I'm sure that the rest of fanboy nation is going to rip this movie to shreds. But isn't Ripcord a white guy? I haven't seen anyone mention that at all. Wouldn't it have been better to just use Stalker or Alpine if they wanted to have an ethnicly diverse role? And what's up with Heavy-Duty? Can, I get a Roadblock up in this piece? I really hope this movie doesn't blow but my expectations are that it will just for the reason that part of the appeal of GIJoe for me was the diverse characters. These guys seem like Dawsons Creek and V.R Troops go on a blind date. So, heres to Government pulling the funding for this under-trained, carbon copy mission force.

How can this movie not suck?

Does it really matter what color Ripcord's skin is?  As long as he is crazy and jumps from anywhere, I'm good with it.

The movie can manage not to suck if most of the PR campaign has all been a ruse to get people with no interest in GI Joe to see the movie.  The true movie turns out to bear little resemblance to the trailers and other media used to advertise the film.

That's the only way this movie can manage to not suck.

I think I realized why they used Heavy Duty instead of Roadblock. I just dawned on me, seeing the above images....

Roadblock uses a distinct weapon (a modified Ma-Duece that he carries instead of vehicle-mounts). I guarantee, if they had him in the film with any other weapon, the fan backlash would have been exactly the same.

Heavy Duty uses a GE M134 minigun. For Hollywood's purposes, the minigun is much more desirable for screen-use. If I were still in the military, it's what I'd prefer for support, also (though they aren't really man-portable) The M134 fires about 4,000 rounds per minute, the M2 about 800. Which do you think looks cooler on screen?

So, you don't want Roadblock without the Ma-Duece, and you want to have a heavy machine gunner looking big and putting a lot of rounds downrange. You get Heavy Duty.

How in the @&%# does a man child in his early twenties make Master Sergeant? I spent 1/3 of my life in the service and every three up and three down I ever knew had been in for damn near 20 years or even longer. Most of the Heavy and Specialized Combat Arms types at this rank have become pretty hard core or grizzled by then... And they don't pal around with E4's, they eat them.

Maybe he isnt going to be a master sgt in the movie..or maybe becasue they are in a "special Elite super group" they advance faster. I dunno, but you are right Muenster..no way in HELL a green mid 20's dude would be a master sgt.

I agree with Muenster and Darkknight.  Apart from Heavy Duty being an incredibly stupid name, I mean every time I hear it I think of some guy taking a giant squat.  Honerstly, lets make a character just like Roadblock,but gicve him a cool new name, I know Giant Crap Man, That's much cooler than Roadblock.  Or wonderindg whaty reseach department came up with Ripcord as one of the top five Joes people most wanted to see in the movies, possibly the research department that discovered he was black.

My real question when I saw this was: Why the hell is Duke 12 years old?  Lookibng at the cartoon and the comic versions of this character, I always pictured him being played by Robert Redford about the age he was when he did The Last Castle, not a guy who grew his stubble so women would stop asking if he was above the age of consent.  I mean sdoesn't the biggest badass special forces team around deserve to be lead in the field by a guy who can order his own drinks.  Should we really be wondering not whether Scarlette will hook  up with Duke or Snake Eyes, but whether if she did hook up with Duke would she then be guilty of satutory rape. 

What's really disturbing is didn't Duke in the animated movie have a son older than this guy in this movie. 

You know there's something's deeply wrong in the universe when the guy who plays Harry Potter looks more like a season War Verterain than the guy playing Duke in GI Joe.

Kinda makes you wonder what Flint would look like in this universe, Fred Savage in the Wonder Years.

I'm going to see this one at 12:01 EST.  I think this movie is gonna be fun.  I mean if you look at Transformers and go in with the same who gives a shit attitude you'll be happy as hell.  I did and love the Transformer Movies.  And besides that We get to see some sweet ass Darth Maul moments.... Ray Park and Byung-hun Lee kicking ass is gonna be awesome

Just for clarification (and more arguments), Channing Tatum is 29 years old, not "12" or "early 20s".  They also made him an officer - a special ops team leader with the rank of O-3 (Captain) who got a battlefield promotion to O-4 (major).

And before anyone starts yelling about inaccuracies, the Marvel Comics "Order of Battle" lists him as "Master Sergeant (O-8)" which, as anyone with military knowledge knows, is a Major General. The OrBat also has Flint with the 'job desription' of Warrant Officer and the rank of E-5 (or E-6, I'd have to check).

So for everyone who wants to say the movie is disrepecting the source material....are you sure you them to use the old resources? Are you REALLY sure?