| “ | The time has come for the cobra to rise up and reveal himself. You will call me... COMMANDER! | „ |
| ~ Rex Lewis overthrowing James McCullen and becoming Cobra Commander. |
| “ | The Cobra Revolution has begun. | „ |
| ~ Cobra Commander after taking over the White House |
Rexford "Rex" Lewis, also known as Cobra Commander and formerly as the Doctor, is the main antagonist of the G.I. Joe film series, serving as one of the two main antagonists (along with Destro) of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and the main antagonist of G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
He was a former military scientist who became influenced by the nanomite research from M.A.R.S Industries, and thus, his thirst for knowledge gave him little regard for human life. He eventually took over M.A.R.S. and became the founder and supreme leader of the terrorist organization COBRA. He was a close friend of Conrad Hauser/Duke and brother to Ana Lewis, who later became the Baroness.
He was portrayed and voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Rise Of Cobra and by Luke Bracey in Retaliation while his voice was provided by Robert Baker.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
In General[]
- Although Rex is Pure Evil, he technically does have a Freudian Excuse; losing his parents when he was young and left as orphans. Later on, he was left to die by his best friend Duke, eventually became a villain. While it doesn't justify his actions because of how he chose his path of villainy, it's still a understandable motive.
- While he is Pure Evil, most of his actions lack severe visceral cruelty, not being as downright sadistic as others like his right-hand Zartan or James McCullen/Destro, and that all his vile actions are presented as cheesily over the top action movie villainy, preventing them from being legitimately disgusting. Best case being the very destruction of London, was only saved on being outright onscreen from having not enough weight to be heinous enough, as the story itself doesn't dwell much on it and passes it by as if it never happened.
- Rex expressed that he truly did love his sister despite his corruption, and believed that he had given her life purpose and a way to deal with the pain of being "truly alone" by programming her to work for McCullen so that she could move on from her broken heart.
- He manages to gain some respect from his men, with a notable example being a random soldier saying "It's good to have you back, Sir."
Rise of Cobra[]
- Once he survived the airstrike at the laboratory, he helped Dr. Mindbender to perfect the nanomites research, while working for James McCullen's company M.A.R.S Industries to conquer the world.
- He prepared Zartan for his part on McCullen's plan: to impersonate the current President on the United States by using nanomites, while holding real president as hostage.
- Overthrowing McCullen and turning him into Destro by injecting the nanomites into him. Assuming control of M.A.R.S Industries, Rex renamed it into COBRA and his plans of conquering earth came to fruition when he and Destro were imprisoned.
Retaliation[]
- He has a backup plan to break himself out of prison with barely any damage to his resources.
- He nearly took over the entire world by manipulating multiple world leaders (via Zartan disguised as the US President) into destroying their nukes, managing to take over the White House and turn most of the world power to him, which only failed due to Storm Shadow's betrayal and intervention by the G.I. Joes.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- Experimenting on and brainwashing countless people, including his own sister in order to make her the Baroness and more soldiers from James McCullen.
- Tried to kill his sister in spite of loving her, to provoke Duke into servitude.
- He left Destro behind during his prison escape.
- In an attempt to intimidate and force loyalty from several of the world's leaders, he dropped one of the Zeus warheads unto London, killing millions and (possibly) destroying Britain.
Trivia[]
- He is the only G.I Joe villain to be Magnificent Baddie so far.
External Links[]
- Cobra Commander on the Villains Wiki
- Cobra Commander on the Pure Evil wiki.