# Hydra vs. Cobra **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526 "2011-05-11T15:29:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/1 "2011-05-11T15:29:20Z")
And the victor is…? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/2 "2011-05-11T15:42:11Z")
Which hydra, and which cobra? In zoology, my money is on the cobra. In mythology, the result could be different. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/3 "2011-05-11T15:44:43Z")
If it’s the silly villain organization, my money is on ACROSTIC (“A Corporation, Recently Organized, Solely To Instigate Crimes”) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/4 "2011-05-11T15:48:05Z")
A [Cobra](http://www.cobraautomotive.com/images/yanoff.jpg) would kick a [Hydra’s](http://www.mobilewhack.com/reviews/2006_cami_hydra_spyder.html) ass. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/5 "2011-05-11T16:47:54Z")
From what I’ve heard (never a GI Joe fan), Cobra suffered from extreme incompetence and the kids’-TV dictum that nobody ever dies. Hydra on the other hand was much more competent; typically foiled at the last minute by superhuman intervention, and they did kill people. My guess is that the leadership of Cobra (and a few thousand other people) get killed early on by an NBC weapon that gets snuck into their headquarters. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/6 "2011-05-11T16:54:21Z")
It’s HYDRA, and it would probably kick Cobra’s ass before breakfast. The Cobra guys are gonna be surprised that after a five minute shootout in a crowed room there will actually be dead bodies. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/7 "2011-05-11T16:55:48Z")
I say they settle it the old fashioned way, [Madame Hydra](http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1239&bih=753&q=madame+hydra&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g2g-m2&aql=&oq=&safe=active) vs. [Baroness](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1239&bih=753&gbv=2&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=baroness&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=). Winner takes all. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/8 "2011-05-11T17:10:39Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I say they settle it the old fashioned way, > > [Madame Hydra](http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1239&bih=753&q=madame+hydra&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g2g-m2&aql=&oq=&safe=active) vs. [Baroness](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1239&bih=753&gbv=2&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=baroness&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=). Winner takes all. I give it to the [casual killer with poison fangs](http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/madame_hydra_viper.htm). > [@](#): > > Viper has had caps put on her canines to make them sharp and elongated, and she keeps them filled with a lethal and neurotoxic snake venom (to which she has developed immunity via controlled exposure; note: coral snake venom seems most likely), enabling her to incapacitate others within seconds after a bite. Victims can be saved with rapid anti-venom treatment. She often uses throwing darts coated with this same poison, and has sometimes worn lipstick containing such venoms. She has been known to vary the concentration of her venom, from a form that causes temporary motor paralysis to one that is rapidly fatal. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/9 "2011-05-11T17:17:08Z")
Yeah, but the venom would be diluted by the Jell-o they’re wrestling in. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/10 "2011-05-11T17:44:18Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > From what I’ve heard (never a GI Joe fan), Cobra suffered from extreme incompetence and the kids’-TV dictum that nobody ever dies. Even in the TV series, Cobra was competent (by 80s cartoon standards). They always lost to the Joes, yes, but it was because the Joes were BETTER (by 80s cartoon standards). In the comics, both Marvel and IDW (not at all familiar with Devil’s Due - but it, along with the later Marvel, is no longer in continuity, anyway), they’ve even been allowed some fairly major successes, despite the fact that the upper echelons - Cobra Commander, Destro, the Baroness, Tomax and Xamot, and Doctor Mindbender, particularly - engage in some fairly major backstabbing. (Doctor Mindbender and Cobra Commander are both currently dead, due to Cobra’s rather violent internal politics, but the organization goes on.) ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/11 "2011-05-11T17:55:01Z")
SPHINX! -Joe (Sphinx!) ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/12 "2011-05-11T20:07:49Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > SPHINX! > > -Joe (Sphinx!) Boom! Yummy. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/13 "2011-05-11T20:55:42Z")
A.I.M. could beat COBRA. Hell, even K.A.O.S. could beat COBRA. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/14 "2011-05-11T21:05:08Z")
Obligatory [Cracked article](http://www.cracked.com/article_17299_6-famous-characters-you-didnt-know-were-shameless-rip-offs_p2.html): Cobra was a mashup of Marvel’s Hydra and DC’s Kobra. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/15 "2014-04-09T16:22:21Z")
Reviving this zombie to say: Movie HYDRA beats movie Cobra easily. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/16 "2014-04-09T16:36:51Z")
On the other hand, movie HYDRA falls apart as soon as its leader dies. Cobra, in most of its incarnations, is much more resilient to the deaths of its senior officers: Whenever one dies, another takes over nearly seamlessly. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/17 "2014-04-09T19:02:31Z")
Wasn’t Cobra Commander a used car salesman? I have no problem with his being defeated by someone with actual military experience. The surprising thing is that he holds up as well as he does. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/18 "2014-04-09T19:37:55Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > From what I’ve heard (never a GI Joe fan), Cobra suffered from extreme incompetence and the kids’-TV dictum that nobody ever dies. Hydra on the other hand was much more competent; typically foiled at the last minute by superhuman intervention, and they did kill people. My guess is that the leadership of Cobra (and a few thousand other people) get killed early on by an NBC weapon that gets snuck into their headquarters. That’s true for the TV show Cobra, **Der Trihs** From Three Years Ago, but the comic book Cobra was much more effective, and racked up a decent body count over the course of the book. Comparing those versions is going to be a much closer match. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/19 "2014-04-09T20:07:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > Wasn’t Cobra Commander a used car salesman? That was only in the comics, where (as I and Miller have already mentioned), Cobra was quite effective and quite deadly. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526/20 "2014-04-09T21:22:17Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > A.I.M. could beat COBRA. > Hell, even K.A.O.S. could beat COBRA. [P.A.G.A.N.](http://www.thethirdcity.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/dragnet-blog-1.jpg) could take them all. 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydra-vs-cobra/581526.md?page=2)