“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” History Feature, trailer, images and posters

Feature for “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” takes a look at the history of the franchise, from toy line and other merchandise to the cartoon series. Special also reveals some of the background on the story.

Set ten years in the future, the film is an origin story, showing the rise of the Cobra Organization. Stephen Sommers said, “For people who know nothing about it, it’ll make sense. And to people who love this stuff, it’ll show where they all came from.” The film focuses on Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord’s (Marlon Wayans) induction into the G.I. Joe Team, providing the audience’s point-of-view. Locations include the Arctic, Paris, Moscow, Washington, D.C., Australia and the Sahara. The G.I. Joe Team is based in the Pit, while it was indicated Cobra Island will appear.

The film’s actors were scanned for Hasbro’s toy line, which will begin in July 2009 with the release of 3 3/4 inch tall action figures. The Rise of Cobra toy line also includes 12 inch figures, and vehicles, including the first play set based on the Pit in the franchise’s history. Electronic Arts is developing a video game sequel to the film, also titled G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The Electronic Rap Rock song Undead by Hollywood Undead was used in the trailers for G.I Joe.

IDW Publishing will release a four-issue prequel written by Chuck Dixon. Each issue focuses on Duke, Destro, the Baroness and Snake-Eyes respectively. It begins publication in March 2009. The weekly film adaptation is written by Denton J. Tipton and drawn by Casey Maloney. The film’s universe will be continued by a limited series about Snake-Eyes later in 2009. Ray Park enjoyed playing the character and approached writer Kevin VanHook and artist S. L. Gallant with the idea of a comic further exploring his incarnation of the character.

Directed by Stephen Sommers, the action-adventure stars Channing Tatum as Duke, Sienna Miller as The Baroness, Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, Brendan Fraser as Gung Ho, Rachel Nichols as Scarlett, Karolina Kurkova as Cover Girl, Byung-Hun Lee as Storm Shadow, Dennis Quaid as Hawk, Christopher Eccleston as Destro, Arnold Vosloo as Zartan, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty and Saïd Taghmaoui as Breaker.

The movie will hit theaters on August 7, 2009.