G.I. Joe casualties
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G.I. Joe is one of the most popular toyline from the 1980’s produced by Hasbro. It is also made into comics first published by Marvel Comics and later, Devil's Due Productions. The comics series tend to be more realistic with the consequences of violence. Because G.I. Joe is a property of Hasbro, publisher Marvel can only publish stories as approved by Hasbro. One of the criticisms by fans is the uncanny luck of the Joes to survive any situation with wounded in action as worst-case scenario. With the exception of characters created solely for the comics, characters who appeared in the toys were not killed until later issues of the series.
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[edit] Cartoon
In G.I. Joe: The Movie, one of the commanding officers, Duke was originally to have been killed by Serpentor. Since the Duke action figure was no longer in production, Hasbro gave the approval. Negative fan and parental reaction to Optimus Prime's death in Transformers: The Movie prompted producers to change his death into a coma and in the ending he is reported to be recovering. Interestingly, the following year after the movie was released, Hasbro released a new Duke action figure and almost every year on, guaranteeing his continued survival. The Cobra-La leader, Golobulus and his underling Nemesis Enforcer seemingly died in that same movie, but it is unconfirmed.
Conversely, The Greatest Evil, an episode of the DiC-animated series features the only character to verifably die in a G.I. Joe animated episode. The Headman, a drug dealer not aligned with either G.I. Joe or Cobra, killed by a massive drug overdose as a part of the "Drugs kill" theme of the episode. As if to hammer the message home, his fortress then collapsed, burying him. (Ironically, a repaint of the Headman figure was released in 2002.)
[edit] Comics
Although several characters had been killed in the comics during its early issues in the early 1980's, none of these had been made into toys by Hasbro at that time.
However, this all appeared to have changed in issue #61 of the Marvel run of G.I. Joe. Fred VIII, a Crimson Guard, shot Cobra Commander in the back and took his place. A couple years later, series writer, Larry Hama, retconned this event by having Cobra Commander actually survive the deadly bullet.
It wasn't until Marvel's issue #76, during a civil war on Cobra Island where Serpentor was shot with an arrow, that a toy figure by Hasbro was actually killed.
When Cobra Commander returned, several Cobra and enemy characters were killed off by Cobra Commander's "freighter cleaning" episode in Marvel #99. Several of these were eventually retconned or cloned, but most remain dead.
Later on, in an effort to renew interest in the series, writer Larry Hama suggested to Hasbro about killing off characters who were no longer in production in the toyline. Some of the choices Hama made were controversial because some of the characters were popular. However, Hama felt that it would be unrealistic to only kill off the least popular characters.
In the Devil’s Due comic series, the creative team introduced the concept of the "Greenshirts" in order to better address the realism of battle. (In the first 2 animated mini-series, the Greenshirts -- copies of Basic Infantryman Grunt -- were used to increase the number of "good guys" in large battle scenes.) This was criticized by fans as being similar to Star Trek’s "Redshirts" whose sole purpose was to assist the lead characters and get killed for dramatic effect.
During the Battle on Cobra Island in the Devil's Due series, several more characters were killed.
The emergence of a new group known as the Red Shadows also brought about a few more G.I. Joe and Cobra deaths, including long time favorite Lady Jaye.
[edit] Casualty list
The following is a list of the Joes and Cobras killed:
[edit] G.I. Joe
- Gen. Flagg – At the time of his death General Flagg was a non-toy character and was the original G.I. Joe commander in the comic series. He was killed by Major Bludd during Cobra’s first attack on the Joe’s headquarters, the Pit in Marvel #19. Although a General Flagg figure was released in the early 90s, his file card listed him as the son of General Flagg. The General Flagg of the comics was finally released with the introduction of the 3 figure comic packs, which included a reprinted related comic in which the characters were involved.
- Mangler – Possibly, the first "Greenshirt" in the comics, he wore nothing more than a simple fatigue. He was on probationary status and therefore was not yet a Joe. He was killed during a secret raid in the fictional country of Trucial Abysmia in Marvel SM#13.
- Doc, Crankcase, Heavymetal, Thunder – Captured by Cobra during another mission in Trucial Abysmia and executed in Marvel #109.
- Breaker, Crazylegs, Quick Kick – Captured and later killed while escaping from Cobra in Trucial Abysmia in Marvel #109.
- Cool Breeze – a non-toy Joe killed-in-action during a reconnaissance mission in the fictional country Emirate of Benzheen in Marvel #112. Many readers were initially fooled to thinking he was really a new toy-based character because of his unique design.
- Avalanche, Blaster, Blocker, Dee-Jay, Knockdown, Maverick – All members of the Battle Force 2000 were killed by Cobra artillery after Cobra Commander went back on a peace treaty in Marvel #113. Dodger was the only team member to survive.
