Bruce Willis in negotiations for G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation... now how about some Cobra?

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Bruce Willis is in negotiations to join the cast of G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, where he is set to play the character of General Joseph Colton, the original G.I. Joe. Retaliation is the sequel to 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, with John M. Chu (Step Up 2: The Streets, Step Up 3D, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never) 'stepping up' to take over directing duties from the departing Stephen Sommers.



Previously entitled G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes, the follow-up sees the return of Channing Tatum (The Eagle) as Duke and Ray Park (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace) as Snake Eyes. Joining them are a number of new Joes including Dwayne Johnson (Fast & Furious 5) as Roadblock, D.J. Cotrona (Dear John) as Flint, Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights) as Lady Jaye, Elodie Yung (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as Jinx and Joseph Mazzello (Jurassic Park) as Mouse (?), while rapper RZA (Repo Men) has been cast as the Blind Master.



Although no story details have emerged yet, given the return of Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) as Zartan and Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean) as the U.S. President, it's probably a safe bet to assume that Retaliation will pick up where The Rise of Cobra left off. However, with the film set to commence filming later this month, it begs the question - where the hell is Cobra? Apart from Vosloo, Byung-hun Lee (The Good, the Bad, the Weird) will reprise his role as Storm Shadow and Ray Stevenson (Thor) has been cast as Firefly, but there's been no word as to who else is likely to feature.



With Joseph Gordon-Levitt busy filming The Dark Knight Rises, it's unlikely he'll be back as Cobra Commander, and you'd have expected Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) would have been announced already if he was set to return as Destro. Now, you simply cannot have a G.I. Joe movie without Cobra Commander, and seeing as both of those characters ended the first film wearing masks, it's probably not too much of an issue to recast the roles. Nevertheless, even with CC and Destro, it's still looking like a pretty weak line-up for the ruthless terrorist organisation determined to rule the world.



Throw in Tomax, Xamot and the Crimson Guard and then maybe we're getting somewhere.