last bid to gain control of the world. G.I. Joe counters by going on the offensive, mobilizing the entire G.I. Joe roster, and launching missions to capture Cobra agents still at large. Meanwhile, Cobra Commander recruits soldier Nick Bailey, making him the last member of a new elite Cobra unit code-named "[[The Plague (G.I. Joe)|The Plague]]".<ref>''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' #25 (July 2007)</ref> The main G.I. Joe team heads to Israel, where they help stop an assassination attempt. While the team is away, Cobra Commander attacks [[Washington, D.C.]], taking over the White House and capturing the President. Cobra also takes over [[Fort Meade]], while Alexander McCullen attacks London and France with the Iron Grenadiers.<ref>''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' #29 (November 2007)</ref>

Cobra Commander then sends [[Tomax]] and a squad of [[Night Creepers]] to "The Coffin", a prison in Greenland created to hold all of G.I. Joe's captured enemies. Tomax manages to free [[Major Bludd]] and several others, while killing those Cobra Commander considered "loose ends". Dela Eden, who had been freed from The Coffin, is recruited by Cobra Commander to find Destro and the Baroness, in order to kill them. Cobra takes over several nuclear arsenals, including one in [[Suffolk, England]]. As a warning, Cobra Commander detonates a nuclear bomb in [[The Empty Quarter]], and then broadcasts an ultimatum on television for world leaders to accede to his authority, or he will start choosing populated targets. Billy, Cobra Commander's son, confronts his father at Fort Meade and tries to kill him. He fails, and Cobra Commander kills him instead, hanging Billy's body from a flagpole, with a message that no one is untouchable.<ref>''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' #30–33 (Dec. 2007 – March 2008)</ref>

After the Joes defeat a plan by Cobra Commander to blow up nukes in the Amazon and Antarctica, Cobra Commander and The Plague retreat to a secret base in the Appalachian Mountains, where the first Cobra soldiers were trained. When the Joes attack the Appalachian base, [[General Joseph Colton|General Colton]] is shot in the back by Cobra Commander, but survives. The battle ends, when Hawk tackles Cobra Commander, and knocks him out with a punch to the face. In the aftermath, the Joes are still active and fully funded, and Cobra Commander is locked away in a special underwater prison.<ref>''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' #36 (June 2008)</ref>

Hasbro later announced that all stories published by [[Devil's Due Publishing]] are no longer considered [[Canon (fiction)|canonical]], and are now considered an alternate continuity.<ref name="Continuity">{{cite web |url=http://forums.yojoe.com/news/75248-comic-continuity-clarity-comic-section.html |title=Comic Continuity Clarity in the Comic Section – YoJoecom Forums |author=Antarctica |date=12 May 2010 |access-date=24 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522084206/http://forums.yojoe.com/news/75248-comic-continuity-clarity-comic-section.html |archive-date=22 May 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===IDW Publishing (2008–2018)===
In IDW's series, "The Commander" is a title and rank, not an individual, and there have been numerous Commanders in the past: they have been elected and placed in power by a ruling body called the Cobra Council.<ref name="comicbookresources.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=30420 |title=G.I. Joe enters the Cobra Civil War |work=Comic Book Resources |date=20 January 2011 |access-date=2011-07-19}}</ref>

The first Cobra Commander was a well-known, famous businessman, operating as the Commander in secret.<ref>''G.I. Joe: Cobra Civil War'' #1</ref> His uniform was a suit and tie, with gloves and variation of the silver face mask. Rather than having an army helmet over the blank face plate mask, the lower portion of the mask has fangs engraved around the jaw line. Unlike other incarnations of the character, this version of Cobra Commander – usually just called "the Commander" – is extremely reclusive, and his existence is only known to only select high-profile Cobra subordinates (such as the twins Tomax and Xamot and the Baroness). Cobra Commander's personality is also much more passive-aggressive and introspective; having captured the G.I. Joe spy [[Chuckles (G.I. Joe)|Chuckles]], Cobra Commander refuses to allow Tomax and Xamot to kill the spy, opting instead to personally recruit Chuckles, by taking him into his confidence and promising him revenge against Xamot.

In issue #12 of "G.I. Joe: Cobra", Xamot attempts to set up Cobra Commander to be killed and Chuckles to be blamed, only to learn the Commander has outmaneuvered him. Chuckles doesn't manage to kill the Commander, shooting him and missing. This is the first time a Commander has been killed in action, and a competition erupts in Cobra to find who will be the replacement, directed by the Cobra Council.<ref name="comicbookresources.com"/> The competition becomes a contest of who can kill the most Joes: competing Cobra agents include Baroness, Dr. Vargas, Major Bludd, Oda Satori, Tomax, Krake, and Raja Khallikhan.<ref>''G.I. Joe: Cobra Civil War'' #0</ref> Baroness does not believe the Council would make her the Commander as she's a woman – not that this stops her from killing Joes.<ref>''Cobra: Civil War'' #1</ref>

