In the latest trailer, he calls himself Joe.
Doctor Venom will appear.
Bonus points if he's played by
Michael Emerson, thus making it the second time he's
portrayed the character.
Even when Cobra's exposed, several military and political officials will STILL side with Cobra's regime.
Jossed. (Unless the third movie says otherwise.)
Duke isn't dead.
He's just in a coma. Third Movie characters
Joes:Shipwreck (US Navy Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman)
Gung-Ho (US Marine)
Slaughter A former Cobra Viper.
Lt. Falcon
Cobra:
Major Bludd (Former Special Air Service Regiment)
Overkill (A Viper)
Blackout (A Joe who defected to Cobra a month before Retaliation)
Dr Mindbender (A former MARS scientist who was a colleague of Cobra Commander when he used to be just the Doctor)
- Dr. Mindbender has already appeared in the first G.I. Joe movie as the scientist who first experimented with nanomites. His name can be heard in the message from Destro playing on the computer screen as Rex Lewis enters the compound. Dr. Venom on the other hand...
Serpentor (A resurrected and brainwashed Duke as a Viper)
CM Punk, doesn't matter who he plays so long as his cobra tattoo is prominently seen & he has creative input on his dialogue.
Zarana (If Zartan really is dead [see below], his younger sister will join Cobra to avenge him. She's the only female Zartan has any respect, due to being family. Bringing along the rest of the Dreadnoks, who'll be more of a mercenary group instead of a biker gang. Though they would ride motorcycles during a chase scene.)
Tomax and Xamot (They'll be Destro's dragons, if Major Bludd becomes Commander's (see below), since they'll likely be CEOs of Extensive Enterprises and had business dealings with James McCullen before.)
Zartan isn't dead.
The nanomites heal Zartan's face when he cuts it with a knife. Being stabbed through the chest is more serious than a cut on the face, but who's to say they can't heal that. It might just take longer.
- Additionally, he'll return with the Dreadnoks.
Destro isn't dead.
It was never confirmed that he died in the explosion.
- The explosion may have broken him free from his stasis and he escaped.
Scarlett isn't dead.
She's just hiding. Or on another mission that precluded her being called back, or something.
If there's a third movie, Cobra Commander will be revealed to have been running a
Xanatos Gambit.
If you look at events, in the first movie his plan mostly works. He gets Zartan into the White House undetected. Perhaps getting captured was even part of his plan. If the world isn't looking for Cobra Commander, they don't suspect his plan is still in place. He even says he never had a doubt when Storm Shadow rescued him; indicating that he planned on being captured and rescued.
So what did he accomplish in this movie? He got the G.I. Joes mostly killed and destroyed the world's nuclear arsenal completely. He even devastated most of London and had Destro killed. He also had his escape really handy for a guy who was about to take over the world. As the third movie unfolds, it will probably become clear that all he was after was nuclear disarmament; and that leads into his next plan.
He also leaves the Zeus controller with Firefly to be chased and intercepted when he could have easily taken it on the helicopter he escaped on and had all of the rods destroy the targets; indicating he didn't want them to go off at all.
The Zeus weapon used
Red Matter to destroy London.
Because it caused a seismic event similar to the ones before Vulcan was destroyed.
G.I. Joe was heavily downsized and absorbed into the US military between films.
Most of the Joes found new careers. The ones who remained were turned into a small American unit doing American things (like we see at the beginning of
Retaliation). The Pit was given to the Egyptian government, Breaker was allowed to return to French territory, etc. This explains the discrepancy between the way the organization is depicted in the two films, and means that Scarlett, General Hawk, Ripcord, etc. are still alive.
Destro will return but will not rejoin Cobra.
He'll be the leader of his own third-party faction, with a surprise agenda. Also, he'll probably be recast.
Sienna Miller does not want to return to the role. If we see the Baroness again in this series, it will be a different individual using the name and look (maybe a Russian).
Practically 95% of the Joes were wiped out prior to the film.
How? Remember the "nanobyte wars" mentioned in the beginning, it could have ended badly for the Joes, hence no Hawk, Ripcord, Scarlet, Heavy Duty, Stone, Breaker, Anna/Baroness, Pit, and carrier where Anna/Baroness was imprisoned. Also explains why the Joes seen in the movie are small enough that after getting bombed by Cobras, they're considered dead.
