Examining Cobra Commander's Role in the G.I.Joe Movie

Ever since the Cobra Commander was replaced by Serpentor, the role of Megatron and Starscream was transferred from Cobra Commander and Destro to Serpentor and Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander was an example of a huge villain decay since season two where he is gradually changed from an Osama bin Ladin type of character to a Yosemite Sam villain.

So what's the big deal in the movie? So at first, he's leading the mission but accepting a bomb like a suicide bomber would probably show himself better. After the failed mission, he calls for retreat proving he still had that power. At the Terrordrome, he and his usurper Serpentor are having what I'd call a face off against each other. But it gets rather silly when he calls Destro, Baroness, Tomax, Xamot and Dr. Mindbender as his "loyal subordinates" when they all conspired to replace him with the synthetic leader Serpentor. So it just gets stupid. He does however try to be subtle in trying to get rid of Serpentor not realizing that Pythona had arrived.

After this, Serpentor launches a reckless attack. Once again, Cobra Commander is the voice of reason when your new leader is a f*cking moron. Serpentor orders to destroy everything in sight except the Broadcast Energy Transmitter (BET). This makes me LMAO when Cobra Commander mentions that the operation is costing them dearly. Did he just get demoted to a chief accountant after the failed Statue of Liberty scenario? Maybe, maybe not but Dr. Mindbender is in the same jeep as Firefly. So, maybe Dr. Mindbender got demoted at the same time too. At the same time, Cobra Commander is already thinking of getting rid of his usurper Serpentor once more. At this point, Baroness tries to help Serpentor but is stopped by Cobra Commander. This is baffling considering that it seems everyone in COBRA was already demoted. Not to mention, Serpentor's operation to get the BET is far more reckless than that of the Cobra Commander.

Once again, Cobra Commander shows a lot of short-term memory. At the same time, Cobra-La is too randomly dropped. Cobra Commander calls everyone for a retreat to the Himalayas mountains where they can find sanctuary. Did he also forget that Golobulus actually made the psychic motivator that gave Dr. Mindbender the dream to create Serpentor? Given that, it's really something when Cobra Commander tries to lead the Joes to his doom. However, Cobra Commander is soon arrested by the Nemesis Enforcer at the orders of Pythona. Apparently, Pythona has what could be a possible romance with Serpentor in many scenes. Cobra Commander would later be put on trial for failure to conquer the human civilization. Yet, I do feel that everything about Cobra-La is too random once again. 

Here's another instance of his unstable mind - the Cobra Commander later declares himself free of Cobra-La then later, he reminds Golobulus he is a citizen when he is about to be punished. His role of being sent to retrieve the world for Cobra-La just doesn't fit in with Cobra being an organization that uses inorganic technology in contrast to Cobra-La's inorganic technology. Again, it gets dumber when Cobra Commander's replacement is made from some of humanity's most evil dictators in contrast to what Cobra-La says they HATE humans.

Actually, his being changed into a snake was probably a part of a plot of his fall and eventually, his return in Operation Dragonfire which has made him a better leader than he was after his decay.