Snake Eyes is the elusive ninja whose stealth, stillness, and blade speak louder than men with firearms. The eponymous ninja, first introduced in a Hasbro toy line in 1982, is finally getting his own spin-off after almost four decades, and we couldn’t be happier! He’s also appeared in a comic series by Larry Hama, who was working on a new comic based on Nick Fury’s son, Director of Shield, at the time.
Hama built a story around Snake Eyes based on this notion. Snake Eyes appears as a Vietnam war veteran who was friends with Storm Shadow before his transformation into the Storm Shadow. Storm Shadow’s Arashikage clan is where the stealthy ninja goes to learn martial arts from the likes of the Hard Master.
Snake Eyes has been characterized as a very intelligent and caring man who understood his way around people and tricky situations since the dawn of time. For example, if he believes that allowing others to win will rescue them from disgrace and dishonor, he does not hesitate to do so.
He is someone who believes that in order to win a war, one must first lose a battle. His character and attitude, on the other hand, were never fully explored in practically any film or cartoon. With his stand-alone picture due out on Friday, July 23rd, 2021, Marvelous Video felt it was only right to show him the respect and praise he so well deserves. We’ll look at the movies, cartoons, and comics that have featured Snake Eyes, as well as his personal and professional pursuits, in this video.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Snake Eyes: The Origin (comic)
The comics elucidate the background and origin of Snake Eyes through flashbacks experienced by Stalker and the Soft Master of the Arashikage Clan. Of the three parallelly running stories in the comic, we would be focusing on the sections that talk about Snake Eye’s back story. Before becoming a Joe, Stalker used to be a part of the Long Range Recon Patrolling party and served in the Vietnam War. It was during this period that Stalker became friends with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, then known as Tommy. These three, along with their team, were on patrol duty in a valley when they were ambushed by VietCong soldiers.
In the end, only Stalker, Tommy, and Snake Eyes make it out of there alive. While they searched for a safe place to rest and contact the base, Snake Eyes notices a Viet Cong soldier. Stalker was about to shoot him down, but Tommy reaches him faster and kills the local soldier with his steel-tipped arrow. He reasons that while a suppressor does silence the discharging bullet’s sound, it doesn’t help with the sonic boom of the speeding bullet.
They reach a seemingly safe spot and wait for extraction. Strangely, while Tommy and Snake Eyes grew exceptionally close during the patrolling, Stalker, who had been there with them for more than six months felt like an outsider. Tommy would share personal anecdotes and his future plans, like joining his uncle’s so-called business once the war was over. In fact, he even asks Snake Eyes to tag along with him.
However, Snake Eyes would mostly listen and continually stare at a photograph of his twin sister. Snake Eyes almost superstitiously held on to the picture as his lucky charm, thinking, nothing would go wrong till the time he kept the picture safe. The pickup helicopter arrives, but its massive blade slap alerts the Viet Cong soldiers, who open fire. The helicopter was now a sitting duck amidst the heavy firing.
One of the bullets takedown Snake Eyes as another pierces his twin’s photograph. Stalker assumes that Snake Eyes is a lost cause. Not wanting to waste more precious time he orders Tommy to carry on without Snake Eyes. However, Tommy was not going to leave without his friend, his confidant.
Fortunately for Tommy and Snake Eyes, the pilots cover Tommy while he extracts Snake Eyes, dodging the incoming shower of bullets precariously. Stalker had managed to save Snake Eyes, an event that is considered to be a turning point of sorts in the history of GI Joe. Later, Snake Eyes was discharged along with a few soldiers. Everyone is greeted by their families at the airport, but no one had arrived to welcome Snake Eyes.
Dejected yet hopeful, he waits there for four hours until Stalker arrives bearing bad news, Snake Eye’s family had died in a car crash. Stalker didn’t need to say the words out loud, it was as if Snake Eyes had already sensed it. Sometime later, Snake Eyes goes to Japan and accepts Tommy’s offer. The company’s board consisted of the Soft Master, the Hard Master, and Tommy, whom they referred to as the Young Master.
