Baroness (G.I. Joe)
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| G.I. Joe character | |
| Baroness | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Cobra |
| File name | CLASSIFIED |
| Birthplace | CLASSIFIED |
| Primary MOS | Intelligence |
| Secondary MOS | Fixed Wing Pilot |
| Voiced by | Morgan Lofting |
| Year introduced | 1984 |
The Baroness is a character from the G.I. Joe toyline by Hasbro, originally appearing in the first issue of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic series by Marvel Comics. The Baroness is a villain, usually associated with the G.I.Joe's enemy, Cobra.
Baroness serves as the COBRA Organization's intelligence officer and lieutenant to Cobra Commander. With long black hair, black rimmed glasses, and a black leather outfit, Baroness is a dark, sensual femme fatale whose beauty is matched only by her ruthlessness. In both comic and cartoon incarnations, she has romantic relationships with Destro.
Although the character was not part of the initial G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero release in 1982, she did appear in G.I. Joe #1, published by Marvel Comics in June 1982 and was, in fact, the first character to crossover from the comics, into the animated series, and finally into the toy line. She made her debut as an action figure in the 1984 series, wearing a new uniform that was then carried back over to the comic and cartoon.
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[edit] Hasbro Action Figures
[edit] Vintage
The Baroness was introduced into the toyline in 1984, wearing her trademark black leather outfit. Because of the minimal female representation in the vintage line, this is the only Baroness figure created in the 12 year run.
After the line was canceled in 1994 (a year short of the Baroness' second figure, designed for the Battle Corps Rangers series), Hasbro made several attempts to revive G.I.Joe through repaints. In 1997, the Baroness was repainted in blue for inclusion in the Cobra Command Team 3-pack. In 2000, The mold was repainted again, in black, with red accents, as the new character "Chameleon" (a Baroness doppelganger created to sidestep a trademark problem).
[edit] Modern
In 2002, Hasbro relaunched the G.I. Joe line, and the Baroness was released in the third wave of figures, wearing a uniform heavily inspired by the original action figure. Because of Hasbro's last-minute decision to redesign the line to include G.I. Joe's traditional O-ring construction, the Baroness (and the rest of Wave 3) were sculpted by Takara's production team to keep on schedule, leaving the entire set with a stylized Japanese Anime look. As a result, the Baroness is incredibly lanky, and out-of-proportion.
A second Baroness figure was released in 2004, for the Valor vs Venom line. Once again wearing a blue uniform, hearkening back to her comic origins, this Baroness was better proportioned, and even more closely based on the Baroness' 1984 figure. The figure was repainted in black before the line ended.
[edit] Sigma 6
The Baroness was released as a 2.5" figure.
[edit] 25th anniversary
2007 is the Anniversary of the launch of G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero, the third major reinvention of the G.I.Joe brand since 1964. To celebrate, Hasbro created two boxed sets of brand new figures, featuring modern sculpt and updated and increased articulation (including the replacement of GIJoe's trademark O-Ring construction). The Baroness is included in the Cobra set, along with Cobra Commander, Destro, Storm Shadow, and a Cobra Trooper.
[edit] Comic Series
[edit] Marvel
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Very little is known of the Baroness’ past, except that she was on hand for the Tet Offensive in Southeast Asia, 1968. Visiting her brother, Anastasia is present at a meeting with indigenous relief workers that Eugene was financing. Arriving at a warehouse expected to be full of medical supplies he had donated to their cause, Eugene found nothing but questions and suspicions. When two soldiers arrive, the Baron ushers his little sister into a private office while he has words with them. Discovering they have sold his supplies for money with which to stage their offensive, Eugene is murdered. When Anastasia opens the door, she finds an American soldier standing over her brother with a smoking .45 caliber pistol.
Struck with overwhelming grief, and immediately blaming the American soldier for her loss, the Baroness is inconsolable. She is escorted from the scene as Destro (James McCullen the XXIII) and his son (James XXIV, the current Destro) enter. Destro discovers that Eugene wore a bulletproof vest, easily capable of stopping shots from Snake-Eyes’ .45 caliber handgun. He deduces the truth and clears Snake-Eyes of the crime; too late for the Baroness to hear, and far too late for her to care.
