Photo: Serpent Society/Marvel Comics
It is that time of the year again, when we dive deep into the latest animal to come around the Chinese zodiac and find comic characters based on it. This year, it’s the snake’s turn to get the spotlight, and ... well, let’s just say it’s a pretty villain-heavy line-up, though we do have a couple of more heroic ones as well.
It seems fitting that we should focus this story more on Marvel’s snake-themed villains, for two reasons. The first is the fact that The Serpent Society will be making its live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) debut in next month’s Captain America: Brave New World.
The second reason is ... well, let’s just say that the Marvel universe has a lot of snake-themed villains. Heck, if there was a snake out there with an interesting name, you can bet Marvel turned it into a villain!
Set
Right at the top of Marvel’s slithery snake pile is Set, an elder god in the Marvel universe who has major influences on many of its snake characters. Through him, or rather his son, we got the Serpent Men, who worship and serve him. There is also the Serpent Crown, which allows the god to control whomever wears it.
The over-achieving Viper formed the first Serpent Squad, then led Serpent Society and Serpent Solutions as well. — Marvel Comics
Viper
Though there have been several Marvel characters named Viper, the first one was Jordan Stryke/Dixon, who formed the first ever Serpent Squad, and would be one of the more prominent snake-themed villains throughout Marvel’s history.
Unfortunately, Jordan was killed in 1974’s Captain America #180 by Madame Hydra (Ophelia Sarkissian), who wanted to take over the “Viper” codename.
It wasn’t until 2015’s Captain America: Sam Wilson #4 that Jordan showed up again, alive, and at the head of Serpent Solutions, an all-new snake-themed organisation, now in the guise of a corporation.
In later stories, Viper would change his name to Pit Viper, and rebrand the Serpent Society into a cult for Mephisto.
Cobra
Not to be confused with the DC Comics character “Kobra”, Marvel’s cobra-themed villain was certainly much more interesting.
Created by Stan Lee and artist Don Heck, Klaus Voorhees, aka the first Cobra, made his debut in 1963’s Journey into Mystery #98. He’d gained superpowers when he was bitten by a radioactive cobra and took an experimental anti-venom. Obviously he didn’t get the whole “with great powers ...” lecture that Spider-Man got, so Kurt decided to use his powers for evil instead.
Anyway, in the 1980s, Cobra used to team up with another B-list villain named Mr Hyde and take on the likes of Thor, Spidey, and Daredevil, though they obviously didn’t make much of an impact.
Kurt would later become part of the Serpent Society, and then led it at one point, calling himself King Cobra at the time.
The Serpent Squad started out fighting Captain America and Falcon. — Marvel Comics
Serpent Squad
Created by Steve Englehart, the original Serpent Squad made its debut in 1973’s Captain America #163, and had three members – brothers Jordan and Leopard Stryke, aka Viper and Eel, and Cobra.
In a perfect example of just how wacky and innocent the early comic book plots used to be, the Serpent Squad’s first dastardly plot involved taking out false advertisements in newspapers in order to ruin Captain America’s reputation.
While Viper and Cobra would go on to play more significant roles (though not by much) in future Marvel stories, Eel, who wore a slippery suit and could generate electric charges like an electric eel, sadly never made it out of “henchman” status, eventually getting killed by Gladiator in 1973 and being forgotten about ever since.
A few other Serpent Squads followed that trio of ad-buying muppets – one was led by the second Marvel character to call herself “Viper”, pre-death Eel, Princess Python, Cobra, and Atlantean warlord Krang.
Serpent Society
It was the third incarnation of the Serpent Squad that would eventually lead to what we now know as the Serpent Society. It was led by Seth Voelker, aka Sidewinder, who was hired by Roxxon to retrieve the Serpent Crown (see what we meant about Set’s influence?) along with his team, Anaconda, Black Mamba and Death Adder.
Later in 1985’s Captain America #310, Sidewinder, who decided to bring together his fellow snake-themed villains to form a ... trade union to fight for better benefits, complete with brochures, insurance, and so on. (What is it with these snakes and capitalism?)
Created by writer Mark Gruenwald and artist Paul Neary, the first incarnation of Serpent Society comprised Sidewinder, Cobra, Eel, Black Mamba, Black Racer, Copperhead, Death Adder, Cottenmouth, Diamondback, The Rattler, The Asp, Bushmaster, and Anaconda
(Viper, the second one, declined the invitation initially, while Constrictor stormed out of the first meeting and proceeds to rat them out to the Avengers.)
Later members included the likes of Fer-de-Lance, Puff Adder, Black Racer, Coachwhip, Boomslang, Rock Python ... well, you get the picture.
While the idea behind bringing together all the snake-themed villains under one team was interesting at first, the organisation proved to be nothing more than fodder for the heroes, though.
Orochimaru is arguably one of the best-known snake-themed characters in manga. — Filepic
Orochimaru
When it comes to snakes in manga, it’s hard to look beyond this major Naruto character. After all, he was not only snake-themed, he actually became a literal snake in the end.
One of the biggest baddies in the initial Naruto series, Orochimaru was one of the Leaf Village’s “Sannin” (‘three legendary ninja’) alongside Tsunade and Jiraiya. He was obsessed with becoming immortal and resorted to all sorts of unethical experiments and forbidden ninja techniques to do so, and at one point planned to use Uchiha Sasuke’s body as his new vessel.
Orochimaru eventually comes to the realisation that his approach was flawed, and helps the Shinobi Alliance to defeat Uchiha Madara in the Fourth Ninja War.
As one of the Sannin, Orochimaru was one of the most powerful and skilled ninja in history. His fondness for snakes led him to develop several snake-themed ninjutsu, including shooting snakes from his mouth, which even had swords coming out of their mouths.
He was also trained by the White Snake Sage, and could summon a giant snake called Manda during battle.
One of his greatest snake-techniques was the “Eight Branches” jutsu, in which he turns himself into a giant eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent. His “true form” is that of a giant white snake.
Obanai Iguro
This popular Demon Slayer character is the rare example of a snake-themed character who is not a villain.
Obanai is the Serpent Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, and one of its best swordsmen. In fact, you could argue he was the best swordsmen among the Hashira.
After all, he was entrusted with the sword wielding training during the Hashira Training arc, in which the entire Corps had to go through to prepare for the final showdown with the ultimate villain, Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji.
Unlike some of the other Hashira, who inherited their “breathing” styles, Obanai created his own Serpent Breathing swordsmanship style, which was inspired by the unique way a snake moves about.
He even incorporates his pet snake Kaburamaru into this fighting style.
Boa Hancock’s ‘weapon’ of choice is a giant white snake. — Filepic
Boa Hancock
One Piece has a great number of powerful and weird characters, and Boa Hancock is certainly one of them. Known as the “Snake Princess”, she is the empress of Amazon Lily (island of women warriors), the captain of the Kuja Pirates, and a former member of the Seven Warlords Of the Sea.
Boa is well-known for her striking beauty and immense power – her Mero Mero no Mi Devil Fruit power enables her to petrify people into stone statues if they are even slightly attracted to her (she can turn them back by blowing a kiss).
What gets her on this list, besides her name, is her “weapon” – Salome, a huge white/red snake that wears a strange mask/helmet with blue hair and which gives it an eerily constant smile.
Initially starting out as a villain, she would later become a great ally to the Straw Hat Pirates, or more specifically, to Luffy, with whom she falls in love.
