Led by a former used car salesman disenfranchised with Corporate America, the organization known as COBRA began its terrorist operations in the early 1980s and quickly became the focus of Special Counter-Terrorist Group Delta, also known as G.I. Joe.
Eventually growing in such power and influence that they were awarded soverneignty over their own island nation in the Gulf of Mexico, Cobra began as a small radical group. Its founder, the man known only as Cobra Commander, started with a pyramid business scheme, hiring those who'd felt they were being beaten down by the system. Taking his company, ARBCO, into Springfield, a town whose businesses were failing, the Commander quickly won the trust of the townspeople through his schemes and soon became its leader. He set up his base of operations there and spread ARBCO, which ran more like a cult than a corporation, into the black market, weapons trading and all manner of illegal activities.
It's not been determined exactly when ARBCO took the first step from corrupt company to a radical group with terrorist intent, but Cobra Commander started wearing a hood to disguise his face, and his followers donned armbands with the new Cobra insignia. This led to full uniforms as they grew more and more militant. With a sizeable army of devoted followers and enough capital to fund their operations, Cobra began its quest for ultimate power. Adding the notorious arms dealer Destro and his arsenal of specialized weapons to the mix cemented the organization's reputation as a powerful threat.
G.I. Joe spent more than a decade trying to put a stop to Cobra's reign of terror, but were suddenly shut down themselves by the Pentagon in the mid-1990s. Fortunately, by that point the government had made substantial headway in weeding out most Cobra sympathizers from Congress and was able to cut off much of their funding. Though details are still highly classified, Cobra was eventually defeat by a major military strike and its High Command either fled the country or were imprisoned.
Cobra Commander escaped unscathed and spent the next several months hiding. Occasionally spotted around the globe at various times, the Commander frequently evaded capture. When he returned to American soil to reunite with various factions in 2001, the United States had no choice but to reinstate G.I. Joe. And so the struggle began anew.
Leader:
Cobra Commander
Members:
Storm Shadow
Major Bludd
Tomax and Xamot
Scrap Iron
Wild Weasel
Copperhead
Big Boa
Soldiers:
Cobra Officers
Cobra Vipers
Neo-Vipers
Cobra Morays
Snow Serpents
B.A.T.s
Land Vehicles:
H.I.S.S.
Strike H.I.S.S.
Stun
Coil
Aerial Vehicles:
Night Raven
Rattler
Mamba
Fang
Flight Pods
Aquatic Vehicles:
Mantis
