Was GI Joe originally set in the Marvel Universe?

[Cyberstrike]

I've been binge-watching the GI Joe: RAH videos that Hasbro put out and reading articles lately, and there are cross-references to Marvel in Joe (Zartan joked to Duke "Were you expecting Spider-Man?" in one episode.)

The Transformers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Jem and the Holograms, Robotix, The Inhumanoids, Bigfoot, and several other shows were co-produced by Marvel Productions and Sunbow. So it makes sense that some of the writers including Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, Martin Pasko, and others were also comic book writers as well. The shows also had connections between them a sleazy Gerldo style journalist, an in-universe soap opera comedy called As The Kitchen Sinks, and Cobra Commander guest-starred in on an episode of The Transformers season 3 "Only Human" and many believe that Marisa Fairbone a recurring character in season 3 of The Transformers was Flint's daughter.

[Gaastra]

Hasbroverse is--

Gijoe (sunbow series)
Gijoe the movie
Gijoe (dic series)
Gijoe The greatest evil prime time special
Sgt savage and his screaming eagles dtv special (classic joes show up to pass the torch to the extreme joes)
Gijoe extreme

Transformers
Transformers the movie

(note japan shows like headmasters and zone are not canon with the hasbroverse)

beast wars
beast machines
mask (not at first then later added to the hasbroverse)
vor-tech (mask spin-off)
3rd mask spin-off thats so lesser know i don't care to look it up.
cops
inhumaniods
jem


All have ties with each other. Cold slither song from gijoe in both jem and transformers, inhumanoids on the news in jem, one of the cops hero is tied to ace from gjoe, dino bot island in gijoe, etc.


Also note spider-man does cameo on a tv in gijoe but fans are not sure if it was news or a show they were watching. So the 80s solo spider-man (plus hulk and spider-woman) may or may not be canon.

and many believe that Marisa Fairbone a recurring character in season 3 of The Transformers was Flint's daughter.

Yes and a copy of flint shows up in the episode the killing jar.

[Cyberstrike]

Yes i know but they changed their minds in the end making them another reality. Most fans think it was around issue 20 of transformers or so.

Another neat nod is the rich guy helping the autobots early on and with ties to circuit breaker was going to be tony stark! It was changed last second but you still could tell it was ment to be him.

With that said i don't see why marvel can't put transformers and gijoe in the main universe. They have shogun warriors, red ronin, godzilla, mothra and yes alf so what harm would these two books do? Nothing in them changes marvel history at all so i don't see the harm. You could even say gijoe was a shield spin-off.

My guess was that since The Transformers and G.I. Joe were making Hasbro a LOT of money in 80s they wanted to retain as much control over each brand as they could and putting them both in the Marvel Universe would've been a legal nightmare for both companies I mean there is a reason why IDW hasn't reprinted the Marvel ROM series because they would have to get Marvel's permission any time any of their characters guest-starred and that can be a major pain in the ass for everybody and that is the reason why an issue where ROM guest starred in a Marvel comic hasn't been reprinted. When you have Cobra creating a new island 90s off the Gulf Coast or Starscream blowing up Autobots and Decepticons where are the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Spider-Man, the Hulk, and etc at? It creates so many more problems when the series wanted to do big things that would affect a larger shared universe?

Also a lot of the artists were either then young unknown talent like Todd McFarlane or older artists who never would going to be top stars like Don Perlin or Jose Delbo despite being insanely talented.

By the late 80s and early 90s you got a sense that Marvel really didn't want to put these books out and were only doing it because the sales were still good and/or they were under contract to do so and neither Marvel or Hasbro didn't give a damn about them being good as long they sold well enough to justify the cost of putting them out. Marvel got rid of all non-Marvel properties by the mid-90s and I think some of suits still see them as stuff they suits at Disney tell to put out or stuff that they're trying to hold on to copyrights and trademarks.