Krake wins the competition, largely by revealing that he had killed and replaced one of his rivals with Zartan, doubling his kill score and showing the initiative to break the rules to win. Krake's origin would be given in ''Cobra Annual 2012'': born in Southeast Asia's [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]] during a battle and named Tiger Eyes, he grew up as a child laborer and later child soldier for drug gangs. He was named Krake by Major Bludd, who was impressed when he told Krake he had a spy in his gang and the man responded by killing every other member. Krake was invited to join Cobra, initially resisting but later providing the means to take over several [[Triad (organized crime)|Chinese triads]].<ref>''Cobra Annual 2012: The Origin of Cobra Commander''</ref>

The first action Krake takes as Commander is to openly invade the Southeast Asian nation of Nanzhao and steal its gold reserves. During the invasion, he destroys heroin poppy fields, so it initially looks to the world like Cobra is overthrowing a brutal regime and fighting the drug trade; it also drives up the price of heroin, a drug Cobra deals in.<ref>''G.I. Joe vol. 2'' #9: "Cobra Command Part 1"</ref> The Cobra Council are then slaughtered by Krake's agents, giving him full command of Cobra.<ref>''Cobra vol. 2'' #10: "Cobra Command Part 6"</ref> Writers Chuck Dixon and Mike Costa have said that while the previous Commander allowed his subordinates to "pursue their own goals so long as they kick back to him" and was content to "profit invisibly", Krake "wants to be known and wants to be powerful, and wants to rule the world in the most supervillainy sense... With his leadership, Cobra shifts from a sneaky, shadowy cabal to an actual military presence."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=35833 |title=Dixon and Costa Reveal G.I. Joe's New Cobra Commander |work=Comic Book Resources |date=9 December 2011 |access-date=2012-11-10}}</ref>

''G.I. Joe: Origins'' involves a psychotic ex-stock broker, who murders his family and several law enforcement officers when his crimes are discovered. Calling himself "the Chimera" and gathering a militia around him, he is one of the first villains that G.I. Joe faces. It is also noted that he started the sub-prime mortgage crisis of the late 2000s. [[Larry Hama]] had intended him to be Cobra Commander, but this idea was dropped with the introduction of the Cobra Council, and has not been seen since ''Origins'' #5. It has not been specified if he was indeed the Cobra Commander that Chuckles murdered.<ref>''G.I. Joe: Origins'' #1–5</ref>

===UK continuities===
In the UK ''[[Battle Picture Weekly|Battle Action Force]]'' comic, Cobra Commander was originally known as [[Baron Ironblood]], leader of the Red Shadows, a ruthless terrorist organization. The Red Shadows were legions of brainwashed fanatic soldiers armed with sophisticated, high-tech weapons. The group was declared the single greatest threat to world security by the UN, with Ironblood being labeled "World Enemy #1".<ref name="File">{{cite web|url=http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/comics/baf/093/index.html|title=The File on the Baron|access-date=2009-03-11}}</ref>

In 1985, Hasbro began moves to market G.I. Joe in the UK, under the Action Force name. This would affect the comic version of ''Battle Action Force'', as the writers were to get rid of the Red Shadows and Baron Ironblood and replace them with Cobra and Cobra Commander. To preserve continuity within the comic, the decision was made to transform Baron Ironblood in to the Action Force version of Cobra Commander.<ref name="world">{{cite web|url=http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/comics/baf/034/index.html|title=World Enemy No. 1|access-date=2009-03-11}}</ref>

The transition came as Baron Ironblood grew tired of his group's failures and decided to destroy the Red Shadows, by secretly informing Action Force of the group's bases. Going into hiding, Ironblood relocated to Southeast Asia, where he had [[plastic surgery]] on his face, constructed a new mask and costumed identity (that of Cobra Commander), and underwent extensive treatment to give him immunity towards all forms of snake venom (a process known as [[mithridatism]]). He then began the process of recruiting a new inner circle and organisation, known as Cobra.<ref name="File"/><ref name="world"/>

Unfortunately for Ironblood, his illicit fortune to finance this new army is stolen by former Red Shadow member, Red Jackal, who he is forced to rebuild as a cyborg (and rechristened as "[[Destro]]"). Furthermore, both surviving members of the Red Shadows and the retooled Action Force repeatedly foil his plans. In the final ''Battle Action Force'' storyline, after an attempt to locate the headquarters of the Action Force team fails and leads to a crushing defeat of his forces, Ironblood/Cobra Commander goes insane and collapses into a near catatonic state.

In ''Action Force Weekly'', Cobra Commander is a featured character starting from issue #1, where he is depicted as bald.<ref>"Action Force" #1 (March 1987)</ref> Destro believes Cobra Commander's excesses are the greatest risk to Cobra's success.