Action Movies

With the star-studded GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra movie coming to theaters in August, movie goers unfamiliar with the series may want to revisit the origins of the film. The live-action movie is rumored to be very respectful to the franchise’s colorful history, and the cinematic battle between GI Joe and Cobra can be better enriched by some basic series familiarity.

GI Joe the Action Figure

n 1964, the original twelve inch GI Joe action figure was released. While this line of figures focused on a realistic portrayal of soldiers, the later action figures and series were more “fantastic” in presentation.

For Rise of the Cobra, brand new action figures have been made to depict the fresh characterizations of old characters.

Duke’s Scar

Though GI Joe the movie is much more in line with the later fantasy-oriented series, the filmmakers still wanted to reference the original figures. In the upcoming movie, Duke, played by Channing Tatum, sports a scar under his right eye, which is a direct tribute to the original twelve inch action figure.

GI Joe, a Real American Hero

Between 1982 and 1994, GI Joe went into merchandise overdrive with newly designed toys, a comic book series, and even a cartoon show. Because of the smaller size of the action figures, multiple toy vehicles were introduced, and it is currently unknown whether or not these vehicles will be featured in the new movie. Either way, Rise of the Cobra’s never-before-seen “accelerator suits” should provide fans with a high speed thrill.

The GI Joe Comic Book Series

One of the longest and most published comic books for a toy line, the GI Joe comic series was much more adult compared to its cartoon counterpart. With actual character deaths, explosive destruction, and deeper character relationships, this series formed much of the basis for GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra . Because so much content has been written concerning GI Joe, the filmmakers were able to finish the screenplay for the movie before the writer’s strike. In the future, new comic books exploring the film’s take on characterizations may come to light.

GI Joe and Transformers

Within the comic book series, a number of issues featured crossover stories involving characters from both GI Joe and the Transformers universe. For Rise of the Cobra, while there are no direct Transformers crossovers, the movie features a soldier jumping over a missile. This was done as a reference to an action scene in Michael Bay’s Transformers movie.

The GI Joe Cartoon Series

Following the success of the toy line, this television show first started as a mini-series, but then extended into a first and second season success. More kid-friendly and humorous than the comic book, the animated series spawned the popular GI Joe theme song and better advertised the action figures.

For GI Joe the movie, Ray Parks, the stunt man who plays Snake Eyes, watched the show to familiarize himself with his character’s movements. As another tribute to this series, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Cobra Commander, also partially based his line readings on the original television voice for his character. However, the costume for Cobra Commander was greatly changed, as the filmmakers feared the character would look too much like a Ku Klux Klan member. In addition to this change, other actors were advised not to watch the show, so that their performance would be more organic.