‘Captain America: New World Order’ Villain Explained! Meet King Cobra

Captain America: New World Order is one of the upcoming MCU movies and the fourth installment in the Captain America franchise overall. Marvel Studios is usually tight-lipped about its projects and even more so when it comes to New World Order. However, WWE superstar Seth Rollins has been spotted on the set of the upcoming movie, and if we go by his looks, the rumor is he will be portraying one well-known villain in Marvel Comics, King Cobra. We decided to use this opportunity to tell you all about King Cobra as well as how powerful he is.

King Cobra, aka Klaus Voorhees, is an ex-convict bitten by a radioactive snake that transformed him into a superpowered villain. King Cobra often clashed with the likes of Thor, Daredevil, and Captain America. King Cobra is most notable for being a leader of Serpent Society, a snake-themed supervillain group. He is notable for having amazing control over his muscles, just like a snake does, his most dangerous ability being “Cobra Grip.”

Now that we’ve covered, in short, who King Cobra is, it’s time to analyze his story in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

How did Klaus Voorhees, aka King Cobra, get his powers?

Klaus Voorhees was initially an ex-convict lab assistant working for Professor Ezekiel Shecktor in India. Two of them were working on a universal antidote for snake venom, but Voorhees wanted to take the credit for the discovery and formulated a plan to dispose of Ezekiel and make it look like a lab accident.

Voorhees planned to induce the snake to bite both of them. Only he would inject himself with the antidote beforehand. There was one critical mistake in his plan, however, as the snake has been irradiated as a part of the experiment, and now its venom paired with universal antidote induced superpowers in Klaus Vorhees.

Most notably, he gained some aspects of Cobra’s physiology that allowed him to perfectly simulate the movements of a snake and malleable bones.

King Cobra managed to subdue Thor on one occasion

Soon after getting his powers, Klaus assumed the identity of Cobra, made himself a special suit, and aimed to become a supervillain and use his powers mostly for crime and material gain. Don Blake overheard the rumors that Ezekiel was dying from a snake bite and decided to transform into Thor in order to visit him.

Ezekiel explained what happened to Klaus and that he is responsible for his demise, he also explained that great evil is now unleashed upon the world. Cobra was at the time planning to take over a plant producing “Cobra Serum” so he could produce an army of others like “himself,” giving them snake powers.

Thor decided to stop him and outright attacked him. However, King Cobra got him into his “Cobra Grip,” from which Thor was unable to escape. He tricked Cobra so that he threw him out of the window, and being away from Mjolnir for over 60 seconds caused Thor to revert back to his Donald Blake form. Cobra never suspected a thing, and the fight was abandoned.

Thor later fought with Cobra again when he kidnapped Jane Foster. This time he defeated him.

King Cobra served as the leader of the Serpent Society

Initially operating on his own, Voorhees eventually decided to join the Serpent Society, a criminal organization led by Sidewinder, after receiving an invitation.

Following Sidewinder’s retirement, he handpicked Voorhees as his successor to lead the Serpent Society. To establish his authority Voorhees defeated Mister Hyde, conquering his own fears in the process.

In recognition of his newfound strength, Voorhees changed his alias to King Cobra, solidifying his position as the leader of the Serpent Society.

King Cobra once sided with Captain America to retake Serpent Society

Serpent Society gathered mostly snake-themed villains, as we already established, and one of them was Viper. Viper clashed with Captain America numerous times, especially during the Secret Empire storyline when Captain America thwarted his attempt to take over the rule of the United States.

On his way to prison, Viper was shot dead by Madame Hydra, who took over his identity. However, through unknown means, Viper returned, and now he was a soulless, truly evil husk. He wanted to take over the leadership of the Serpent Society.

After assuming leadership of the Serpent Society, Viper transformed it into “Serpent Solutions,” a company engaged in “grey-area” activities with major corporations. Utilizing resources from Hydra and A.I.M., they conducted genetic experiments initially in the cosmetic industry but aimed to expand into other sectors, including the military-industrial complex.

Their strategy involved being hired by famous companies to carry out suspicious tasks, then selling the results for major profits while protecting their employers from the consequences of the law. However, their operations were ultimately stopped by the new Captain America, Sam Wilson, with the help of King Cobra. After Serpent Solutions attempted to assassinate Captain America, the company’s general opinion changed, resulting in the public exposure and defeat of Serpent Solutions.

How strong is King Cobra & what are his powers and abilities?

King Cobra’s most notable ability is his snake physiology. He is capable of mimicking a snake’s movement to its perfection, and all of the bones in his body are malleable, flexible, and pliant.

Due to having malleable bones, it’s impossible for King Cobra to break a bone. He also has an extremely fast healing factor that allows him to recover from severe physical injuries.

Due to his flexible physiology, King Cobra is a perfect infiltrator due to his ability to enter small spaces and squeeze through tight holes. Utilizing his incredible flexibility, the King Cobra can trap his victims with his powerful “Cobra Grip,” a hold so powerful and strong that only those trained in combat can hope to escape, and even superhumans would struggle to break free.