Frustrated and angered, the Baroness spends years decrying the hypocrisy of the American Government, becoming an active participant in militant revolutionary groups, eventually becoming a member of Cobra. In the time between these two events, she crosses paths with James McCullen XXIV, and the two share a romantic relationship (the extent of which has never been revealed).
The Baroness is instrumental in Cobra’s first major offensive against G.I.Joe: Operation: Lady Doomsday. Posing as a reporter, Baroness abducts Dr. Adele Burkehart and brings her back to Cobra’s island fortress. When the G.I.Joe team stage a rescue attempt, the Baroness disguises herself as the Doctor to lure the Joes toward the airfield, while the Commander make good his endgame scenario. But the Joes prove more than competent, and the Baroness is taken prisoner, only to find herself back at the Spanish Fort when G.I.Joe makes their final assault. Although the Commander is wounded, the Baroness eludes the Joes, and the two make their exit through a secret tunnel. The Baroness then pilots a small aircraft, saving the Commander from the Fort’s explosive destruction.
As Cobra’s second-in-command, the Baroness is on hand for many of Cobra’s schemes, including the Commander’s attempt to steal the G.I.Joe MOBAT during a parade in New York City, and a tireless assault on NASA’s spy satellite rescue mission. The Baroness is also present when Cobra takes Snake-Eyes prisoner, and Dr. Venom subjects him to the Brainwave Scanner. This meeting is significant for the fact that in the years since her brother’s death, Snake-Eyes has been through so much trauma and disfigurement that he is completely unrecognizable to the Baroness. She remains unaware of her connection to Snake-Eyes for a long time after this initial meeting.
When the Cobra Commander first contracts Destro, to salvage a mission in Alaska, the Baroness is forced to reveal her past associations with the masked man. The Baroness is then ordered to Sierra Gordo to oversee the transfer of Dr. Venom’s plague toxin, and set a red herring clue for G.I.Joe. Not interested in traipsing through the jungle herself, she trusts the Cobra courier, Scarface, to leave a false transmission embedded with a microdot in Cobra’s abandoned forest outpost.
Evading the G.I.Joe assault, the Baroness and Scarface escape in a plane, but the Baroness cannot pass up the opportunity to blow up the small island where Snake-Eyes, Kwinn the Eskimo, and Dr. Venom are locked in battle. Just before the bombs hit, Snake-Eyes pushes the other two into the island bunker, and all three vow revenge on her.
Confronting Destro about his connection to Scarface, the Baroness is forced to accept her beloved James’ new identity as Destro, but also demands proof of his faith in her. In a gesture of love, Destro removes his mask, and the Baroness swoons, overcome by her feelings for Destro, and the situation it puts the both of them in.
Baroness later confronts Scarlet when she and several other G.I. Joes when they attempt to rescue Snake-Eyes from Cobra custody. The fight occurs off-panel, and at first it appears that Baroness has beaten Scarlet when she suddenly appears and offers to take the remaining Joes into custody. However, it is later revealed that Scarlet had beaten Baroness into submission and left her bound and gagged in a closet after stripping her of her uniform and using it as a disguise to rescue her teammates.
The Baroness then accompanies the Cobra Commander as he visits Cobra’s secret lab in Springfield Vermont (not to be confused with Cobra’s true Springfield headquarters, located in a different, undisclosed state). Testing Dr. Venom’s toxin, both are shocked to see the plague toxin, designed to be dormant in the host for weeks, kills instantly. Not only has Dr. Venom has betrayed them, but the G.I.Joe team has discovered the location of the lab. How?
Secretly, Scarface is working for Destro, and switched out the Commander’s microdot, which would have pointed GIJoe to a false headquarters. Instead, Destro’s microdot gives G.I.Joe accurate intel on Cobra’s lab in Vermont. Having unwittingly put his beloved Baroness in the crossfire, Destro mounts a rescue operation, meant to stall G.I.Joe while the Baroness and Cobra Commander make their escape.
