Zartan - Live Action Movies

Live Action Movies

Zartan is played by Arnold Vosloo in Stephen Sommers's film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, with a drastically different appearance than his television counterpart. He is a master of disguise, able to mimic other peoples' mannerisms and characteristics. Sent by McCullen with the Baroness and Storm Shadow, Zartan breaks into the Pit and disguises himself as a G.I. Joe Pit member. He murders Cover Girl with a knife as she reports to General Hawk, taking them by surprise. When the two Cobra agents fight their way out soon after, Zartan takes an alternate route and kills off a nearby wanderer, 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. Several times in the film, he whistles the tune "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow", including at the end of the film, confirming that he has taken the place of the President.

Vosloo will reprise his role again as Zartan in the 2012 sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and is expected to have a much bigger role. According to Vosloo, Zartan is still in disguise as the U.S. president and he's got the world leaders all under his thumb, war heads headed towards innocent populaces, and some new heavies on the payroll, to keep G.I. Joe at bay. The trailer reveals that he has framed the Joes as traitors and successfully eliminated all but a few of them, forcing the survivors to go "off-the-grid" to try and stop his plans, before he completes his ambitions of world conquest.