I need some help, ya'll.

I never had Cobra Commander in my dio in terms of a role that could be counted. I'm about to include him in the upcoming "DOOMSDAY MACHINE" story. But I don't know how to make up a persona for him. I can't help but lean on the earlier Marvel series AND the cartoon. But I want to make him special in my Joeverse. Not a clown. Not a buffoon (like the Batman's Joker from the old Adam West days). I want to make him angry and evil but he's gotta be 3-dimensional. He needs a reason for being the way he is.

Help me out, please???

__________________

Stanfield are one of my favorite villians of all time btw.
Just some rambling thoughts from me as my sunday photo trip is interupted with a freak thunderstorm.
I think of Cobra Commander as a master mind on a budget. I only knew him from the comics so I am thinking secret society mixed with pyramid schemes and millitia terrorism thrown in. One of the most important issues in Cobra Commanders life was for me when he saw that his organization had become so incredibly powerfull and hi tech that it crossed over from an radical political movement who used ruthless terrorist tacktics from time to time to an true international supervillian organization with technolgy and powers which would change the world for the worse no matter who won in the end. And then he wanted to quit. So to me Cobra Commander is a spitefull demagouge and true beliver in his own idiology, and unlike Destro, Raptor, Dr Mindbender or Serpentor Cobra Commander once was a regular man a car sales man and he understand regular people and can motivate them and lead them. Cobra Commander is a facist who belive himself to be the greatest leader the world have ever seen and therefore he is the most important person in the world. His whole philosphy in life is centerd around this belivef and I think that is linked with his refusal to see that its also his own fault that he was a failure as a car sales man not just the goverment.
Cobra Commander is the perfect center of the universe in his own mind so he also becomes paranoid of others when one of his perfect schemes goes awery. He sees Democracy as corrupt and only under a single strong leader can the world thrive, therfore its never his fault when things go wrong its the followers fault. After all they can not lead themselves because democracy does not work in his worldview therfore its their influence on his perfect system that makes it inperfect.
The very things that makes Cobra Commander original in my mind is the fact that he is not the decendant of an ancient tradition, he is not the seventh son of the seventh son, he is not an insane genious he is a REGULAR guy with an incredble willpower and leadership ability, his retreats is because of his incredble selfishness not because he is a natural coward, allthough the diffrence between the two could be debated. I think of him perhaps as the opposite of the Joker in the dark knight? Cobra Commander could be less cool than the other Cobra Villians but more grounded in reality.

My take on him is more like a leader of a religious cult. His followers actually believe that he can create Utopia once he is in control of the world.
The Devils Due comics reflected some of that in its last few issues, showing a militia group killing one of their own because he "betrayed" them in a small sense. - Basically he is a fanatic, devout to only his way of thinking. There are more then enough religious nuts to pick and choose from for background.
The thing that strikes me with the Commander is that beyond his fanaticism he is also very intelligent in the ways of marketing and schemes - getting normal people to follow him on nothing more then pure faith, and also earning money for his rising empire within the rules set by those he loathes and hate, as well as being covert about the whole thing, only drawing attention to himself and his organization when needed.

Fanatic
"Religious" leader
Economy expert
Schemer
and Intelligent.

__________________
Arguing on the internet is like competing in the special Olympics - You may win, but you are still retarded

I like the idea of Cobra Commander being a very intelligent and ruthless individual. Very much addicted to power. I think his original file card said something about him being one of the most dangerous people in the world. I never liked the idea of him being a snivelling coward. Who would follow him?

I imagine him as he appeared late in the Marvel run, after his "resurrection" -- Very full of himself, somewhat over the top, always using unnecessary big words... But I also incorporate some of the cartoon characterization as well, such as being far more overt about wanting to conquer the world, and constantly blaming Destro when anything goes wrong (even if Destro had nothing to do with it)! I don't see the commander owning up to his mistakes if there's a scapegoat handy (and there usually is).

Oh, and I definitely imagine that he has his cartoon voice -- as it sounded in the very first mini-series, when it was deeper and more menacing. I thought it lost something as the series went on and the voice got pitched higher and became whinier. He sounded a lot more like Starscream -- who was of course played by the same actor, Chris Latta. Latta should have left the voice as it was early on to better differentiate those two voices.


EDIT: Oops, I just read that you're looking for a reason for him to be as he is... Personally, I think he just wants to rule the world because he thinks he can do it better than anyone else. It's nothing more complicated than that!

__________________

is on indefinite hiatus...

oh no doubt. without his voice he wouldnt be one of the greatest bad guys of all time. he would be just another bad guy with a mask.