It wasn’t a firm per se, but a clan of ninjas who were trained in the purest forms of martial arts. Snake Eyes picks up the skill quickly, and the rigorous training didn’t seem to deter him even a bit. Soon, he became more thoroughly proficient than the Young Master himself and would allow the Young Master to win to preserve his pride. The Hard Master, who was also the chairman, could see through the facade and appreciated both Snake Eye’s fighting skills and psychological greatness.
On one such training day, the Hard Master was teaching Snake Eyes a skill called the “Blind Sword”. Snake Eyes believes that he heard an intruder but the Hard Master refutes it and asserts that there wasn’t any danger. He goes behind the screen and starts imitating Snake Eyes’ pulse and breathing, while Snake Eye was to guess who it was that the Hard Master was imitating. Before anyone could figure it out, a steel-tipped arrow that was the mark of the Young Master struck the Hard Master. He succumbs to death, but not before acquitting the Young Master of the possible crime.
Speculations arise as we know that the Young Master could hear the sounds that came from behind the wall and were adept with the bow and arrow. Furthermore, there was the motive, as the Hard Master had offered Snake Eyes the reigns of the Arashikage Clan, bypassing the Young Master.
Later on, the Young Master joins Cobra, taking on the title of Storm Shadow, which was the literal translation of his Japanese surname. By now, Snake Eyes had not only lost his family, his beloved sister, but also a mentor and guardian when the Hard Master died. This filled him with unsurmountable grief and he lost his way. Deeply affected, he retired to a small cabin located in the High Sierras in California. It was here that Stalker found Snake Eyes and asked him to join GI Joe.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1983 T.V. series)
In 1982, Hasbro released the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, and with it came the Marvel Comic series of the same name. To boost sales, Hasbro asked Marvel Productions to produce animated commercials of 30 seconds each. These commercials gained such popularity that a GI Joe mini-series came to life in 1983. In the series, G.I. Joe Special Missions Force faces Cobra, who has taken control of a special broadcast satellite.
They threatened the world using the Mass device, a powerful and revolutionary technology that could transport matter from one place to another. In crude terms, the mass device made teleportation a very real possibility. GI Joe locates the inventor of the mass device, who tells them that their only viable option was to make another Mass device. However, the device is powered by three catalytic elements, without which the device is seemingly useless.
The Joes begin their search for these three rare elements, but the Cobra is never far behind, as they need those very elements to power their device. Naturally, the GI Joe and Cobra travel the world, racing against time and often facing each other on their quest to retrieve the pieces of the puzzle that could change the fate of the world.
In the series, Snake Eyes is seen working alongside Stalker and Duke, when the Cobra assaults the base of G.I. Joe. Fortunately, the attack was not successful. Snake Eyes is assigned the task to infiltrate a military base, investigate its security preparedness and revert. However, Cobra to manages to infiltrate and with the help of the Mass Device, they steal the spy satellite that was placed in the silo of the military base.
Snake Eyes was a part of the rescue op intended to save Dr. Vandermeer. When he told the Joes that they should invent a mass device of their own, Snake Eyes took on an active role in searching for these rare catalytic elements that would power the device and also took great initiative in the first three missions. In an Arctic mission, he enters a cave located deep inside chilling glaciers. According to the intel, he was to retrieve a canister of radioactive red crystals.
But his journey was far from simple. Cobra also eyeing the red crystals, soon arrived at the mouth of the cave and blocked the only exit. Meanwhile, the cave’s bowels were spitting radioactive gasses that would poison and kill humans within a matter of hours. To save his colleagues in this time-sensitive situation, Snake Eyes sealed himself behind a glass door. As seen in the comics as well, Snake Eyes was a man of compassion and sacrifice; consequences never took precedence over saving his friends. He paves a way for the others to escape while staying behind.
Even the Cobras leave him untouched, as they thought that the radiation from the cave would kill him anyway. However, fate wasn’t done with Snake Eyes yet, he was to live and continue down his path. He managed to get out of the cave but paid the price for acute radiation poisoning.
Fortunately, a hermit came to his rescue, who not only saved Snake Eyes from a polar bear but also treated him for his radiation poisoning. Interestingly, Snake Eyes also happens to meet his pet wolf, Timber here. On recovering from his illness and gaining enough strength to resume his journey, Snake Eyes goes to the GI Joe base along with the radioactive crystals and Timber, hence completing the mission he was assigned.
