Storm Shadow

Canonical/Pre-MUX/Theme History:
Storm Shadow served in southeast Asia on the same LRRP team as future Joes Stalker and Snake-Eyes. The intense nature of this service together forged a strong friendship between him and Snake Eyes. After Vietnam, Storm Shadow visited his family in Japan. His family, the Arashikage Clan, had actually been a fierce ninja clan but for many centuries had remained clandestine. Hoping to learn the ways of the ninja, Storm Shadow studied under the tutelage of his estranged uncle, the Hard Master.

When Snake-Eyes arrived in Japan following the death of his entire family in a horrific automobile crash, he was invited to study with the clan. He quickly began to surpass Storm Shadow's abilities and was the Hard Master's choice to succeed him as the head of the clan. This caused a rift between the two friends, and Snake-Eyes decided that he would leave the clan. However, before he could, an assassin (who later would be revealed as Zartan) killed Storm Shadow's uncle while he was demonstrating a ninja technique. Storm Shadow, seeing the assassin fleeing in a COBRA helicopter, left the clan to follow the assassin. Due to his abrupt disappearance, and the fact that the killer appeared to use a technique that Storm Shadow was a master of, Snake-Eyes, the Soft Master and the remaining clan members thought that Storm Shadow was to blame for the murder. Storm Shadow blamed Snake-Eyes for the murder, as the Hard Master was using a ninja technique to imitate Snake-Eyes, thus fooling Zartan into shooting the wrong target.

Years would pass and Storm Shadow eventually was led to the international terrorist organization called Cobra. He was quickly made Cobra Commander's bodyguard and soon thereafter encountered his old friends Stalker and Snake-Eyes as members of the American strike team designed to destroy Cobra, the G.I. Joe team. After several battles with the Joes, Storm Shadow and Snake-Eyes would work together to bring down the men responsible for the death of the Hard Master (Zartan, Cobra Commander and Firefly). During their first attempt, while trying to flee Cobra Island, Storm Shadow was shot by the Baroness, and believed dead. He was revived during Dr. Mindbender's creation of Serpentor. Finally, Storm Shadow was made an official member of the G.I. Joe team and regained his honor through countless acts of courage.

He would later return to Cobra after being captured and brainwashed along with several other former Cobra agents. He was frequently given continuous sessions of brainwashing to ensure his loyalty and it took him a few years to finally shake off the programming and rejoin his sword brother, Snake-Eyes.