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Easter eggs
Hidden details in every movie and series: 47 in total. Tap a poster to see its eggs. Titles you haven't marked as seen stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- Behind the scenesTatum wanted to be Snake Eyes
Channing Tatum turned down the role of Duke seven times. He later said he only took it because of a three-picture deal with Paramount, and that the part he really wanted was Snake Eyes.
source ↗ - CameoBrendan Fraser as Sergeant Stone
Brendan Fraser shows up uncredited as Sergeant Stone. Per the DVD commentary, he asked Stephen Sommers, who had directed him in The Mummy, for a part.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesLarry Hama kept Snake Eyes silent
Larry Hama, who wrote the Marvel comics, worked as a consultant on the film. He pulled the script closer to the comics and talked the team into cutting a scene where Snake Eyes spoke.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe iron mask of 1641
The prologue is set in 1641 France: an ancestor of James McCullen is punished with a red-hot iron mask for selling weapons to Louis XIII's enemies. It's the first nod to Destro's mask.
source ↗ - ReferenceBreaker's gum
During the Paris battle, Breaker chews gum the whole time, a nod to the original Breaker. Also, Cobra Commander's mask was redesigned because the comics version looked too much like a Ku Klux Klan hood.
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- Behind the scenesBruce Willis instead of Sgt. Slaughter
Bruce Willis's General Joe Colton filled the slot many fans wanted for Sgt. Slaughter. The wrestler said a conflict between Hasbro and Mattel kept him from taking the part.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesDelayed by almost a year
It was set to open on June 29, 2012. In May 2012, Paramount moved it to March 2013 to convert it to 3D. That also got it out of the way of Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum, on the same date.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe Himalayas were inside NASA
Shooting started in August 2011 in Louisiana, where Fort Pike stood in for Fort Sumter. The mountain fight was filmed in a NASA building at Michoud, using a steeply angled green screen wall and stunt performers on rigs.
source ↗ - ReferenceGeneral Patton's pistol
At the closing ceremony, Colton hands Roadblock General Patton's own M1911 pistol, to use when they find Cobra Commander.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBanned in Pakistan
Pakistan's film censor board banned the movie for showing the country as unstable and for a fictional raid on its nuclear sites.
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- Behind the scenesHenry Golding replaces Ray Park
Henry Golding was cast in August 2019, taking over from Ray Park, the Snake Eyes of the two earlier films. Andrew Koji stepped in as Storm Shadow, previously played by Lee Byung-hun.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesReal castles in Japan
Filming began in Vancouver in October 2019 and moved to Japan in January 2020. The crew shot at Kishiwada Castle and the Engyō-ji temple and wrapped on February 26, just before the pandemic.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesRecommended by Chad Stahelski
Japan's Kenji Tanigaki handled action, stunts and second unit. He got the job on the recommendation of John Wick director Chad Stahelski.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe name comes from the dice
"Snake eyes" is a roll of double ones. It's what the hero's father rolls right before he's killed, which is why the son takes the name.
source ↗ - CameoIko Uwais as Hard Master
The Raid star Iko Uwais plays Hard Master, Tommy's uncle. In the earlier films and the comics, the Hard Master is the Arashikage clan's teacher.
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- Behind the scenesAnimated by Toei
Sunbow wrote the scripts, Marvel Productions did storyboards and voice recording, and Japan's Toei Animation animated all 95 episodes and the 1987 movie.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesRon Friedman created the cartoon
Writer Ron Friedman built the show from Hasbro's toy line and wrote both opening miniseries, in 1983 and 1984.
source ↗ - ReferenceHow Timber the wolf came along
In Part 3, Snake Eyes survives a blizzard, frees a trapped wolf and is nursed by a blind hermit, who names the wolf Timber. In Larry Hama's comics, Timber is Snake Eyes's wolf too.
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- Behind the scenesRenamed for reruns
In reruns, the miniseries was retitled The Weather Dominator, after Destro's weather-control machine.
source ↗ - ReferenceDuke vs. Snake Eyes in the arena
The Arena of Sport from the first miniseries returns in Part 2. This time Cobra forces Duke and Snake Eyes to fight each other.
source ↗ - SetupStorm Shadow spares Spirit
In Part 4, Storm Shadow gets the chance to finish off Spirit and lets it go. Keep that in mind about Cobra's ninja.