Suspicious of Destro, the Commander enlists Major Bludd, a hired mercenary, to dispose of Destro during a night attack on Washington. As the driver of Major Bludd’s HISS Tank, the Baroness sees his treachery, and swerved sharply to save Destro. The HISS goes out of control and rolls on its side, leaking fuel in the middle of a firefight. Badly hurt, the Baroness begs Major Bludd to help her get free, but he leaves her alone as the HISS explodes around her.
Seemingly killed in the fight, the Baroness is, in fact, rescued after the battle, and brought to Bethesda Naval Hospital where she lays severely burned, and in a coma. When the G.I.Joe Grand Slam takes Major Bludd into custody, the Baroness is moved to G.I.Joe headquarters in Staten Island as well. Luring Cobra into attacking the base after they capture Scarface in Tripoli, the Joes instigate a major skirmish at their own headquarters. During the battle of PIT I, Major Bludd kills General Flagg, and frees himself. Taking the Baroness, he leaves Scarface for dead, and escapes in a Cobra FANG.
When she awakens from her coma, Major Bludd takes the Baroness to the Bern Institute in Switzerland. Under the alias “Baroness DeCobray”, they hire Dr. Hundtkinder to perform reconstructive surgery on her face. Recovered from the surgery, the Baroness enters into a partnership with Major Bludd to blackmail Cobra Commander with the information they have about Destro’s assassination. Meeting him in Lucca, Italy, they are double crossed when the Commander unleashes Storm Shadow on them, and G.I.Joe agents Duke and Roadblock crash the party. Fleeing the scene, the Baroness, Major Bludd, and Storm Shadow manage to evade capture, but Cobra Commander is not so lucky.
Returning to Springfield, the Baroness tells Destro the truth about the Commander’s attempted assassination, as Destro reveals a bug he’s placed in Storm Shadow’s sword, which will allow them to track the ninja. The Baroness recruits Firefly and Wild Weasel to locate the signal, and dispose of Storm Shadow. However, the ninja has already discovered the bug, and mailed it to another Cobra operative: the enigmatic Zartan who lives in the Florida Everglades. With Firefly and Wild Weasel now prisoners, the Baroness and her allies are startled to find the Commander has returned, quickly rescued from G.I.Joe by Storm Shadow.
Placing Major Bludd in Springfield’s underground dungeons, the Commander takes Baroness and Destro to meet Zartan in Florida. After a firefight with G.I.Joe, the Commander orders her back to Springfield, to prepare for his return. Immediately, however, she visits Major Bludd in prison, and frees him in exchange for his help in planning the assassination of Cobra Commander.
Recruiting Billy, a young boy who works with the Anti-Cobra Underground (the same boy who helped Snake-Eyes escape Springfield after his introduction to the Brainwave Scanner), the co-conspirators begin practicing for the heinous act. When at last the rally is at hand, the Baroness is confronted by Destro, who abhors the idea of using a child as an assassin. But by then, Major Bludd is committed, and the Baroness finds her loyalties wavering. During the rally, Destro identifies Billy, and frantically rushes the stage. Stopping both the assassination, and Storm Shadow’s retaliation, Destro reveals Billy’s identity, as none other than the Cobra’ Commander’s own son.
Billy is put on trial by the Commander and Destro, who’s overcome with empathy for both father and son, and the Baroness fears she and Major Bludd may be revealed as his partners. But Billy is much stronger than he seems, and resists even the Brainwave Scanner, successfully keeping their hands clean of the whole affair.
After the assassination, the Commander begins working closer with Tomax, Xamot, and Professor Appel on the creation of Cobra Island. The Baroness and Destro find themselves eager to get back in his good graces. Looking for a new weapon, they contact Dr. Mindbender offering to help him test his experimental creeper vines, and more importantly – their android delivery system. Although the test is thwarted by Lady Jaye and a group of G.I.Joe recruits, Mindbender and the BATs are brought to Cobra Island to meet the Commander.
When they arrive, the Island has been infiltrated by Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow, while a G.I.Joe rescue team waits in the waters off the coast. While Mindbender attempts to prove his mettle, the Baroness leads a Cobra force to the beach, where she is confronted by an exhausted and badly injured Storm Shadow. Not wanting to take a chance that Billy told him about the assassination plot during their time away from Cobra, Baroness shoots him down, seemingly killing the ninja.
