Recent promotional material for Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins features the title character unmasked. It makes sense in a few contexts. One, it is an origin story. Two, it's also hard to blame the studio for wanting star Henry Golding front and center on the film's first poster. However, it's still jarring for G.I. Joe fans because, like Judge Dredd, Snake Eyes is well known for never removing his mask. Still, the film isn't completely taking liberties with the source material by showing Snake Eyes unmasked. While it's rare, it has happened before in the G.I. Joe comics.

Snake Eyes' first unmasking came in 1983's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #10, by Larry Hama and Mike Vosburg. Snake Eyes, Scarlett and Zap were captured by Cobra. Cobra's resident mad scientist used a setup reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange to extract the location of G.I. Joe's secret headquarters directly from Snake Eye's brain. Snake Eyes was unmasked during the process, but his face was heavily shadowed.

Hama and Steve Leialoha pulled a similar trick in 1984's A Real American Hero #26, Snake Eyes' origin story. Snake Eyes fought alongside future Joe teammate Stalker and future rival Storm Shadow as soldiers in Vietnam. While his face wasn't heavily shadowed, his facial features were obscured by a hat and bandages on his wounded face. G.I. Joe fans didn't get a good look at Snake Eyes' face for years.

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The man behind the mask was finally revealed in A Real American Hero #93, by Hama and M.D. Bright. With Scarlett by his side, Snake Eyes went to Switzerland for extensive plastic surgery to heal an injury from an early G.I. Joe mission. The accident that gave Snake Eyes his gruesome scars was shown in his origin story, but this was the first time its gruesome results were shown on the panel.

Snake Eyes got his new face, but it didn't last long. The plastic surgeon performed a similar operation years before on the Baroness and had become a fan of the Cobra femme fatale. After being tipped off about Snake Eyes' predicament, she and a battalion of elite Cobra troops kidnapped Snake Eyes while he was still sedated. Taking advantage of the overwhelming numbers, she shot a wounded Scarlett (who accompanied Snake Eyes to his surgery) in the face.

Between the comics and the file cards on the back of the action figures' packaging, Hama came up with the backstory for G.I. Joe's cast of characters. Their designs were dictated by Hasbro, whose choices were more concerned with economics than lore. Snake Eyes' iconic look came about because it saved Hasbro money. A character with an all-black costume didn't need to be painted. Costs were cut even further by negating covering his face. The aesthetic choice that has so heavily defined Snake Eyes happened because it meant Hasbro didn't have to spend money on creating a facial mold for the figure.

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That thrifty, minimalist design was the clay Hama molded into some of the most compelling stories of his long tenure as a G.I. Joe writer, both in the original Marvel series and its ongoing continuation published by IDW. Snake Eyes' design may have been created by Hasbro's penny-pinching. However, it became iconic due to a combination of the work Hama put in and the fact that an all-black bodysuit is perfect for a silent ninja warrior. Its elegant simplicity has made it an enduring look for nearly 40 years. Even Rob Liefeld's recent redesign only amounted to a palette swap.

Like Wolverine, pieces of Snake Eyes' backstory were liberally doled out over the years, giving fans a peek at his past without spoiling the mystery that helped make him so compelling. The symbol Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow both wear was revealed as Storm Shadow's family crest in Snake Eyes' origin story, for instance. While the film is deviating from the comics, hopefully, its creators will be inspired by the creativity that brought Snake Eyes to life in them.

Directed by Robert Schwentke, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins stars Henry Golding as Snake Eyes, Andre Koji as Storm Shadow, Iko Uwais as Hard Master, Úrsula Corberó as Baroness and Samara Weaving as Scarlett. The film arrives in theaters on July 23.

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