G.I. Joe sigma 6
Although based on the Sigma 6 toy line, the animated series is essentially a continuation of the GI Joe films; G.I. Joe: Spy Troops and G.I. Joe: Valor vs. Venom. But despite several references to the films, the series introduced quite a lot of changes that polarized the fans when it came to the question of the originality of the series. In the series, Duke remains the designated commander of the Joes, while Scarlett holds a higher rank as the second-in-command. The show was animated in anime style, which makes the members look much younger than in the previous shows.
As for Snake Eyes, he served as the team’s ninja specialist and had Kamakura and Jinx as his students. His backstory was substantially transformed from what was shown in the GI Joe A Real American Hero series of 1983. However, his connection to Storm Shadow was not severed. Interestingly, Snake Eyes refers to Storm Shadow as his brother. However, in Sigma 6, Storm Shadow accuses his so-called brother, Snake Eyes, of the fall of the Arashikage Clan. If you all remember, the original series never revealed the true face of our ninja warrior.
Sigma 6 however, was liberal enough to take cues from A Real American Hero comics and reveals glimpses of his true face. In the episode where Snake Eyes fights Storm Shadow, the former’s visor shatters, revealing his blond hair, blue eyes, and other fine points.
In the second season’s sixth episode, Snake Eyes fights off a pack of wolves. He saves one of them, who becomes his pet, and helps him through the entirety of that episode. We are grateful that Sigma 6 manages to retain Timber as well. Snake Eyes possesses tremendously durable swords that can even deflect incoming fire. His fight with Overlord Vector was beautifully crafted and well-choreographed, suiting his athletic and martial arts style. Later on, the Devil’s Due Publishing released the Sigma 6 comics with Snake Eyes as the center of attraction in its sixth issue.
G.I. Joe: Resolute
The Cobra Commander makes several attempts to seize control of the world, and retrieve his organization’s financial investments. However, after all his attempts failed, he devised a new plan. He would now use tactics and schemes instead of using brute force. As many of us know, the ionosphere layer of the atmosphere is the layer that supports communication by deflecting waves.
Thus, the Cobra Commander intended to seize the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program array or the HAARP. The next step was to launch several rockets containing pieces of equipment. Eventually, a satellite would be deployed just below the ionosphere, to facilitate Cobra in having its own covert communication network. Later, the Commander unveils a prototype of a particle beam device to his soldiers at a decommissioned Siberian nuclear missile silo. He warns them against treachery before executing Major Bludd, whose body was later discovered in Washington, DC. Cobra operative Firefly then fires a miniature missile package into the U.N. building in Manhattan.
The package deploys a holographic projector, through which the Cobra Commander communicates to all nations to surrender their control to Cobra or deal with indiscriminate attacks on their capitals. As an exhibition of power and to get the desired attention of world leaders, he fires a cannon on Moscow, which wipes out the entire city and kills almost 10 million people. Meanwhile, a modified aircraft carrier of the U.S. falls prey to the attack, destroying most of the ammunition, weapons, etc., and subsequently blows up itself.
A GI Joe named Bazooka was also killed prior to this gruesome destruction. His autopsy revealed a note in his mouth. Snake Eyes reads the note and learns the name of the man behind the assassination; Storm Shadow. He leaves the vessel to hunt down Storm Shadow and settle all prior dues, once and for all. Although the world is in a position of impending catastrophe, Snake Eyes feels the need to settle his personal vengeance before he can join the fight. His move was also in line with the larger objective.
Meanwhile, the other G.I. Joes learn about Cobra’s new schemes and plans for the HAARP, the Siberian missile silo, and the particle beam weapon. Meanwhile, Storm Shadow and Snake Eye are locked in an intense face-off on an island that used to be the base of operations of the Arashikage Clan. In GI Joe Resolute, it is revealed that it was Zartan who killed the Hard Master while working on the orders of Storm Shadow.
The flashbacks reveal how Snake Eyes tried to stop the assassination but failed to save his Master. The two ninjas engage in a high-octane battle that ends with the defeat of Storm Shadow. Later, Snake Eyes joins the fight with the rest of the G.I. Joes and thwarts the sinister plans of the Cobra Commander. The post-credit scene reveals that Storm Shadow was still alive.
