Have a question about how the TVTropes wiki works? No one knows this community better than the people in it, so ask away! Ask the Tropers is the page you come to when you have a question burning in your brain and the support pages didn't help.
It's not for everything, though. For a list of all the resources for your questions, click here. You can also go to this Directory thread
for ongoing cleanup projects.
It's not an expy trope, because I'm not sure there's a specific origin, but I've actually wondered about whether this is a thing. That said, this is more a question for the Trope Idea Sounding Board than ATT.
FWIW Marvel's Hydra predates G.I. Joe's Cobra by about 20 years.
Edited by Dirtyblue929^HYDRA dates back to the 1960s. Like I said, I don't think there's a direct connection (beyond the obvious Snakes Are Sinister symbolism.)
^ G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero which established Cobra was based on failed pitch for Fury Force which was about Nick Fury gathering commandos to battle HYDRA. Cobra was created as a stand in for HYDRA
Edited by jormis29 Working on cleaning up List Of Shows That Need SummaryI didn't know the Trope Sounding Board is a thing.
Whoops
Edited by DarthWalrus
Basically, a trope for evil, named organizations reminiscent of GI Joe's COBRA. That is to say, an terrorist-conspiracy-esque N.G.O. Superpower, often with a vague animal theming, legions of fanatical grunts, underground bases, super-science access to seemingly bottomless resources and military-grade weaponry such as tanks, who typically fight a heroic organization rather than just a singular hero, often the over-arching threat behind lesser ones.
Examples include Marvel's HYDRA, Command & Conquer's Brotherhood of Nod, Mass Effect's Cerberus.
Do you consider this worthy of a Fountain of Expies trope or not?