- Sneak-Peek – Killed-in-action in a reconnaissance mission while another major battle is taking place in Benzheen in Marvel #113.
- Sneak Peek (II) – killed early in the Devil's Due series (non-toy).
- Daemon - killed by Serpentor in Devil's Due #28 (non-toy).
- Flash, Mainframe – Killed-in-action during the second invasion of Cobra Island in DD #25.
- Chuckles - Killed by Coil agent, Overlord during the second invasion of Cobra Island in DD #25.
- Skidmark – Probably killed-in-action during the second invasion of Cobra Island in G.I. Joe #25 (Devil's Due series). This remains in question, as he is listed as an available reservist in the recent Data Desk Handbook, published by Devil's Due.
- Tracker - Assassinated by a Red Shadow agent.
- Hardball, Rampart - Killed by Red Shadow agents in DD #38.
- Glenda - Killed by Red Shadow agents in issue #38 of the Devil's Due series. Although she never had a US-sold figure, she was one of the better-known foreign figures.
- Scanner - Non-figure G.I. Joe agent who died saving (and subsequently killing Overlord) Snake-Eyes, Scarlett and Duke in DD #41.
- Lady Jaye - Killed by a female agent of the Red Shadows in DD #42. Confirmed dead in DD #43. First major character killed.
[edit] Cobra and other enemies
- Dr. Venom - Killed by Kwinn in G.I. Joe #19.
- Scarface - Killed when he was trapped in the G.I. Joe pre-fab fortress when it was destroyed in G.I. Joe #19.
- Serpentor - Believed killed by Zartan during the Cobra Civil War in G.I. Joe #76 (Marvel series). Reanimated Serpentor is then critically injured by Cobra Commander in G.I. Joe #25 (Devil's Due series). He is later shown to be alive in a stasis tank which is then destroyed by the Red Shadow, Mars Harring. He is subsequently believed, but not proven to be, dead.
- Croc Master I – Trapped in a landlocked freighter under a volcano in Cobra Island in G.I. Joe #98 and later died of food poisoning.
- Fred VII – Impersonated Cobra Commander in a battle armor suit. He was trapped by the original Cobra Commander in a landlocked freighter under a volcano in Cobra Island in G.I. Joe #98 and later died of food poisoning.
- Raptor – Trapped in a landlocked freighter under a volcano in Cobra Island in G.I. Joe #98 and later died of food poisoning.
- Voltar – Trapped in a landlocked freighter under a volcano in Cobra Island in G.I. Joe #98 and later died of food poisoning.
- Crystal Ball - His actual status in the comic books is unknown, but trading cards produced by Impel in 1991 have an In Memoriam subset featuring all the characters who died in the comic books. Crystal Ball is included and the card simply states that he died in an earthquake in the Himalayas.
- Cobra-La - Cobra-La never appeared in the comic books' regular continuity, but just like Crystal Ball, Impel's G.I. Joe trading cards includes all of Cobra in the In Memoriam subset. The cards simply state they died in an earthquake in the Himalayas.
- Dr. Mindbender - Trapped in a landlocked freighter under a volcano in Cobra Island in G.I. Joe #98 and later died of food poisoning. He was later revived in G.I. Joe #140 by Cobra Commander as a clone with most if not all memories of the original.
- Dr. Mindbender's clone - Shot and murdered by Cobra Commander in issue #41 of the Devil's Due series.
- Darklon - In G.I. Joe #146, he was killed by a missile strike on his castle in Darklonia which Cobra later invades.
- Big Boa - Killed by Red Shadow agents.
- Asa Negra - Another Cobra agent killed by the Red Shadows in issue #38 of the Devil's Due series.
- Overlord - Coil general who died in an explosion (detonated by Scanner) at a remote base while attempting to murder Duke, Snake-Eyes and Scarlett in Devil's Due Publishing's G.I. Joe #41.
[edit] Oktober Guard
- Colonel Brekhov - Killed in Sierra Gordo in G.I. Joe Special Missions #26.
- Horror Show - Killed in Sierra Gordo in G.I. Joe Special Missions #26.
- Shrage - Killed in Sierra Gordo in G.I. Joe Special Missions #26.
- Stormavik - Killed in Sierra Gordo in G.I. Joe Special Missions #26.
- Lieutenant Gorky - Shot by Destro in G.I. Joe #19 of the Devil's Due series.
[edit] Supporting characters
- Blind Master - Killed by Zartan
- Hard Master - Killed by Zartan in G.I. Joe #26 (flashback scene)
- Kwinn - Killed by Dr. Venom in G.I. Joe #19.
- Magda - Killed in Borovia in G.I. Joe #145.
- Ophelia - Snake-Eyes' first apprentice. Killed by Firefly in Master and Apprentice #1
- Soft Master - Killed by Scrap Iron
- White Clown - Killed in Borovia in G.I. Joe #145.
