Earlier we covered the new images of Snake Eyes that have popped up online, one courtesy of USA Today. We didn’t talk much about the contents of that USA Today article that accompanies the images, however, and there’s definitely something there worth talking about.

Obviously, thanks to the image, Snake Eyes is the key character being discussed by director Stephen Sommers, who describes the character as being a “next-generation” ninja: ”He's not afraid to use a sword one second, and a split-second later he's pulling out his Glock.”. Of course, the Joe’s key ninja isn’t the only one like that: ”His chief nemesis is arguably the world's other great ninja, Storm Shadow. The two grew up together, were blood brothers and now are mortal enemies." I just wish we had gotten a look at Storm Shadow while the studio was releasing images. The antagonist ninja doesn’t have that freaky visor (which I think they’re pulling off pretty well) and I’d be interested in seeing the other side of the ninja coin here.

What’s really interesting is the comment Sommers makes about Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is now confirmed to be playing the big baddie, Cobra Commander, the leader of COBRA, the terrorist organization that the elite G.I. Joe faces off with. However, according to the article, Levitt plays multiple roles, not just Cobra Commander. This actually makes some sense to me. If I remember correctly, at one point in the comic book, COBRA had a bunch of agents (named “Fred”) who all had the same face, allowing Cobra Commander to have duplicates that could be confused for him. Of course, that may not be at all what Sommers is talking about. I guess it doesn't really matter. With an actor with the talent of Gordon-Levitt aboard, Sommers should be using him as much as possible.

It appears that Sommers is aware that not everyone who comes to see the movie will be a die hard fan, and he’s trying to make sure the movie is accessible to all audiences, much like last year’s Transformers was. He describes this as an origin story that explains things like why Destro wears a metal mask or why Snake Eyes doesn’t talk. In cartoon form a lot of us just accepted that because the toys were cool, but Sommers wants to make sure the movie makes sense for those who didn’t buy into these concepts decades ago.