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- Behind the scenesKnowing is half the battle
Every episode closed with a safety tip for kids. The kid said "Now we know!" and the Joe answered "And knowing is half the battle."
source ↗ - Behind the scenesRed lasers, blue lasers
Kids' TV rules banned real guns and on-screen deaths. The Joes fire red lasers and Cobra fires blue, and nearly every pilot bails out before a vehicle blows up.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA season without Hawk
General Hawk doesn't appear in any of the 55 episodes from 1985. Duke leads the team in the field.
source ↗ - ReferenceSkeletons in Worlds Without End
In the two-part Worlds Without End, Steeler, Grunt and Clutch find the skeletons of their counterparts in a Cobra-ruled world and stay behind to replace them. It's as close to death as the cartoon got.
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- CameoSgt. Slaughter plays himself
Wrestler Sgt. Slaughter joins the team in the Arise, Serpentor, Arise! miniseries and voices himself.
source ↗ - ReferenceNo Sun Tzu DNA
Serpentor is grown from the DNA of Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Rasputin and other conquerors. Cobra never got Sun Tzu's, so Sgt. Slaughter's went in instead.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesHawk is back, no explanation
After vanishing in 1985, General Hawk returns in 1986 as Duke's boss, with no explanation for the gap.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe Coil that never came
The final episode, Into Your Tent I Will Silently Creep, shows Cobra Commander founding the Coil. It set up a third season that never happened once Marvel lost the show to DiC.
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- Behind the scenesDuke was supposed to die
In the original script, Duke died from Serpentor's spear and even got a funeral. After the backlash to Optimus Prime's death in The Transformers: The Movie, Hasbro reversed course, and new dialogue turned the death into a coma.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesCobra-La was a placeholder
The writers used Cobra-La as a stand-in, borrowed from Shangri-La in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon. Hasbro liked it and the name stuck.
source ↗ - CameoDon Johnson and Burgess Meredith
Miami Vice's Don Johnson voices Lt. Falcon, Duke's half-brother. Burgess Meredith, Mickey in Rocky, voices Golobulus, ruler of Cobra-La.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesIt was meant for theaters
It was planned as Hasbro's third theatrical feature, after My Little Pony: The Movie and The Transformers: The Movie. Delays and weak box office for both sent it straight to video on August 25, 1987.
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- Behind the scenesA cheaper studio
Hasbro swapped Sunbow for DiC to cut costs. The show was made in Canada with an almost entirely new voice cast.
source ↗ - ReferenceDestro goes gold
Destro comes back with a gold mask instead of the silver one, plus a new shoulder gauntlet. Maurice LaMarche voices him, since Arthur Burghardt didn't return.
source ↗ - ReferenceStorm Shadow is a Joe
Here Storm Shadow is already a Joe, matching the Marvel comics, where he left Cobra.
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- Behind the scenesJapanese animation by Gonzo
The show was produced by America's 4Kids and animated by Japanese studio Gonzo. The anime style made Duke, Scarlett and others much younger.
source ↗ - ReferenceFollows two CGI movies
Sigma 6 picks up from the direct-to-video CGI films Spy Troops and Valor vs. Venom, though it changes characters and continuity.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe ending aired in Canada
Not all 26 episodes aired on US TV. The show finished its run on Canada's YTV in 2007.
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- Behind the scenesEllis didn't know G.I. Joe
Warren Ellis, the comics writer behind Transmetropolitan, was brought on by Sam Register despite never having followed G.I. Joe. Joaquim Dos Santos directed.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesNot Beijing, Moscow is fine
Hasbro let Ellis do anything except destroy Beijing. Wiping out Moscow was fine.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesDial-Tone got promoted
Dial-Tone was a background character until her lines won the producers over and they made her a Joe. Ellis picked the codename.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesIt debuted online
All 11 episodes went up on Adult Swim Video on April 17, 2009. A week later, on April 25, they aired on TV as a movie.
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- ReferenceThe M.A.S.S. Device returns
Episode 25 brings back the M.A.S.S. Device, the teleporter from the 1983 miniseries.
source ↗ - Reference1980s Flight Pods
Episode 18 introduces Cobra's Flight Pods, vehicles straight out of the original cartoon.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesWhy there was no S2
In 2023, Henry Gilroy said the show ended over creative clashes with Hasbro: the planned second season resembled the live-action films, and the company was focused on G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
source ↗ - ReferenceDuke's scar
In the final episode, Duke picks up the scar over his left eye that becomes his trademark in this version.
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