Shocking or not? There are going to be differences between the movie and the comics, right? Take for example how X-Men: The Animated Series made villains a little less tame (or even censorized bullets with lasers) or even cut out inappropriate material from the comics. It's TV-Y7-FV after all, right? The case was no different from how G.I. Joe got adapted from the comics to the cartoon. We have a very different version of COBRA Commander from the comics.
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I was thinking about the file card that he had at the toys. I remembered having a COBRA Commander toy (now lost) who was described as a very corrupt, evil man. Evil personified. Yet, the cartoon series started to make him more like your typical cartoon villain. Maybe, compare him to Yosemite Sam or maybe Dr. Evil, or any James Bond villain. Yes, there's even the TV trope called Bond Villain Stupidity. That's exactly what the cartoon did to fit the TV-Y7-FV rating - make COBRA a cabal of morons and Cobra Commander as a poor personification of wickedness. Cobra Commander exists to be a dangerous idiot who keeps hatching idiotic plans such as cloning dangerous, shrunken COBRA troopers, destroy all vegetation, carving his face to the moon, etc. Anything typical cartoon villainy is what Cobra Commander did. Dr. Mindbender even called Cobra Commander a worthless leader and created an even more worthless leader in Serpentor. At least, in the comics, Serpentor was far more dangerous and knew how to charm people into following him.
I think Cobra Commander was meant to be played for laughs... except for Destro. Destro hardly did anything funny and was more level-headed than Starscream was in Transformers. The relationship with Cobra Commander and Destro was pretty much like Megatron and Starscream. Except that Destro always had a point in Cobra Commander's hysterical behavior. I guess Cobra Commander refuses to fire Destro since he can't find a new weapons dealer. Destro gets into a very difficult relationship with Cobra Commander even to the point of mutiny. Destro hated Cobra Commander SO MUCH to even join in Dr. Mindbender's most insane plane - create a new leader for COBRA. Well, we know Dr. Mindbender could've used Mao Zedong's DNA and solved the whole issue. Instead, the use of Sgt. Slaughter's DNA made Serpentor an even bigger comedy relief. At times, I felt Serpentor was more entertaining than Cobra Commander due to the former's suicidal overconfidence.
I think the adaptation decay (one on purpose) made Serpentor and Cobra Commander entertaining to watch. Sure, some people weren't too happy to see a campy new leader replace the old one. Then again COBRA was always an alliance of mostly moronic cartoon villains. Cobra Commander is an idiot to start with. Now, make Serpentor an even bigger idiot that makes Cobra Commander look smart. I think it was entertaining to see how Cobra Commander kept trying to overthrow his usurper. The whole of Season 2 tends to have Cobra Commander serving his replacement OR trying to get rid of his replacement. The movie had Cobra Commander trying to get rid of Serpentor for good. However, it can't be helped as Serpentor was Golobulus' replacement. Golobulus called the shots and it doesn't help that Pythona seems to have a crush on the artificially created emperor.
The G.I. Joe movie is where things get rather weird. Cobra Commander has plenty of short-term memory problems. Did he even forget that Destro, Dr. Mindbender, Baroness, Tomax, and Xamot all conspired to create Serpentor, to begin with? Calling them as "loyal subordinates" and bragging about his "superb stewardship" felt stupid. However, Cobra Commander was PARTLY RIGHT when he said that Serpentor's leadership is rather weak. Serpentor drives by suicidal overconfidence which caused their defeats too. Cobra Commander ends up being right when he says, "This operation is costing us dearly!" Serpentor could've chosen to be more subtle than to lead a direct ambush. Such stupidity once again allowed Cobra Commander to ditch his usurper.
Later, we learn Cobra Commander isn't human but some secret reptilian organization called Cobra-La. Cobra Commander shows he's probably more than ready to ditch Golobulus after all. The scene where Cobra Commander challenges Golobulus' authority seems to explain why things go that way. Golobulus was probably aware of Cobra Commander's defiance so he ordered the creation of Serpentor. Serpentor may not accept any challenge from within COBRA or without. However, Serpentor proves himself to be nothing more than a symbolic emperor when he calls Golobulus "my lord". Cobra Commander's shenanigans were somewhat put to an end when he became a SNAKE. Yet, it wasn't the last we'd see of him.
Two years after the movie - a third G.I. Joe season was created. This time, it was DiC who did the animation which explained the inferior artwork. The third season followed up after the movie with Cobra Commander still as a snake. Baroness would later shift her loyalty from Serpentor to Cobra Commander for one reason - Destro broke up with her for Baroness. I felt it was stupid since Baroness and Destro were still together during the movie. Baroness sided with Serpentor because of Destro. Later, Cobra Commander was returned into semi-human form AND defeat Serpentor. Cobra Commander later decided to merge Serpentor with Gnawgahyde's PET IGUANA. I found it funny how the concept was later copied into Conan the Adventurer with Wrath-Amon.
After Operation Dragonfire - Cobra Commander resumes what he always was. That is, a very stupid leader fit only for Saturday Morning Cartoons villainy. Sadly, years later, G.I. Joe Sigma Six barely got the popularity of the original cartoon. A new modified version of Cobra Commander contained the deadliness of the comic while retaining the cartoon villainy of the 80s version.
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