Jeffrey Franklin Burr
Kobra is an international terrorist and mad scientist who has crossed paths with the majority of Earth's costumed heroes during his attempts to usher in the Kali Yuga, an age of chaos. His real name is Jeffrey Burr, and he was born part of a set of conjoined twins, but was stolen at birth by the Cult of the Kobra God, since a prophecy claimed he would lead them to rule the world.[5] Under their teaching, he became a dangerous warrior and a sadistic criminal mastermind. He led the cult into using advanced technology to menace the world. Followers of Kobra frequently address their master as "Naja-Naja", the binomial name of the Indian cobra. This later became "Nāga-Naga", a meaningless title which translates from Sanskrit as "snake-snake". Whether this change was intentional or an error is unknown.[6]
Unbeknownst to the cult, Jeffrey possesses a psychic link to his twin brother Jason, causing the two to share pain.[7] At first, Kobra is unable to kill or even hurt his brother; eventually, however, he uses a device that "shut off" their psychic link, allowing him to kill Jason.[8] Kobra is subsequently haunted by visions of his brother. Whether it really was his ghost or just Kobra's imagination was never revealed.
In subsequent years, Kobra would clash with assorted superheroes, including Batman, whom he first met over a Lazarus Pit of his own creation. Kobra had learned to build modified Lazarus Pits, which allowed him to control the minds of those he killed and resurrected. Kobra is the only person in the DC universe ever to decipher the formula for the Lazarus Pits. Kobra had special concerns about Wonder Woman and sought to ensure her death, first by hiring a cartel of international assassins who were led secretly by corrupted UN Crisis Bureau chief Morgan Tracy (also Diana Prince's boss), then by kidnapping and irretrievably damaging environmental activist Deborah Demaine, forcibly transforming her into a new Cheetah, and ultimately, facing Wonder Woman in combat in Egypt, faking his own demise after being defeated by the Amazon Princess. A short while later his various Strike Force Kobra teams would fight two different incarnations of Batman's Outsiders. Kobra also fought the third Flash, the Suicide Squad led by Amanda Waller, the original incarnation of Checkmate, Captain Atom, a Superman whose personality had been swapped with Ambush Bug's by exposure to red Kryptonite, and others.
After the betrayal of his lover Lady Eve during the Strike Force Kobra fiasco, she split Kobra in two and established her own splinter group. In the Power Company: Sapphire #1 the Justice League rushes to San Diego to prevent disaster as two rival factions of Kobra prepared to go to war. One faction was led by Eve; the other was led by Kobra himself.
He kidnaps the former hero Air Wave and uses him to seize control of the world's media and satellite resources, intending to destroy a number of major world cities. However, in a demonstration of his power, he incidentally kills Terri Rothstein, Atom Smasher's mother, ensuring the Justice Society of America's involvement. Atom Smasher later saves Terri via time travel, replacing her with the villain Extant and allowing him to die instead.
When he is placed on trial, Kobra denies claims of terrorism, claiming to be an enlightened soul (a bodhisattva) trying to free souls from karmic debt through random acts of violence. Following this, his followers threatened to kill the media outside the courthouse with bio-engineered suicide bomb implants. Holding everyone hostage with this tactic, he was allowed by the JSA to escape, leading to an outraged Black Adam and Atom Smasher, who both subsequently choose to leave the team. In JSA #51, Atom Smasher, Adam, Northwind, and Brainwave track Kobra to his headquarters in the Himalayas, where Adam kills him.[9]
Jason Burr
Jeffrey's twin brother Jason is resurrected by Kobra, possibly through the use of Kobra's Lazarus Pits. This involves the death of an entire facility of Checkmate agents, including several of Burr's friends. Jason reveals that he is re-structuring the organization and killing all the old members. Before revealing himself as the new Kobra, Jason spends time undercover as a Checkmate agent.[10]
In Convergence, Jason Burr leads Kobra under the alias of "King Kobra" and faces off against Red Hood and Arsenal.[11]
In 2016, DC Comics implemented a relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". King Kobra and Helga Jace work together to fuse Violet Harper with the energy being Aurakle, transforming her into Halo.[12][13]