Not long after, G.I.Joe is given the location of the real Springfield, and the Baroness assists Destro in evacuating the town. During the battle, Dr. Mindbender’s greatest experiment is conducted, and Serpentor is created. Destro manages to successfully evacuate the entire town as Serpentor fights a holding action. Although the Baroness suggests they leave, and garner all the glory themselves, Destro chooses to extract Serpentor and his forces, furthering the rift between the formerly romantic couple.
Upon reaching Cobra Island, Serpentor begins his usurping of the Commander’s leadership, and the Baroness is quick to take up with him, seeing the reins of power being passed. When the Commander and Destro are buried alive under PIT II, the Baroness flies a Rattler over the rubble, and drops a wreath to mourn the passing of her estranged lover.
For a time, the Baroness allies herself wholly to Serpentor, and is in charge of the Terrordrome operation in Sierra Gordo when the G.I. Joe agent Flint is captured and brought into the base. When Mindbender subjects him to the Brainwave Scanner, and gets no facial reactions, he suspects the Joe is wearing a mask. Pulling it off, the Baroness confirms the identity of the massively scarred face beneath: it is actually Snake-Eyes in disguise. As G.I.Joe attacks the Terrodrome, Snake-Eyes is removed, along with the Scanner, to Cobra’s new Consulate Building in New York. As he is subjected to the Scanner again, the Consulate is attacked by Scarlett and Storm Shadow, eager to rescue their ally. After discovering Scarlett’s disguise, the Baroness is surprised when Snake-Eyes’ wolf, Timber, leaps out at her. Overpowered, the Baroness is stripped of her uniform, and Scarlett effects the rescue of both Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow in an authentic disguise.
Later, the G.I.Joe team causes a massive disruption of the Consulate in a successful bid to place a wire tap on the building. Defeated, the Baroness is recalled to Cobra Island where a schism has occurred in the leadership of Cobra: Cobra Commander has returned. With the Baroness able to identify the Commander’s real face, she is put in a transport chopper with him, and removes his helmet. Underneath is not the Commander, but one of the Crimson Guardsmen… namely Fred VII. Claiming that the Commander retired to be with his son Billy (a lie, Fred actually shot and buried the Commander in Denver), the Baroness goes along with the false Commander, and usurps control of Cobra from an embarrassed and unpopular Serpentor.
Now in de facto command of Cobra, the Baroness is forced to take Fred VII on a mission into orbit to destroy a spy satellite threatening to undo Serpentor’s Terrodrome plot. When the Cobra Shuttle is attacked by the G.I.Joe Defiant, Baroness is knocked out cold, leaving Fred VII to lead Cobra to a slim victory. Now cocky, and drunk with power, Fred drags the Baroness’ image down with him, and he ham handedly leads Cobra to defeat in Frusenland, where Battleforce 2000 discovers the truth about the Terrodromes, despite Baroness’ best efforts to defeat them.
Returning to Cobra Island, the Baroness is in attendance as Serpentor’s lackey, the Star-Viper returns from a mission to infiltrate G.I.Joe’s new base, PIT III, in Utah. Looking for a clear victory to win support back from the troops, the ceremony turns into a battle of words that erupts in the Cobra Civil War. As the leader of the first offensive, the Baroness is taken prisoner by Serpentor, and strapped to the front of his HISS tank to deter anyone from firing on him.
Into this all-encompassing war, the G.I.Joe team arrives to bolster Serpentor’s ranks, while Destro makes an appearance with his own faction: the Iron Grenadiers. While GIJoe, Serpentor, and the ‘Commander’ tear each other apart, Destro takes the airfield, and waits for his opportunity. Just as Fred’s army seems, lost, Zartan fires an arrow and slays Serpentor from across the battlefield. With his leader fallen Mindbender calls for a truce with the ‘Commander’. United against Destro, the reunified Cobra is surprised to find Destro wants only one thing: the Baroness.
