| “ | On my orders, the covert special forces unit, codenamed Cobra, terminated with extreme prejudice Joe command, facilities, personnel. The GI Joes... are no more. | „ |
| ~ Zartan as the President. |
| “ | U.S. nuclear arsenal is capable of destroying each of your countries fourteen times over. Fifteen in the case of North Korea, just to be sure. And all... at the push... of a button. | „ |
| ~ Zartan as President, moments before initiating nuclear warfare. |
Zartan is a recurring antagonist in the G.I. Joe film series, serving as a supporting antagonist in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and the secondary antagonist in G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
He is a mercenary serving James McCullen, and later the Cobra Commander, in their schemes for world domination. Unknown to many, Zartan had a pivotal role in how Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow turned out to be as adults by killing the Hard Master, their mentor, leading the former to turn into a Cobra assassin.
He was portrayed by Arnold Vosloo in his true form. While disguised as the President, he was portrayed by Jonathan Pryce, who also played Mr. Dark in Something Wicked This Way Comes and Elliot Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- He killed the Hard Master and framed Storm Shadow for the crime, eventually turning him into a merciless killer meant to serve Cobra.
- During a raid on the Joes' base, he killed Cover Girl despite her posing no threat, an act that left even Storm Shadow disgusted.
- He killed a man outside of the Joes' base to disguise himself as him.
- He took over the President of the United States' position, had Storm Shadow assassinate the President of Pakistan, plunged the country into chaos, and framed Snake Eyes for it, justifying the Joes' operation to steal Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
- He accused the Joes of nuclear terrorism and sent the Cobra to eliminate them all, with all Joes except for Roadblock, Lady Jaye and Flint getting killed, including Duke.
- He tormented the real president and implied that he may go as far as to hurt his loved ones, simultaneously being the "president".
- In the Extended Cut of Retaliation, he even ordered the President's son to be killed for annoying him, but it's unknown if the threat was ever carried out, which would make him far worse if it did.
- While he broke Cobra Commander out of prison, it doesn't confirm that he respects or genuinely cares for him and appears to serve him only for the position of power he gets by doing so, or simply because he wants to.
- When the world leaders refused to immediately dismantle their nuclear weapons, he declared war on everyone and launched the United States' nuclear arsenal at them.
- While he did destroy the missiles before they could hit any target, he only did so to prompt the other world leaders into doing the same, and the only reason he wanted a nuclear-free world was so that COBRA wouldn't fear retaliation for their next action.
- Under Cobra Commander's orders, he activated the Zeus satellite system, dropping a single projectile on the United Kingdom's capital London, destroying it. Had the Joes and Storm Shadow not interfered, other capital cities would suffer the same fate unless their leaders submitted to COBRA.
- Despite admitting to Storm Shadow that him killing the Hard Master and framing his apprentice to later groom him into an assassin was wrong, he doesn't feel remorse for his actions except for what they led him to.
- While it may seem at first that he is just following the Cobra Commander's orders, he takes great sadistic pleasure in doing so.
- While he has some minor comedic moments, such as playing Angry Birds in the midst of a starting nuclear war, they don't lighten the mood and thus don't detract from his villainy.
Trivia[]
- Zartan is, alongside Cobra Commander and Destro, one of three villains from the G.I. Joe film series to be Pure Evil.
- He is the only version of Zartan to be Pure Evil so far.
External Links[]
- Zartan on the Villains Wiki
- Zartan on the G.I. Joepedia Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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