Golobulus

Golobulus is the main villain from the animated film G.I. Joe: The Movie. He is the genocidal ruler of the nation Cobra-La, located in the Himalayas. Described as the "last of the Serpent Kings", he appears as a large bald humanoid with a legless, serpentine lower body and one of his eyes either covered or replaced by some form of invertebrate/plant hybrid. Golobulus' right arm and much of his torso is covered with a hard, chitinous armor, similar to that of crustaceans. His primary form of transport, a large, organic pod with several tendrils, hides his lower body most of the time.

Role
During the beginning of the film, Golobulus sents in one of his spies, Pythona, to head over Cobra Headquaters, where Serpentor and Cobra Commander are blaming each other for the organzation's past failures to rule the world and destroy G.I. Joe. Upon arriving there, Pythona reveals that Golobulus was the one who came up the idea to create Serpentor to lead Cobra, as he used dream manipulation to influence Dr. Mindbender into creating the ruthless emperor. At Golobulus' orders, Pythona suggests to the Cobra that they steal the G.I. Joe's latest weapon, the Broadcast Energy Transmitter (or BET for short).

However, the theft was foiled by G.I. Joe, causing Serpentor to be captured while Cobra Commander and the rest of the Cobra forces escape. Afterwards, they head over to Cobra-La, where they finally meet Golobulus in person. Having enough of Cobra Commander's repeated failures, Golobulus orders him to be arrested. He then explains to Cobra about their origins: 40,000 years ago, Cobra-La was an ancient civilization that ruled Earth. However, the Ice Age, the evolution of humans and their development of scientific technology resulted in Cobra-La's survivors being forced into caverns within the Himalayas. Cobra-La rebuilt their society in secret as centuries passed. Golobulus vowed to destroy humanity so that his people could re-claim the earth. He eventually discovered a nobleman who was working on biological weapons. The nobleman later became Cobra Commander, charged with conquering the world for Cobra-La. However, Cobra Commander's repeated failures caused Golobulus to use a Psychic Motivator on Doctor Mindbender to create Serpentor.

After Serpentor is freed by Zarana, Golobulus reveals his true plan to Cobra: he plans to send in pods filled with mutative spores into space to doom humanity, and that he only wants the BET to ensure that the spores will be hatched in time so that his plan won't be stopped. He then proceeds to punish Cobra Commander by exposing him to the spores, which transforms Cobra Commander into a giant cobra.

As the Joes attempt to launch a recon mission against Cobra HQ, Baroness soon learns about the location of the BET, and a battle between Cobra and the Joes enact. Despite the Joes managing to enact a coutnerattack against Cobra, the BET is finally stolen while several of the Joes are captured and taken prisoner in Cobra-La. However, the remaining Joes arrive at Cobra-La after being led by a betrayed Cobra Commander, where they rescue their teammates. After Lieu. Falcon defeats Serpentor, he then reconfigures the BET to destroy the spores in space, causing the BET to overload and explode, much to the anger of Golobulous. As Cobra-La is being engulfed by the destruction of the BET, Golobulus escapes from the scene, vowing revenge on the Joes for foiling his plans. It is unknown what happpened to him afterwards.

Trivia

 * Although Cobra Commander and Serpentor are the leaders of Cobra, Golobulus is the founder of Cobra and therefore the Bigger Bad of the G.I. Joe franchise.
 * Golobulus was voiced by TV and film veteran Burgess Meredith, who in 1966 played the first live action version of perennial Batman villain The Penguin.