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The name Duke refers to several versions of the same character.
For a list of the other versions, see Duke.
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Duke was the callsign of G.I. Joe field commander, and Major Conrad S. Hauser.

Duke appears in the film in the film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and later returns in the film G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

Biography[]

IDW Movie comics[]

Major Hauser led a night HALO jump into the jungle of Papua. Hauser gets his parachute caught in the tree branches. After a clumsy landing, he joins his right-hand man Weems and the other Rangers. They find the trailer with computers used to redirect one of the U.S. spy satellites. As there is more enemy force than anticipated and the lack of time for reinforcements, Hauser becomes concerned but his men assure him they can get the job done. However, he's reminded of the mission where he lost his best friend, Rex Lewis.

A large Russian is guarding the trailer. Not willing to damage the equipment inside, Hauser deals with the man hand-to-hand and a knife. After taking care of the enemy, Hauser's team gets to work. Their mission is to reprogram and reroute the spy satellite back to American control. Once the satellite is returned to US control, Duke activates the explosives his team has planted around the camp and in the control trailer.

Rise of Cobra (2009 Movie)[]

Portrayed by Channing Tatum.

Duke and Ripcord are leading a convoy (comprising various types of Humvees, all-terrain vehicles and two Apache helicopters) to deliver a case of four nanomite warheads to the United Nations (UN) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). However, this convoy is soon attacked by Baroness and her team of Vipers. Duke's men and vehicles are obliterated by the Vipers' superior weaponry, but Duke's resourcefulness saves Rip. Duke recognizes Baroness as Ana, his former fiancee and Rex's sister.

Duke Proposes to Ana

In a flasbhack, Duke proposes to Ana Lewis

The G.I. Joe team arrives and clears out the attackers, while Duke recovers the case. Telling General Hawk his backstory and how he knows the Baroness, he blackmails his way onto the team, and through training, proves that he belongs. But soon, the Pit is attacked by Baroness, Storm Shadow and Neo-Vipers and, after a fight, they escape with the case.

With a new sense of urgency, Duke and the Joes head to Paris, where he and Ripcord, wearing new prototype Delta 6 Accelerator Suits, track down Baroness and Storm Shadow. Rip fails to stop Storm Shadow from firing a nanomite warhead at the Eiffel Tower, but Duke manages to shut it down before the nanomites can spread throughout the city, though not before they do enough damage to cause the tower's collapse. In the process, he is captured.

At the enemy's underwater Arctic base, the M.A.R.S. Industries Base, he learns that the manufacturer of the warheads, M.A.R.S. Industries owner, James McCullen, has been playing both sides against the U.N. and G.I. Joe, and has put in motion a plot to take over the world. Duke tries to convince Ana to help him (while also apologizing for his failure to protect Rex and for abandoning her out of shame), but it seemingly falls on deaf ears.

He is taken to the laboratory of The Doctor, a vengeful, masked man, who appears to know Duke. After Duke questions him, the Doctor shows him his unmasked face. The Doctor is Rex Lewis, brother of Ana, whom Duke thought lost on a mission four years ago. The Doctor begins a process to turn Duke into a Neo-Viper, a nanomite-enhanced soldier obedient to Cobra. Ana, however, combats her brother's mind control and frees him. When the Doctor uses his PDA to shut down Ana's consciousness, and McCullen arrives, Duke is able to neutralize them with Ana's pulse pistol, burning McCullen's face in the process and recovering the Doctor's PDA.

He revives Ana and they flee to a waiting enemy sub, planning to escape, but instead pursue Rex and McCullen, hoping to capture or kill them. After much dodging and destroying of enemy subs, and also having to put up with falling chunks of ice, Duke and Ana are able to track down McCullen, now Destro, and Rex, now Cobra Commander, and surround them with the Joes' underwater naval forces.

Ana and Duke Last Kiss

Duke kisses Ana while she is in prison waiting for her nanomites to be removed.

With the leaders of Cobra now in custody, Duke tells his team that the world is safe and that Ana is now in prison until her nanomites are removed. He tells her that he will wait for her. Unknown to him, however, that Cobra Commander has replaced the President of the United States with Destro's aide, the master of disguise known as Zartan.

