He is one of the main villains in the franchise as the leader of the Dreadnoks, and a mercenary who often worked directly for Cobra Commander.

His character was voiced by Zack Hoffman in the 1985 TV series, and he was portrayed by Arnold Vosloo in the live-action film G.I.

Zartan can alter his skin color at will to blend in with his environment, and is a practitioner of several mystic martial arts.

When Zartan was originally released in the toy line, it stated on his file card that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder.

[12] Zartan was sold with an accompanying "swamp skier" called the Chameleon, which also contained thermal reactive plastic.

[13] The action figures for Zartan's brother Zandar and sister Zarana were also constructed of the same UV reactive plastic.

[14] A complete departure from his classic uniform, Zartan wore a leather jacket and neon green pants.

[15] After the line was canceled in 1994, Hasbro made several attempts to resurrect A Real American Hero through repaint series.

Because of difficulty obtaining the original mold, Hasbro compromised, and repainted the 1990 SAW-Viper body with a modified Zartan head.

Trading his hood for a ski cap, Zartan is the furthest from his biker roots here, retaining only the recognizable face markings to make him stand out.

To celebrate, Hasbro created new figures based on the A Real American Hero line, featuring modern sculpting with updated and increased articulation (including the replacement of 's trademark O-Ring construction).

Zartan was unveiled at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, and the figure, based on designs from the Devil's Due comic series, included a removable mask and also changes color like its 1980s counterpart.

Zartan disguises himself as the Arashikage Blind Master, in order to mentor a boy named Tyrone.

The mission is interrupted by the return of the real Cobra Commander, who traps Billy, Zartan, Fred VII, Tyrone, Captain Minh, Raptor, and several others in a landlocked freighter, which he then buries under a volcano.

He underwent a top-secret French genetic experiment, which infused him with chameleon DNA, giving him the ability to blend into his background.

During an arms deal with Destro, Amauri Sanderson met the leader of a motorcycle gang who was the original Zartan.

With no one left to back him up, the leader was killed by Buzzer, Torch, and Ripper, and Amauri assumed the identity of Zartan.

Destro sends him to assassinate Nico Mandirobilis; however, the teleportation process was not finalized, and Zartan's body quickly disintegrated.

Relay Star Satellites, Cobra geneticist Doctor Taggac was able to brew a plasmid medium, which injected into a blank clone body, reformatted the slug into a copy of Zartan.

Zartan's unique biology gave him the ability to change his appearance and skin tone, a skill which Taggac attempted to keep secret from Cobra.

He expressed a desire to leave the lab and go to the outside world, and days later he kills a guard and poses as wait staff, to escape before anyone notices he was gone.

[31] Cobra agents track him using a subcutaneous transmitter, but he evades them, fakes his own death, and sneaks back into the lab.

Zartan's camouflage abilities are negated by the sun, causing his skin to turn blue (much like his action figure), and weakening him significantly.

Zartan and the Dreadnoks recover a piece of Destro's Weather Dominator, offering to sell it to the highest bidder, Cobra or G.I.

Joe military commanders;[36] and in "Cold Slither", in which he and the Dreadnoks form a heavy metal band in a Cobra plot.

When Flint and Lady Jaye arrive in town to arrest Duke's team, they end up capturing Zartan and his Dreadnoks.

Scarlett touches the suit, which results in a surge that leaves black burns around Zartan's eyes as she removes it.

When the two Cobra agents fight their way out soon after, Zartan takes an alternate route and kills off a nearby Bedouin, donning his clothing to escape detection by Pit members.

Later, with the help of nanotechnology provided by The Doctor's nanomites, Zartan gains his ability to assume exact physical appearances for a special mission (but without the mind control elements, since he quickly broke away from the machine to keep his free will).

During the final battle, Zartan is sent to America using the missile crisis as a cover, where he infiltrates the White House as part of Cobra's plans for world domination, and assumes the identity of the President of the United States.