Taking his prize, Destro retreats to his yacht. She reveals the true identity of the current Commander, and together they bear witness to the G.I.Joe’s unceremonious withdrawal from the Island. After helping the Joes clear their reputation in the wake of the Civil War, Destro and Baroness retire to Castle Destro in Scotland, eager to leave the intrigue and danger behind them. Sadly, the ‘Commander’ wants his enemies routed, and stages an assault on Destro’s castle. Turning the situation to his advantage, Destro captures the ‘Commander’, and effectively takes control of Cobra.
Expecting favored status in this new unified Cobra, the Baroness is displeased to discover she has been paired with Zarana to run the Cobra Consulate in New York. Zarana has implanted false memories into G.I.Joe members Clutch and Rock’n Roll in Broca Beach. Betraying Zarana, the Baroness leaks word that the Joes will be moved to the Consulate. At the same time, Snake-Eyes and Scarlett have journeyed to Switzerland to fix Snake-Eyes’ face. In another moment of fate, Snake-Eyes meets with Dr. Hundtkinder, the same surgeon who treated the Baroness. Faxing her a photo of Snake-Eyes before his disfigurement, the Baroness realizes he is the man who shot her brother. Unwilling to let him slip through her fingers again, now that she knows the truth, the Baroness sabotages Zarana’s van, allowing the Joes to capture the Dreadnoks, and rescue Clutch and Rock’n Roll.
Flying to Switzerland, the Baroness combat assaults the Bern Institute in an out-of-control spree of violence. Trapping Scarlett and a recovering Snake-Eyes, she shoots Scarlett in the head, and takes Snake-Eyes back to New York. Holding him in the Consulate’s basement, Baroness has the Paine Brothers torture him. At a critical moment, Destro arrives to get answers concerning Zarana’s capture. Barely able to conceal her guilt, the Baroness is forced to keep a straight face as Snake-Eyes overpowers the Paine Brothers and escapes into the Consulate proper. Meanwhile, Stalker, Storm Shadow and former Crimson Guardsman (Fred II) Wade Collins have been listening to the proceedings on the G.I.Joe wire tap. Taking this opportunity to rush the Consulate, they manage to get halfway up the building before Snake-Eyes detonates a huge amount of C-4, setting the top of the building on fire, and threatening to topple the entire penthouse. The Baroness and a small force of Cobra Troops have barricaded themselves inside, and watch helplessly as Storm Shadow scales the side of the building and prepares to enter the penthouse.
Once inside, Storm Shadow calls for Snake-Eyes, who reveals himself disguised as a Cobra troop. The two of them decimate the entire Cobra army, just as the building gives way under the massive damage of the explosion. Holding on for dear life, the Baroness is still overcome by her desire for revenge, and is about to shoot Snake-Eyes when Destro returns, hanging out the cargo door of his Transport Chopper. With a megaphone, he talks the Baroness back from the edge, revealing his part in her origin, and absolving Snake-Eyes of any wrong doing.
Unable to process this life-changing news, the Baroness leaps to her death, only to be saved by Storm Shadow. The ninjas help her onto Destro’s chopper, and are rescued themselves by the G.I.Joe Tomahawk. Broken by the revelation of her misguided hatred, the Baroness plans to leave Cobra, and figure out where her life is headed. In a moment of absolute devotion, Destro removes his family mask, and tosses it aside. Together, James and Anastasia retire from Cobra.
After leaving the Iron Grenadiers to Darklon, the couple returns to Castle Destro and enjoy a period of quiet reflection. However, in their absence, Cobra undergoes a dramatic revolution as the original Cobra Commander returns, and buries most of Cobra’s High Command in a freighter under the volcano on Cobra Island. After a failed attempt to kill Storm Shadow, the Commander turns his sights on the last two traitors to his cause: James and Ana.
Tipped off to the scheme by Metalhead, Destro’s spy in Cobra, the couple prepares to defend the Castle from a full assault. Destro and the Baroness manage to flee the Castle before it is destroyed, but while fleeing the Baroness is hit, and taken prisoner by the Cobra Commander. Subjected to the Brainwave Scanner, the Baroness is implanted with commands while the Commander wages an all out Search and Destroy bounty on Destro. When the tables are turned, the Commander not only agrees to return the Baroness, but to give Destro the Silent Castle in Trans-Carpathia, in reparation for the Castle he destroyed.