Retaliation (2013 Movie)[]

Portrayed by Channing Tatum.

Following the "nanomite wars," Duke Hauser has risen in the ranks of G.I. Joe and is now a captain and leader of tactical operations. Head of the G.I. Joe Elite Team, His second-in-command is now Roadblock, a heavy machine gunner. Also serving under him are Lady Jaye, a covert operator with a specialty in weapons, Flint, a sergeant specializing in agility and freerunning, and the commando Snake Eyes.

Duke Gets Flanked By Roadblock's Daughters

Duke gets tackled by Roadblock's daughters

Duke has become friends with Roadblock, who serves with him in a mission in North Korea. He is later at Roadblock's house, the two of them playing video games together. Although Duke may be an elite G.I. Joe, Roadblock teases him for his seeming incompetence at the game, which is itself a military simulation. Duke is then playfully mobbed by Roadblock's daughters, who tackle him in the shoulders. As Duke playfully scares them away with a stuffed dog, he and Roadblock see on the news the death of the Pakistani president, which has resulted in a dangerous power vacuum.

In response to this, the President of the United States, who is secretly Zartan, orders the Joes on a mission to Pakistan to retrieve its nuclear warheads, less they fall into the hands of someone hostile to the United States. After a successful mission, Duke and Roadblock have a shooting competition, with the stakes being Duke looking after Roadblock's daughters for a whole weekend if he loses. If Duke wins, however, Roadblock has to take his next promotion. Roadblock, however, ends up rigging the competition by continuously talking, thus distracting Duke from the target.

Duke Saves Flint

Duke saves Flint from death, sacrificing his own life

The Joes' base is then suddenly attacked in an airstrike, orchestrated by Zartan, who has deliberately engineered the situation to catch the Joes when they're vulnerable. Seeing Flint out in the open, Duke rushes out to save him, pushing him away from a truck moments before it is destroyed. He succeeds in saving Flint, but is killed himself in the process. After the three remaining Joes - Roadblock, Flint and Lady Jaye - see all the dead Joes, Roadblock vows to avenge Duke by killing whoever is responsible. After the enemy forces have cleared out, he finds Duke's body and claims his dog-tag. Flint states that they should leave, that there's nothing there. Roadblock starts to shout at him, but Lady Jaye tells him that Flint is right, that the enemy could be back, and they need to move. He turns back to Duke, but she tells him that he is their leader now.

Personality and abilities[]

Duke was a brave and noble man who cared a great deal about his friends and tried to save Rex just before the bunker Rex was trapped inside was blown up. Four years later he saved Ripcord during the battle over the case which contained the nanomite warheads.

Duke felt an overwhelming amount of guilt for Rex's presumed death, since he had promised to take care of him. He was unable to face his former lover, Ana, after her brother's presumed death fearing that Ana hated him for breaking his promise and probably thinking that Ana's life would be better off without him. However, abandoning Ana was part of the reason Ana became the Baroness. Four years later, Duke told Ana that he truly was sorry for failing to save Rex and for abandoning her when she needed him most.

Duke truly did love Ana and hesitated from killing her when she and Storm Shadow invaded the G.I. Joe base. Realizing that abandoning Ana had been one of the worst mistakes, perhaps the worst mistake, he'd ever made, Duke vowed to never give up on her again after she turned against the Doctor and James McCullen.

Duke was a dedicated soldier who usually followed orders but was known to put his friends before his orders as shown when he saved Ripcord before going back for the case containing the nanomite warheads. He appeared to enjoy combat claiming "I'd rather be on the ground in the fight, not flying over it". Duke was stubborn and refused to give up while fighting against Snake-Eyes despite the fact that Snake-Eyes was a master of martial arts. His determination to prove himself eventually allowed him to become a member of G.I. Joe.

Duke was clearly a skilled soldier due to the fact that he'd been promoted to captain at some point during his career. He was a skilled marksman and was also skilled in hand to hand combat. In fact Duke even managed to land a blow on Snake-Eyes, something which no other known person in G.I. Joe had been able to do. His skills were such that he was able to rise to lead G.I. Joe's most elite team and he died saving the life of one his own. In speaking of Duke to General Joe Colton, Roadblock described him as being a great soldier, but a better friend.