Snake Eyes was so much more than the one-dimensional character that some shows and films have portrayed him as. His character developed on an emotional and psychological level. Additionally, he became a more relatable figure due to his brawls and tensions with Storm Shadow, an old friend who turned into a fiend. Snake Eyes shared almost as much screen time as the other leads such as Duke. Having said that, his character still deserved to be treated with more respect and value.
Snake-Eyes Dead game by IDW Publishing
In this comic series, Snake Eyes is asked to use his skills and infiltrate the Norwegian island of Svalbard. With the help of other G.I. Joes Tripwire and Roadblock, Snake Eyes rescues General Colton. It was General Colton who was appointed by President Kennedy, to form and lead an expert fighting force and given him the title of GI Joe. This made him the very first GI Joe.
Interestingly enough, the story takes a rather mystical turn in this series, something that is almost unusual when taking into consideration comics about soldiers and ultimate fighting forces. Colton reveals to Snake-Eyes that the members of the Arashikage Clan had asked him to translate a few ancient scrolls so that they’d be able to unleash on the world, an ancient ninja wizard, who went by the name of Kirigun.
Kirigun was presumed dead for a thousand years and this knowledge baffled Snake Eyes. After returning to Earth from another realm, Kirigun escapes searching for the sword of the Dead, a weapon that would help him gain power in the event of Deadgame.
However, Scarlett and Snake Eyes also begin their search for the weapon. In the process, an intruder attacks them, only to be killed by Snake Eyes. The daughter of Kirigun, Olympia, attacks Snake Eyes; her poisoned shurikens render him unconscious, after which she abducts the ninja warrior. Scarlett tries to save her close friend and colleague but gets interrupted by Storm Shadow.
If you thought that the mystical elements were over, then sit tight, my friends, for there’s more to come. Kirigun pits Snake Eyes against the world serpent Jörmungandr at a secret location. According to Norse mythology, Jörmungandr is Loki’s middle child. We see Storm Shadow intervening once again, but with the intent of helping Snake Eyes for a change. Together they slay the giant serpent, but killing the beast frees Kirigun from the curse of the Japanese goddess of creation and death. Before a more powerful Kirigun could attack Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, the G.I.
Joe’s Adventure Team saves them. Subsequently, the G.I. Joe’s Adventure Team and Snake Eyes fight Kirigun and his daughter, but the duo manages to escape. Snake Eyes realizes that to fight supernatural monsters, he needed supernatural weapons. He goes to Eismitte in Greenland, where he meets Thor himself. Snake Eyes borrows the Mighty Thor’s hammer. However, he gets attacked by Destro and the Baroness.
In the final fight, Destro and Baroness fight Snake Eyes to retrieve Thor’s hammer. In a strange turn of events, the Baroness reveals that she had made a pact with Olympia to resurrect Kirigun so that he could replace the Cobra Commander. Nevertheless Snake Eyes successfully destroys Kirigun just before he could resurrect the dead in the event that he called the Dead game. Thor’s hammer gets destroyed in the process, and Snake Eyes takes the Sword of the dead, killing Kirigun once and for all.
Snake Eyes in Movies
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Weapons expert James McCullen creates Nanomites that feed on metal and can destroy anything from vehicles to entire cities by devouring on metals. The only way to destroy the Nanomites is by activating a kill switch. His firm, named MARS, sells these Nanomites to NATO, which assigns Ripcord and Duke to transport the nanobots. However, Baroness attacks their convoy, and Snake Eyes along with other G.I. Joes save Ripcord and Duke.
The G.I. Joes go to their command center in Egypt, where they rendezvous with their head, General Hawk. However, James McCullen is not what he seems, as he is secretly using the same nanotechnology to build an entire army and unleash them onto the world. This would generate a state of panic and apparently help bring about a new order in society. Meanwhile, Storm Shadow and the Baroness team up and attack the GI Joes command center to retrieve the warheads.
They succeed in their mission and also manage to weaponize a particle accelerator. As the G.I. Joes pursue Storm Shadow and the Baroness, they launch a missile and release the Nanomites on the Eiffel Tower, which is devoured in no time. Duke manages to kill the Nanomites but gets abducted.
