Cobra

The Cobra, born Klaus Voorhees in Rotterdam, Netherlands, is a Dutch villain and former scientific research assistant. After being bitten by a radioactive cobra, Voorhees inherited various snakelike qualities, and went on to create several weapons to aid him in battle.

Biography

Origin

In 1963, Klaus Voorhees was working under biologist Ezekiel Shecktor in India researching a serum for snake bites. Privately bemoaning the fact that Shecktor would be the one to get all the credit, Voorhees plotted to kill him to get the credit for himself. He had their lab cobra bite them both, but only gave himself the antidote. Unbeknownst to Voorhees, the snake was radioactive, and its venom reacted with the antidote to give him various physiological traits of a cobra, including superior speed and agility. Adopting the supervillain persona of the Cobra, he developed a series of weapons to aid him in the combats that were to come. Cobra concocted a plan to use cobra serum to create an army of snakes obedient to him, and flew to New York City to find the necessary materials. Invading a chemical plant, Cobra was intercepted by the hero Thor. The two fought, but Cobra was able to escape, and next set his sights on the various medical offices in the heart of New York. Seemingly at random, he arrived in the office of Dr. Bruce Andrews and his nurse Jane Foster. The cowardly Andrews was ready to hand over all the materials Cobra demanded, but Foster flagged down Thor, who again tried to defeat Cobra. Cobra took Foster hostage: Thor was able to free her, but this allowed Cobra to escape to fight another day.

While roaming the city months later, Cobra was spotted by Thor, and was forced to escape into an apartment window. He found that the domicile belonged to Mister Hyde, a scientist and villain able to make himself bigger, stronger, and more malicious with a special potion. The aggressive Hyde fought the Cobra, but the two soon figured out that they shared a common enemy in Thor. The two decided to team up, certain that their combined efforts could defeat him. Hyde pulled out a time-reversal ray that he had developed: when pointed at a living target, the ray would display "footage" of their life in reverse, eventually ending at their birth. Hyde naturally intended to use this ray on Thor and learn where he lived. They staged a robbery of a jewelry store, and Cobra successfully focused the ray on the hero as Hyde ran from him. The two escaped, and Thor was forced to give up his search. Reviewing the ray's results, they saw that Thor had come from the office of Dr. Don Blake, but the footage mysteriously stopped there. The two stormed through the window of Blake's office, demanding that he tell them where Thor was and taking his nurse Jane Foster hostage. But the truth was that Blake and Thor were one and the same, and through a fortuitous series of events, Blake managed to transform into Thor under the pretense of the former having escaped to call the police. The villains fled, but Thor chased them into a trade show for heavy machinery. Cobra took control of a machine that was able to circumvent the unliftable enchantment of Thor's mighty hammer Mjölnir, taking it into its grasp and stowing it in its storage compartment.

Thor maneuvered away from the villains into the throngs of people at the trade show, seemingly disappearing. In fact, by losing control of his hammer for a full minute, Thor automatically transformed back into Blake. Cobra and Hyde threatened to attack the crowd if Thor didn't show himself, at which point Blake stepped forward. He agreed to give them Thor once again in exchange for retrieving his cane from the machine. The powerful Mister Hyde ripped it open and gave it to him, and Blake dashed off out of sight to transform into Thor. The thunder god fought the two villains, easily overpowering them until Hyde made his escape and Cobra was incapacitated for the police to take into custody. Hyde would later be defeated and arrested as well. Soon after, Thor's brother and nemesis Loki disguised himself as a regular human and paid Cobra and Hyde's bail. In exchange for freeing them, Loki requested their assistance in defeating Thor. To begin with, he magically doubled their power, and told them to capture Jane Foster. An "unalterable edict" of Odin's forbade Loki from revealing that Thor and Don Blake were the same person, making Thor's connection to Jane Foster a confusing one for Hyde and Cobra. Nonetheless, they took to their task with gusto. As planned, the two captured Foster and ran from Thor. He confronted them on the street, where they told him to not pursue them or Foster would be "finished." Instead, he was to meet them again at that spot in 24 hours and surrender his hammer. Thor begrudgingly complied, not willing to put Jane's life at risk. The two kept Foster at a large house in New Jersey, and Thor found her with Odin's help and despite various deceptions on Loki's part. Thor arrived at the mansion and battled the Cobra and Hyde, and their intense combat soon resulted in an explosion that destroyed part of the building. Thor found Foster alive but in critical condition among the rubble. He knew she was dying, and could not be saved under normal circumstances. Swinging Mjölnir at a ferocious speed, Thor stopped time from passing within the house, allowing him to defeat his foes and keep Jane stable.

What became of the two villains immediately following this confrontation is unclear, but some time the following year they were both coerced by Doctor Doom's emotion machine into attacking the Baxter Building on the day of the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Cobra and Hyde entered the fray, a massive battle pitting heroes against villains, marking their most high-profile encounter yet. Cobra wrapped himself around the valiant Captain America, while Mister Hyde confronted Cap's Avengers cohort Hawkeye. In the end, Reed Richards used a device provided by Uatu to transport all of the villains back slightly in time and wipe their memories of these events. Reed and Sue Storm were thus successfully and peacefully married.