Toys[]

Generation 3
Desert Ambush Duke The Rise of Cobra (2009)

"Desert Ambush" Duke was released in 2009 as part of Series 1 of the Rise of Cobra toys.


Appearance: short brown hair; scar on right cheek; brown and tan camo uniform; green gloves with the right index finger exposed; tan kneepads and boot-covers.

Accessories: tan and brown helmet with black night vision goggles; tan and brown vest; tan backpack; green spring-loaded missile launcher; orange missile; black rifle; black pistol; green and silver nanomite warhead; black and silver display stand.


YoJoe.com page/Filecard

Reactive Armor Duke The Rise of Cobra (2009)

"Reactive Impact Armor" Duke was released in 2009 as part of Series 4 of the Rise of Cobra toys.


Appearance: short brown hair; scar on right cheek; dark armor with a grey drybrushing and a white G.I. Joe logo on the chest.

Accessories: gray spring loaded missile launcher; orange missile; two black submachine guns; black pistol; black knife; black and silver display stand.


YoJoe.com page/Filecard

Delta-6 Duke The Rise of Cobra (2009)

"Delta-6 Accelerator Suit" Duke was released in 2009 as part of Series 5 of the Rise of Cobra toys.


Appearance: short brown hair, scar on right cheek, heavy black armor brushed with silver.

Accessories: Silver and black two-piece helmet, wrist mounted gatling gun, wrist mounted "fire and forget" missiles, a battle rifle and a rocket launcher.


YoJoe.com page/Filecard


Merchandise
Movie Duke af04 Action Battlers(2009)
A 8-inch Duke action figure was sold as part of the Action Battlers subline. Like the other figures in this line, Duke comes with an exaggerated cartoon look. He comes with two big rifles to show he means business.
Movie Duke af03 Accelerator Suit (2009)
While its curious why a 12" version of Duke has yet to be released, a whopping two-feet action figure exists. It is the biggest action figure of any G.I. Joe incarnation. He comes with a rifle and, even better, he is motorized, i.e. he moves with the help of four batteries.
Movie Duke af05 Combat Heroes (2009)
Super deformed Duke came in a carded two-pack with Baroness for the Combat Heroes line.

Trivia[]

  • Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt also co-starred in Havoc and Stop-Loss.
  • Duke has a scar under his right eye, an homage to the G.I. Joe of the 12" figure line.
  • This version of Duke is an Army Officer. This is a major contradiction to the original Duke, because the classic Duke was noted for refusing a commissions to remain a Non-Commissioned Officer out of principals.
  • When seen in the film wearing his class A blue uniform, Hauser's decorations can be visually identified
    • Combat Infantryman Badge
    • Military Freefall Parachutist Badge
    • Special Operations Diving Supervisor
    • Legion of Merit
    • Meritorious Service Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster
    • Joint Service Commendation Medal
    • Army Commendation Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster
    • Army Achievement Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster
    • National Defense Service Medal with bronze star
    • Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
    • Southwest Asia Service Medal
    • Iraq Campaign Medal
    • Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
    • Armed Forces Service Medal
    • Humanitarian Service Medal
    • Army Service Ribbon
    • Overseas Service Ribbon
    • Joint Meritorious Unit Award
    • Army Superior Unit Award
    • Ranger tab
  • Channing Tatum originally didn't want to act in the film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra because he felt it glorified war. He changed his mind when he read the script.[1]
  • Sam Worthington was considered for the role of Duke, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with Avatar.[2]
  • Rumors circulated that the nine-month delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation was done in order to shoot more scenes with Duke, and possibly bring him back to life. Clearly this was not the case.
  • Duke is one of only two characters from the G.I. Joe Team seen in The Rise of Cobra to appear in Retaliation, along with Snake Eyes.
  • The reasoning for Duke's being killed off so early in the film G.I. Joe: Retaliation is unclear. His character and that of Dwayne Johnson's Roadblock are noted for sharing a much better chemistry than that between Roadblock and D.J. Cotrona's Flint character. It has been speculated that Tatum simply wanted out of the series, as he had stated in an interview with Howard Stern that he hated the film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.[3]

See Also[]

External links[]

References[]

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