Anastasia DeCobray is the spoiled offspring of an Aristocratic family. After her brother Eugen was murdered volunteering for humanitarian causes, Anastasia moved from bitter student radical to full-on international terrorist.

How she came to join Cobra has not yet been discovered, but she quickly proved herself capable and soon found herself Second-In-Command of the Cobra Organisation. It is rumored that she is the only one to know Cobra Commander's real identity.

One of her first missions for Cobra was the kidnapping of Nuclear Physicist and Peace Activist Dr.Adele Burkhart, which led to the first known conflict with The G.I.Joe Team when the Joes rescued Burkhart,known to them as "Lady Doomsday".

Not long after, International Arms merchant James McCullen Destro began his long association with Cobra. Destro's Military Armaments Reasearch Systems(MARS) corporation became the primary weapons supplier for Cobra. Soon, it was noted that The Baroness and Destro had an aquaintance - that soon blossomed into love.

The Baroness is a capable and ruthless field commander. She is skilled with firearms, sniping, and hand-to-hand combat. The Baroness is a highly skilled fixed and rotary-wing pilot, and qualified to operate Cobra H.I.S.S. Tanks and Rattler ground-attack jets.She was severely burned in a Cobra night attack against Washington D.C. and has had extensive plastic surgery.And as Hawk, commander of the GI Joe Team has said, "Don't turn your back on her unless she's dead."

Baroness first came into conflict with the Joes during Cobra's kidnapping of Nuclear Physicist and Peace Activist Adele Burkhart. Traveling on a heavily-guarded train on the way to testify for Congress on Burkhart's being duped by the Defense Department into working on a Doomsday Device, Burkhart was captured by a Cobra Commando Team disguised as reporters and lead by the Baroness, with weapons disguised as cameras and sound-equipment.