In the meantime, McCullen intends to send the remaining missiles to Moscow, Beijing, and Washington DC, but Snake Eyes and the Joes manage to destroy all of them. They infiltrate McCullen’s Arctic base, where Snake-Eyes meets his nemesis Storm Shadow. But even with the Nanomite warheads destroyed, much is about to happen as the Cobra takes over the White House itself.
With other Joes, Snake Eyes rescues Duke and Ripcord when they get attacked by Cobra. He puts on a great display of his martial arts skills and weaponry used. When the Cobra assaults the Pit next, Snake Eyes’s old friend and archenemy Storm Shadow accompanies the other Cobra soldiers. Both of them engage in fierce and swift battles multiple times, but each fight ends in a stalemate. Storm Shadow, however, escapes with his jet-pack, leading the Baroness out of danger. They manage to take the Nanomite Warheads along with them.
Thankfully, Rise of Cobra doesn’t shy away from showing the history shared by Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow at the Arashikage Clan. When the G.I. Joes learn that Cobra intends to hit Paris, Snake Eyes joins the team heading to Paris to put their plans to a stop. He plays an extremely vital role here as he leaps onto the vehicle of Storm Shadow and the Baroness; to help the other Joes track down the vehicle and get an idea as to where the Cobra operatives were headed. They use their offensives, but Snake Eyes dodges all incoming attacks.
Eventually, he gets shot a few times and is forced to let go of the vehicle. Baroness declares that he’s given up, but Storm Shadow knows his old friend better and tells her that Snake Eyes never gives up. Later, Duke gets captured by the French authorities, but Snake Eyes manages to escape and contacts General Hawk, who arranges the release of his soldiers. Snake Eyes then goes with the other team members to Cobra’s Arctic base, where he disables the security system so that the other G.I. Joes can enter the facility.
At the base, Snake Eyes once again locks horns with Storm Shadow, and both showcase every technique they were trained in. Snake Eyes uses his Tonfas to stab Storm Shadow in the chest at the end of this tense high-octane battle. The latter seemingly dies, as he falls into the chilling waters of the Arctic.
GI Joe Retaliation
The entire team of G.I. Joes dies in a nuclear airstrike ordered by Zartan while impersonating the President of the United States. However, Roadblock, Flint, and Lady Jaye survive the attack by jumping into a well. They return to the United States and meet the original GI Joe, General Colton, who arms them with weapons. Meanwhile, Storm Shadow and Firefly rescue the Cobra Commander from a maximum-security German prison, after which Storm Shadow retreats to the Himalayas to recover from his injuries.
The current leader of the Arashikage Clan, the Blind Master, sends Snake Eyes and his student Jinx to capture Storm Shadow and make him pay for killing his own uncle and the preceding head of the clan, the Hard Master. They locate Storm Shadow after battling a few ninjas loyal to him and extract him to Japan.
Storm Shadow proves that he didn’t kill the Hard Master. The Blind Master too reaches the conclusion that it was Zartan and not Storm Shadow who had killed the great Hard Master. Storm Shadow reveals that he joined the Cobra to destroy it from the inside out. Storm Shadow then joins Snake Eyes to accompany the other G.I. Joes in their efforts to stop Zartan and exact revenge for the Hard Master’s death. But, Zartan turns out to be an extremely formidable foe.
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is set for release on July 23rd this year. Henry Golding stars in the titular role of a loner, longing for home and belongingness, which he finds at the Arashikage Clan. It will focus on the origin and life of Snake Eyes, and also how he became the stealthy ninja whose silence speaks louder than noisy lousy gun bearers. Furthermore, we are hoping that the film will be based strictly on the comics and will explore the relationship between him and Tommy aka the Storm Shadow.
However, when Snake Eyes will learn of his past and the dark secrets from the caves of time, he will have to make a few tough decisions that would test his allegiance. In the process, he may even lose the trust and faith of those who were apparently the closest to him.
The film was initially set for release on March 27th, 2020, but the Covid-19 Pandemic led to its postponement. Also, the March 27th release date was initially reserved for GI Joe Ever Vigilant, but Snake Eyes took its place. Not surprisingly, none of the cast from earlier Joe films are expected to return for this one. It seems that the producers want to completely revamp the franchise, and we might see more GI Joe films in the future, including a sequel to GI Joe Retaliation. As a treat, fans should get ready to learn Snake Eye’s real name.