Michael Allred said:
None of this really matters. Haven't you guys read Di Bonaventura's (spelling?) take on a Joe movie?
COBRA will not be a terrorist organization, "Cobra" will actually be one person.
They will singlehandedly ruin what could be a huge franchise but the idiots behind it think the original concepts are too "cartoony." Yeah, a worldwide terrorist organization is cartoony. I guess they never heard of a little group run by some dude named Osama Bin Laden.
My thoughts exactly. Which is why I am trying to get a script(s) down.
My current script opens in 1986 Cambodia amidst the Cambodian-Vietnamese conflict. The story begins with a small U.S. platoon of enlisted men. The platoon is lead by Conrad 'Duke' Hauser. The other significant members in the platoon are John 'Rexx' Connelly(aka Cobra Commander) and a young GI known simply as Snake(Guess who.)
Conrad and Rexx are like brothers and Snake, well, Snake is Snake. It is in this jungle where we see the true origins of Cobra Commander and Cobra and a lot of questions are answered and the stages are set.
What compelled Rexx to turn against his country and his brother in arms, Duke? What caused Snake to become a silent masked man?
The story would be given a much deeper and meaningful complexity with this opening. It would make the story not just a surface level one but a personal one. A personal struggle and story between Conrad and Rexx with Snake as the witness.
I know I'll piss off a lot of people with this but here is my version:
Amidst the jungle one night Rexx(CC) has a supernatural, surreal experience. He comes face to face with the personification of evil in the GI Joe universe - Globuluss. It is here that Globuluss lures and turns Rexx to the evil side to due his bidding. Cobra is born, Cobra Commander lives.
Following the encounter Cobra Commander kills his entire platoon with Duke and Snake being the exceptions.
Snake was asleep on watch(he wasn't always bad ass) and heard nothing. His silence and mask are attributed to this. He hides his face in shame and makes it a point to always listen with heightened awareness after this, eh, mishap.
Cobra Commander kept Duke alive for a reason. Commander has Duke on his hands and knees before him, defeated, when he says in the most sinister voice ever heard on film:
'I am allowing you to live becaussssss it issssss necessssssary. Necesssssary for me to know my biggest adverssssary in the upcoming battle will be alive only becausssse I let him. Necesssssary for me to know the one who will lead the pathetic raccccce of mankind agianst me and the mighty Cobra. I need you to lead my largest threats to there deathssss.'
Cobra Commander smiles a wicked smile as Duke winces.
Snake awakes and makes his way back to the camp unbeknownst.
'You are going to be the one who ultimately handssss the world to me, Cobra Commander and my minions of the all mighty Globulusssss. You will be the biggest hero in American military hisstory, but in reality you will be the biggessst traitor, responsible for the deathssss of millionsss. Even worssse, you'll know it but be unable to ssstop it.'
Cobra Commander pistol whips Duke and walks off in to the jungle night. Duke, on hands and knees, lowers his head and weeps.
Snake from the dark brush, watching.