In a double cross, the Baroness’ hypnotic suggestions are activated by radio signal from a Cobra Hurricane. But before the Baroness can overpower Destro, they are attacked by Slice and Dice, who lead the Red Ninjas that dwell in the Castle’s subcellars. As they fight for survival, the G.I.Joe team (called for protection by Destro) fights with an advance team of Cobra troops. The G.I.Joe Ninja Force arrives to defend Destro, while the Commander shows up to personally handle the matter, and the fighting escalates on all sides. But when they get a moment alone, Destro touches the Baroness’ heart, and reminds her of his promise to always love her, as long as Castle Destro stands. Then, in a grand gesture of his love, he activates a series of levers in the Silent Castle, causing it to transform, and reconfigure into a larger, more majestic version of Castle Destro, proving his love is everlasting.
Making a second attempt to retire from the war, the Baroness grows bored of the mountain estate. But all too soon, the Cobra coils around them again. This time, the Commander succeeds in capturing them both, and locks them in a sewage drain under the Castle’s subcellar. Breaking their bounds, Destro and the Baroness enter the myriad of secret passages in the walls of the Castle. Buying time before a G.I.Joe extraction team can rescue them, Destro once again reconfigures the Castle into a nightmare structure halfway between his Scottish Estate and the Cobra Headquarters. Escaping with Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow, Destro and the Baroness ally themselves with G.I.Joe and are taken to an abandoned Cobra Island, where they meet Zartan. After revealing Cobra’s plans to revive Dr. Mindbender, Zartan returns to Trans-Carpathia with the couple, and takes back the Castle from a skeleton crew of Cobra troops.
Enjoying another short respite from Cobra, the trio are joined by Billy, returned from parts unknown. All too soon, however, the Cobra Commander arrives, and activates brain implants in both Destro and Zartan, bending them to his will. Although the Baroness and Billy utilize the Castle’s secret passages to evade capture, they are thwarted by Destro himself. After being tortured for a time, Billy is ready to crack, and the Baroness does her best to keep him together. But Billy turns on his cellmate, ratting her out for trying to escape. When the two of them are brought up to the control room, Billy makes a mad dash to the console and launches an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, alerting G.I.Joe to the goings-on in Trans-Carpathia.
In return for deceiving him, the Commander not only kicks the Baroness in the face, but proceeds to capture Storm Shadow, and reconfigure all three of their minds with the Brainwave Scanner. As Snake-Eyes arrives to rescue them all, the Baroness emerges as part of Cobra Renewed, and helps route Snake-Eyes and the G.I.Joe extraction force. When the Commander is temporarily taken hostage, the Baroness steps up, and assumes control of Cobra, reestablishing her abilities as a field commander.
The series ends here, with the Baroness still a willing member of Cobra.
[edit] Devil’s Due
In “The Mission That Never Was”, it is revealed that the core G.I.Joe members were sent on one final mission, which resulted in Cobra’s Brainwave Scanner being corrupted by a virus that spread through the entirety of their mainframe. Crippled and defeated, Cobra then fell to a ‘unified military attack’ (this attack is never detailed in a story, but hinted at in various “Battle Files” entries). A happy side effect of this confluence of events was the incapacitation of the Brainwave Scanner. Without repeated ‘self-medication’ via the Scanner, the Baroness was freed from her artificial loyalty to Cobra. It is left ambiguous as to how Destro overcame his brain implant (which was self-contained, and thus unaffected by the virus), but it is speculated that, as happened in the Silent Castle some time earlier, the love between James and Ana can overcome any obstacle. The two returned to Trans-Carpathia and retired from the intrigue and danger of Cobra, but continued to rebuild MARS establishing an outpost in Scotland.
