Introduced in 1986, the character rules as Emperor over Cobra where most versions are depicted as a composite clone of history's greatest leaders.

Doctor Mindbender and Destro combed the tombs of the greatest leaders in history to find cells with DNA traces.

These long-dead genetic blueprints were combined to produce a composite clone with the genius of Napoleon, the ruthlessness of Julius Caesar, the daring of Hannibal, and the shrewdness of Attila the Hun.

[2][3] The Air Chariot is like a flying throne, with two 7.62mm attack guns, reinforced battle shield, and hover engine.

The character in the comics was created as a "super soldier", intended to lead and inspire the troops while Cobra Commander remained in power.

[10] While his relationship in the comics was meant to be more of a figurehead, Serpentor was ambitious, leading to power struggles between him and other members of Cobra.

[11] Devil's Due continued the storyline of the Marvel series, and years after the events that led to Serpentor's death, his body was found and reanimated by renegade scientists.

Joe vs. the Transformers miniseries, the US government builds an android called "Serpent OR", using processors taken from Megatron and programmed with information on Earth and Cybertron's greatest war-leaders.

Serpent OR, seeing himself as Megatron's son and heir, sets out on a quest to gain the Matrix for himself, believing it will grant him the power he needed to rule.

This results in rethinking his strategy to conquer, but Cobra Commander takes over Serpentor Prime's body with a remote control device that was planted back on Earth.

However, as a result of an attack by the Earth Defense Command on this operation, the personality of Clayton "Hawk" Abernathy is added to Serpent O.R.

[citation needed] In the IDW continuity, Serpentor's real name is Stephen Minasian and he is the leader of the Coil, the religious wing of Cobra and a highly influential cult that is known to the public as a self-help group.

Serpentor claims to be the Final Disciple of Golobulus, a reincarnation of the best qualities of the god's previous champions such as Napoleon and Alexander the Great.

[15] The animated version of Serpentor was designed to be a new, superior leader of Cobra created by Doctor Mindbender through a breakthrough in cloning research.

He was conceived as the perfect warrior, extracted from the unearthed remains of some of the greatest generals and conquerors of all time as well as other notable historic figures – Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Attila the Hun, Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Vlad the Impaler, Hannibal, Genghis Khan, Grigori Rasputin, Montezuma, Geronimo, Eric the Red and fictional Egyptian general Xanuth Amon-Toth.

[16] A later episode, "My Favorite Things", reveals that Serpentor can assume the facial features of those whose DNA are included in his genetic composition.

In addition, a few more donors to Serpentor's creation are revealed: a Viking warrior known as "Ulrik the Batterer", and the reptilian king "Takshaka" from Indian mythology.

The intruder reveals herself as Pythona, an emissary of the ancient culture "Cobra-La", and informs Serpentor of the need to steal the Broadcast Energy Transmitter (B.E.T.).

Along with the other Cobra hierarchy, Serpentor accepts Golobulus's authority and vows to fulfill his goal of destroying human civilization.

Joe headquarters, Serpentor hurls a spear to kill Lt. Falcon, but Duke takes it and slips into a coma.

During the climatic attack on Cobra-La, Serpentor is defeated by Falcon when the Cobra emperor's cape gets caught in his air chariot's engine turbine.

In the series, Serpentor attempted to harness the mythical power known as Dragonfire, but was unaware of Cobra Commander's return.

Cobra Commander then used his Pythonizing Ray made from a part of the Dragonfire he obtained to combine Serpentor with Gnawgahyde's pet iguana.