Cobra

Origin

Piet Voorhees is the Dutch nephew of the original Cobra, Klaus Voorhees. Piet's uncle injected him with some of his irradiated venom and it gave him similar powers plus super-enhanced smell. Piet would become a mercenary for hire and do most of his work internationally in countries in Southeast Asia, Bosnia and Central Asia.

Creation

Corba (Piet Voorhees) was created by Timothy Liebe, Tamora Pierce and Philippe Briones and first appeared in White Tiger issue 1 (2007).

Major Story Arcs

Supervillain in America

Piet would take on the same moniker of Cobra and come to the United States to work for a man named Mr. Karlson. Mr. Karlson worked with a man named Sano Orii who was suppose to provide him with shipments of immigration documents. Sano and his gang failed to produce the documents when his operation was interrupted by a female in a black ski mask. This woman was actually a detective named Angela Del Toro aka the White Tiger.

Versus White Tiger

Mr. Karlson wanted Piet to get more information on this woman and possibly recruit her to his cause. Corbra would encounter White Tiger inside a garage as she tries to shakedown a punk involved in the illegal ring. Their fight is stopped when Sano Orii orders Cobra to cease his test with White Tiger. A few nights later, Cobra comes into conflict with White Tiger as she shadows Sano in a club called Neo Tokyo. Piet burns Toro's right shoulder with venom spit and leaves when he is called upon by Sano. White Tiger would interrupt a business transaction between Sano and a Consular officer named Pynes who dealt with passports and visas. Cobra and Del Toro engage in battle again but Tiger is bitten in the arm by Voorhees. Cobra flees while Del Toro uses her jade amulet to heal her wound.

White Tiger would heal from her wound and get some help from some powerful friends to take down Sano once and for all. White Tiger, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Black Widow and Spider Man would raid a meeting involving Sano's crew. Cobra manages to escape after he spits some poison at Cage and destroys his shirt. Cobra returns to Mr. Karlson's office and both men speak to the mutant Omega Red. They ask him to eliminate White Tiger. The current whereabouts of Piet Voorhees is unknown.

Serpent Squad

In new costume, he was recruited by Sin to serve in the new Serpent Squad. He breaks Crossbones out of jail and later attacked the White House, but he was stopped by Bucky Barnes. He escaped with a Sin and reported the incident to Red Skull.

Powers and Abilities:

King Cobra possesses certain unusual physical powers derived from his mutagenically altered physiology which among other things help him simulate the movement of a snake. All of the bones in his body, including his skull, are malleable and his muscle tissue is exceedingly resilient, making his body very flexible and pliant. It is nearly impossible for him to break a bone or tear a muscle. Hence, the Cobra can survive impacts that would kill or inflict major injury upon a normal human being with little or no injury to himself.

The Cobra's flexibility enables him to slither into and out of very tight and small places. Through compressing his body, the Cobra can fit into any hole or slot down to four inches in diameter.

By using his flexibility to wrap himself about a victim's body and then exerting his full strength, the Cobra traps that victim within his "Cobra Grip." No normal human being can break free of his grip unless he is extraordinarily well trained in fighting, and even many superhumanly strong beings would have difficulty freeing themselves.

The Cobra has a great degree of independent control over every muscle in his body, enabling him to slither across the ground, without using his arms and legs, simply by muscle contraction. He is extremely quick, capable of moving up to 50 miles per hour for several seconds by this method. His agility and speed make him very difficult to catch and hold onto.

Unlike his uncle however, Piet also posseses enhanced olfactory senses, which enables him to track his targets by way of scent. He can also produce a toxic substance from his body which he calls his Cobra Venom. He projects his venom at selected targets by spitting at them