When Destro took ill, and his illegitimate son Alexander took over M.A.R.S. and the Destro identity, Baroness was forced to go along with him to keep James safe. Remaining stoically resistant to Alex’s plan, the Baroness berates him with unfavorable comparisons to his father. Keeping the Commander in Scotland, along with Snake-Eyes and Scarlett, the Baroness is forced to watch Mistress Armada, Alexander's strategist, spill secrets to the enemy. When Alexander's plan inevitably fails, the Baroness rescue him and Armada, only to deliver them to a seething, but cured, James Destro for punishment.
Soon after this, the Baroness is kidnapped by the Yakuza, and Destro teams up with G.I.Joe (Flint has also gone missing) to rescue her. Alone with Flint, the Baroness shows incomparable strength, resisting the Yakuza’s torture methods. When she and Flint manage to escape, she pulls her own weight, and the two evade recapture until the joint Joe/Cobra force rescues them. In a vain gesture of cruelty, the Baroness kisses Flint in front of Lady Jaye, sewing seeds of doubt in a strong relationship, which seems contradictory to the Baroness’ character after learning of her brother’s true fate.
When Cobra Commander is captured by Serpentor and his new faction, the Coil, Destro is summoned to lead Cobra in a rescue mission. When the Commander returns to Cobra, Destro takes the opportunity to leave for good. In a shocking twist, however, the Baroness does not join him. After an elaborate scheme is derailed by Duke, Destro is arrested. The Commander leaves it to the Baroness to decide Destro’s fate, and she votes to let him rot.
Put on trial by the U.N., Destro turns the tables and offers the guaranteed capture of Cobra Commander to assure his release. Taking his offer, the Joes are charged with transporting Destro by train, to lure Cobra into a trap. When both Cobra Commander and Baroness arrive to free Destro, the Commander and Hawk throw down. Defeating his foe, the Commander shoots Hawk in the back, only to be shot by a traitorous Baroness.
The ruse is successful, and the Commander is in U.S. custody, leaving Destro and his pregnant wife in control of Cobra. This period is short-lived, however, and the Commander soon returns to reclaim Cobra once and for all. During the coup, the Baroness and Wraith (charged with her personal safety) are seemingly killed when the Commander detonates the Night Raven they are aboard.
[edit] America’s Elite
The Baroness resurfaces, a year after the defeat of the Red Shadows, as a prisoner in the sub-basement of G.I.Joe’s new Headquarters, the Rock. Her existence is known to only a few, including General Joseph Colton, Duke, and Storm Shadow, who attempts to wrest information from her. But the Baroness is all-consumed by her desire for her baby, which she apparently carried to term, and has been separated from by the G.I.Joe team.
Storm Shadow passed the information about the Baroness’ imprisonment to Snake-Eyes, thinking he was about to sacrifice himself to save the G.I.Joe team on Destro’s Sub. The news then travels to Stalker and Scarlett, who take it upon themselves to confront Colton about the heinous act just as the Phoenix Guard attack the Rock. In the middle of the battle, the Baroness’ cell is opened, and she makes her way to the roof, where she confronts and thoroughly thrashes Zarana (who was posing as Phoenix Guard member Friday) before escaping the Joe base.
The Baroness is the focal point of the follow-up story arc, "Sins of the Mother". Confronting Scalpel for his misdeeds, she tortures him with his own scalpel, and leaves him disfigured and near death. She then enlists the help of Major Bludd to enact revenge on G.I. Joe. Sending him to Saudi Arabia to distract the Joes, the Baroness then tracks down and kills Wraith herself. Taking his armour, she strikes a bargain with Red Shadows' leader, Wilder Vaughn, for the location of Cobra Commander. After dealing with Flint (who had been spying on the Shadows), the Baroness finally confronts Cobra Commander, only to be stopped by Destro himself.
The Joes arrive, including Flint, and are forced to lay down arms. Repeating her actions after the Yakuza incident, Baroness kisses Flint, passing him something that enables him to free himself, and throwing the whole confrontation into upheaval. The situation is quelled, however, when Destro offers Cobra Commander control of M.A.R.S. in exchange for his infant son, Eugen. Reunited with her son, at last, the Baroness leaves with Destro, falling off the radar as World War III begins.