[Midnight_v]

KINDA:

A Real American Hero" was brought about as a revival of the original 12 in (30 cm) G.I. Joe brand of the 1960s and 1970s. After the 12" figure had been absent from toy shelves for a few years, G.I. Joe was re-introduced in a 3 3⁄4 in (9.52 cm) action figure format following the success of the Star Wars and Micronauts 3​3⁄4" scale toylines.

The genesis of the toy line came about from a chance meeting in a men's room. According to Jim Shooter, then editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics:

The President or CEO of Hasbro was at a charity event that Marvel’s President was also at. They ended up in the men’s room, standing next to each other peeing, and I think that’s how they met. They were talking about each other’s respective businesses, and it came up that Hasbro wanted to reactivate the trademark on G.I. Joe, but they were trying to come up with a new approach. [Marvel’s guy] was like ‘We have the best creative people in the world! Let me bring in this Editor-in-Chief of mine and we’ll fix it for you![5]

Prior to G.I. Joe's relaunch in 1982, Larry Hama was developing an idea for a new comic book called Fury Force, which he was hoping would be an ongoing series for Marvel Comics. The original premise had the son of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury assembling a team of elite commandos to battle neo-Nazi terrorists HYDRA. Shooter approached Hama about the Joe project due to Hama's military background, and the Fury concept was adapted for the project. Shooter suggested to Hasbro that "G.I. Joe" should be the team name and that they should fight terrorists, while Archie Goodwin invented Cobra and the Cobra Commander; everything else was created by Hama. Hasbro was initially uncertain about making villain toys, believing this would not sell. Marvel would also suggest the inclusion of female Joes in the toyline, and to include them with the vehicles (as Hasbro again worried they would not sell on their own).[6]

Duke was nick fury's son in concept. And instead of Neo-nazi Cobra Commanders actuall goals were more In line with Tyler Durden but quickly became about world domination not just tearing down the wheels and cogs of society.


But also... if you squint your eyes even a little the bulk of the Cobra members are really visually members of hydra.

Visually Speaking

Cobra Commander is Baron Zemo

Baron Struker is Dr.Mindbender

Red Skull is Destro

Baroness is Madame Hydra

Baron Strucker is Dr.Mindbender

Gorgan though a much later addition is thought made MUCH later than the rest would be Storm Shadow.

[Gaastra]

When you have Cobra creating a new island 90s off the Gulf Coast or Starscream blowing up Autobots and Decepticons where are the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Spider-Man, the Hulk, and etc at? It creates so many more problems when the series wanted to do big things that would affect a larger shared universe?

When kang took over the planet where were the 800 other heroes to gang up on him? Kang blew up a state. Where was the x-men? Ultron blew up a city. Where was the fantastic four? New york park turned into a jungle in spider-hunt. Where was the avengers? This is something going on from the start of marvel.

It didn't start with transformers. Wasn't los vegas blown up last year in a comic? How long before it's back again?

[Alan2099]

While it never got made, a G.I. Joe cameo was suggested by one of the head animation guys for My Little Pony the movie.

Basically when one of the winged ponies was flying around, the flew by Shipwreck, who was sitting under a tree drinking "an amber liquid". He saw the pony, then swore to never drink again.

Hasbro's response was "Funny, but no."

[FrogMan]

Marvel has over convoluted the whole TF in Marvel Universe thing, especially where Circuit Breaker's Secret Wars 2 appearance is concerned.

So now the CB that appeared in Secret Wars 2 is a 616 native for some stupid reason. Ridiculous. It would have been so much simpler to just say the Beyonder popped over to the Transformers reality because he found her intriguing. No need to make everything so complicated.

[Gaastra]

At the time transformers was part of the marvel universe so there would be no trouble with the secret wars cameo. Same as rom showing up in hulk. When they changed their minds it was changed to just a version of her in the marvel universe. See no trouble at all with marvel having a version of circuit breaker in the main universe.