Warning: SPOILERS for Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins.
he and Storm Shadow (Andrew Koji) met and became blood-brothers in the Arashikage ninja clan before they ultimately chose to be enemies on opposite sides of the G.I. Joe vs. Cobra war.
When Hasbro revamped the G.I. Joe toy line in the early 1980s, Snake Eyes was the breakout action figure because he was so markedly different by being dressed in all black, including a mask and goggles. This made the heroic commando stand out against the other soldiers in the G.I. Joe toy line. A second Snake Eyes action figure with a new, knight-style visor made the black ninja even more popular with fans. The backstories of every G.I. Joe character were masterminded by Marvel Comics writer Larry Hama, who penned the revolutionary Snake Eyes story "Silent Interlude" in G.I. Joe #21, which was told without dialogue to reflect how Snake Eyes was mute. The fact that Snake Eyes' real name, face, and full history were classified only made him more fascinating.
The original concept for Snake Eyes was that he was a Vietnam Special Forces veteran who was severely disfigured in a helicopter explosion during one of his first G.I. Joe missions. Obviously, since the Vietnam War was roughly 50 years ago, modern reboots of Snake Eyes have to change his origin story. The previous G.I. Joe movies didn't explain Snake Eyes' name but Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins offers the most radical reboot yet and alters most of Snake Eyes' story, including how he got his codename and what it means.
Snake Eyes Meaning In Past G.I. Joe Stories
Every G.I. Joe member uses a codename ("Hawk", "Duke", "Roadblock", "Scarlett", etc.) so "Snake Eyes" was always assumed to be the callsign G.I. Joe assigned to the commando to help maintain his classified identity. Since there have been multiple versions of G.I. Joe across various media, Snake Eyes has a few different origin stories that vary in the details.
In the original Marvel Comics version, Snake Eyes adopted his codename because of something his father told him when he shipped off to Vietnam. Snake Eyes' father wished him luck before reminding him that luck can run out, "and the next thing you know... Snake-Eyes. End of the line." In the GI Joe: Renegades animated series, Snake Eyes' sensei the Hard Master named him "Hebi no me" ("Snake Eyes") because he possessed the "steely gaze of a serpent."
How Snake Eyes' New Movie Retcons His G.I. Joe Name
In Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Snake Eyes adopts his codename after his father (Steven Allerick) was murdered when he was a child. During a camping trip in Washington State, the young Snake Eyes (Max Archibald) was unaware they were hiding out from assassins led by Mr. Augustine (Samuel Finzi). Augustine found them and took Snake Eyes' father hostage, ordering him to throw a pair of dice to determine his fate. The dice rolled into double ones - snake eyes - which meant his death.
Snake Eyes retrieved Mr. Augustine's dice before he escaped the log cabin that Mr. Augustine set on fire with his father inside. Snake Eyes kept the dice as a reminder of his life's mission to avenge his father. Thus, Snake Eyes took his name from his father's lethal dice roll. Later in Snake Eyes, he realized that Mr. Augustine's dice were loaded. The "game" was rigged and Snake Eyes' father never had a chance at life. When he finally confronted his father's murderer, Snake Eyes forced him to roll his own loaded dice, but he defied his lifelong mission by making a different choice, proving what he told Storm Shadow: that he's not a murderer.