[edit] Alternate Continuities
[edit] Battle Action Force (IPC)
In IPC's Battle Action Force comic, Baroness was originally Anna von Stromberg, daughter of Austrian aristocrats. She joined a gang of small time Communist radicals, encouraging them towards violence; faking her death and assuming control of the group under the new name Baroness, she led the "Muller-Stromberg gang" in a series of highly destructive terrorist acts across Europe, taking out oil refineries, air bases and dams. While paying lip service to the group's ideology, she was only using them to prove her strategic abilities to COBRA and get hired; once Cobra Commander contacted her, she wiped out her group and made her way to COBRA's jungle base.
[edit] Action Force (Marvel UK)
The larger part of Marvel UK's run of Action Force were simple reprints of the American G.I.Joe Comic. Most issues, however, feature an original Action Force story, usually a 5-page installment of a larger storyline. The Baroness' role in these issues was minimal, at best.
[edit] Sigma 6
Devil's Due created a mini-series based on Sigma 6. It follows the style and the content of the cartoon series, spotlighting a different member of Sigma 6 and Cobra in each issue. Baroness appears in issue 4 opposite G.I. Joe Scarlett. Baroness kidnaps a Prime Minister after using members of the Drednoks to distract Scarlett. In the end, Scarlett finds her, and after a few taunts from Baroness, Scarlett beats Baroness and recovers the Prime Minister.
[edit] Animated Series
[edit] Sunbow
The Baroness made her first animated appearance in the G.I. Joe mini-series, The MASS Device. Her animated incarnation was a master of disguise, even pretending to be a camera man in a film crew. She has since been replaced by Zarana in this field. She is romantically involved with Destro, who often expresses frustration with her. On one occasion, Destro's disrespect for the Baroness led to her destroying his ancestral home in an act of vengeance. The Baroness tends to try and set both herself and Destro up as Cobra's leaders, and shows contempt for other members of Cobra, such as Cobra Commander, Tomax and Xamot and the Dreadnoks. She is not directly involved in the plot to create Serpentor in Season Two, but is later seen loyal to him.
In the episode "Worlds Without End," the Joes encounter an alternate reality in which Cobra rules the United States and GI Joe has been all but wiped out. In that reality, the Baroness is a double agent, Steeler's lover, and (it seems) the only surviving Joe. The episode ends with the Baroness engineering a civil war between Cobra Commander and Destro, allowing most of the Joe team to return to their own reality (though Steeler, Clutch and Grunt elect to remain to rebuild the GI Joe force).
She is voiced by actress Morgan Lofting with an exaggerated Russian accent in both series.
[edit] The Movie
In G.I Joe: The Movie she is seen to quickly side with Cobra-La, and she apparently escapes their destruction at the end of the film.
[edit] DIC
Following the events of the Movie, the Baroness finds the organization of Cobra has changed with Cobra Commander gone, Destro has dumped her in favor of Zarana. The Baroness is humiliated and infuriated about this, and has also grown tired of Serpentor's leadership, feeling she had more worthwhile things to do when Cobra Commander was in charge. She joins with the Dreadnok Gnawgahyde and they return Cobra Commander, still a snake kept by Serpentor, to semi human form. The Commander ultimately takes back Cobra from Serpentor, and Destro dumps Zarana to get back with the Baroness. The Baroness and Destro are seen to be back together by the end of the first mini series and the Baroness was much more loyal to the newly returned leader Cobra Commander. Destro and the Baroness were rarely seen together in the series after this.
[edit] Sigma 6
In the series, G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, the Baroness is loyal to Cobra Commander. In a departure from her previous incarnations, her fingers appear to be composed of metal, suggesting they are cybernetic in nature. If so, how much of her hands and arms are robotic is unknown, since they are covered in long gloves with only the fingers exposed. She is also shown to have the ability to create holographic duplicates of herself to distract or confuse her opponents.
[edit] Feature Film
The Baroness is set to appear in the live action G.I. Joe movie, played by Sienna Miller. The film is slotted for an Aug. 7, 2009 release date.
[edit] Other Media
Baroness appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Joint Point" voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
[edit] External links
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