- As I recall, he said "nanoMITE wars", which is most likely the In-Universe name for the events of Rise Of Cobra. And G.I. Joe was depicted (or at least implied) as being larger at the end of that film than the beginning, which kinda wrecks this theory.
Zartan and Rex Lewis met one day and decided it would be awesome to
Take Over the World, so they recruited a few other people (including Firefly and the "it's good to have you back boss" guy). They called themselves Cobra, and Rex had already called himself Cobra Commander. Eventually, Zartan, Storm Shadow and the Commander himself decided to infiltrate MARS Industries so they could seize its resources. Cobra Commander's
Mad Scientist persona in the first movie was just a disguise he used for the infiltration. Having Zartan impersonate the President was originally his idea and he suggested it to James McCullen (which is why everyone treats it like his idea in
Retaliation). And as for who ran Cobra between films? The "it's good to have you back boss" guy.
- Or President Zartan, when he wasn't harassing the real president and (in the extended cut) leering at his interns.
During the final battle, you can see Zartan standing in front of the Umbrella logo. So does that mean Cobra works for Umbrella or is it the other way around?
The third movie will be about all the ninja characters hunting down Cobra Commander.
The actors who play the ninjas have demonstrated a lot more willingness to appear in multiple movies than
the others and we know the third movie will be ninja-centric. With Storm Shadow's
Heel–Face Turn and the way Retaliation ended, I think capturing or killing the Commander will be the Joes' priority once the organization is rebuilt. I'm betting on Snake Eyes, Jinx, Storm Shadow, Blind Master, and maybe some other ninjas (Kamakura? Billy Kessler/Lewis?) spearheading the search.
Roadblock, Lady Jaye, Joe Colton, and Flint will be
Demoted to Extra if they appear at all.
This is too bad, since they were pretty awesome in Retaliation, but the reality is not a lot of actors like being in this franchise. Roadblock might continue to have a major role, since Dwayne Johnson likes to support franchises in need, but I think we'll be lucky if the others even
get mentioned. The complete obliteration of London will have some effect on the plot of the sequel.
You can't do something that major and shocking to the world and then just ignore it.
Major Bludd will be
The Dragon to Cobra Commander in the third movie.
Zartan, Firefly, and possibly Destro are dead, Storm Shadow has betrayed Cobra, Dr. Mindbender is probably unavailable, and the Baroness is not only a traitor but also a victim of
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome. Major Bludd is the only high-profile Cobra member left.
The
In Name Only Cover Girl from the first movie will be replaced/retconned in the third one or a later one.
She was never referred to as Cover Girl onscreen. We'll probably see another Cover Girl at some point in the film series.
The third movie will be based on the Cobra Civil War arc.
Related to the theory above about Destro leading a third faction, the movie will be about G.I. Joe stopping both groups. Destro will want revenge on Commander for not only putting the nanotech metal mask on his face, but for using him and his company (if the theory about Cobra existing before he even usurped McCullen was true).
The third movie will be a
Soft Reboot, taking place in the Hasbro Cinematic Universe.
And it'll have cameos of everything from Transformers to My Little Pony and everything inbetween.
Ana Lewis will join G.I. Joe.
To redeem herself, avenge Duke (if he's truly dead), and bring her brother to justice.
She and Scarlett will be Vitriolic Best Buds at best, due to their animosity in the first film.
Destro will try to take her back, still believing she's his now that Duke is (presumably) gone.
By this point, Cobra Commander no longer cares for her anymore, due to her betrayal and rejecting his gift to her (making her the Baroness to get back at Duke). Ana will give him a "Reason You Suck" Speech for what he's done to her and Duke, which he will respond by shooting her, saying that he "doesn't deserve her". But she might survive, thanks to Duke's unexpected arrival.
The third movie's
Stinger would show a
cult worshipping Koh-Buru-Lah.
Just had to mention it.
One of them had the airstrike arrive too early, knowing Rex would be there. They were grooming him to become their new leader.
although now increasingly unlikely given the passage of time proposed storylines for a 3rd GI Joe film included
the establishment of Cobra Island, the introduction of the character of Serpentor resulting in a Cobra civil war, the Red Shadows playing a role and the reveal that Scarlet survived but was captured by Cobra and now takes the role of the Baroness.
