which Doctor Mindbender, disillusioned with Cobra Commander, decides to literally create a new leader to replace him. Acting as an operation to create a super-soldier, Cobra agents are sent around the world to collect DNA samples retrieved from the tombs of history's most notorious conquerors and military leaders to genetically craft Cobra Commander's successor. Fortunately for the Commander, G.I. Joe interferes with the gene collection to deny the critical inclusion of Sun Tzu's DNA, and it is instead replaced with Sgt. Slaughter's. During the first attempt to create the ruler, Cobra Commander contaminates the DNA mixture with a mutated virus, causing a rampaging monster. The second attempt is successful due to Scrap-Iron stopping Cobra Commander from sabotaging the experiment again, thus giving birth to Serpentor, who immediately assumes charge of Cobra and deposes the erstwhile Commander to the status of "lackey". Serpentor soon orders an attack on Washington, D.C., with the Commander in handcuffs. Cobra Commander convinces Dr. Mindbender to free him, as he knows how to use a weapon, and rescues the high command from certain disaster. He saves himself by convincing Serpentor that he truly needs him as a scapegoat. Thereafter, Cobra Commander seems to be employed as Cobra's primary field commander, while Serpentor leads mostly from the Terrordrome. Serpentor even allows Cobra Commander to be the organization's second-in-command, a decision tolerated by the rest of the Cobra High Command. Cobra Commander spends much of Season 2 trying to reclaim his former glory from under Serpentor's domineering shadow, assembling his own secret society called The Coil to that end. G.I. Joe: The Movie explains Cobra Commander's origin in full, while yet contradicting background information previously established in the animated series. Cobra Commander was a scientist and nobleman from the ancient, pre-human society of Cobra-La, now hidden in the Himalayas. Although humanoid in appearance, he has pale blue skin, no hair, and eyes with snake-like pupils. He was disfigured by volatile spores in a laboratory accident, mutating an array of eight additional eyes upon his visage, thus explaining why he wears a mask. Despite this deformity, his ambition was recognized by Cobra-La's ruler, Golobulus, and he was chosen to venture from their isolated Himalayan kingdom to establish an army for the razing of human civilization and reemergence of Cobra-La: that army is Cobra. This origin stands in contrast to the episode "Twenty Questions", where the Commander told an interviewing