Rudolph Cobrato is a scientist-turned mutant snake and is a minor villain who appeared in the 1987 TV series episode "Snakes Alive!"
History[]
Rudolph Cobrato was a scientist and herpetologist (study of amphibians and reptiles) who experimented on himself with snake venom, which somehow turned him into a human/snake hybrid and was reported missing by the public.
Through his mutation, Cobrato was endowed with the ability to communicate with snakes and bend them to his will. Through this ability, Rudolph Cobrato saw himself as the lord and father of snakes. In an effort to make New York City a paradise for snakes, he used his power to trick the snakes into escaping the local zoo and stealing equipment for him. In addition, he hired the gangster boss Pinky McFingers and his gang of gangsters for his purposes. Using the stolen equipment, Cobrato built a thermal device intended to bring New York to a tropical climate to further his goal, and under his orders, McFingers and his people installed the device deep in the East River.
Some time later, six hundred snakes were stolen from the city zoo and the Turtles decide to investigate. During their investigation, the missing snakes capture three of the Ninja Turtles and imprison them in a huge terrarium, but Leonardo is able to escape. Leonardo was unable to help his brothers because he admits he's afraid of snakes. Soon, it is revealed that the thefts were caused by Cobrato who wants to raise the Earth's temperature to make it more habitable to the snakes.
Leonardo forces himself to confront and conquer his fear of snakes, only to be confronted by a snake mutant. He knocks Cobrato the ground and ties him up. However, Cobrato escaped while Leonardo was in the next room, only to be knocked into a panel, electrocuted, and mysteriously turned back into a human being and lost control of the snakes. He was not pleased with this development, especially since his beloved snakes immediately turned on him; however, the Turtles saved him before they could pounce on him. The thermal machine was successfully destroyed and Cobrato went to prison.
Cobrato's lawyer later argued that as a human, he was no longer a threat, and he was released from incarceration, returning to his studies. Somehow, he suffered a mutation "relapse" and became a snake-man again, albeit without his control over serpents. To this end, he works with several criminal elements, including his old client Pinky McFingers, to create a diversion by committing several smaller crimes so that he could steal the chemicals himself, undetected. Raphael had run into some of the criminals holding up the pizza joint he was at, and then Casey Jones while the latter was investigating the thefts in the city. They shook down one of the crooks for information, and then used this to disguise Casey as one of the hired goons of (at the time, unbeknownst to them) Cobrato to get further details from McFingers during his robbery.
Raph and Casey interrupted Cobrato as he and Tony Vivaldi were planning their next steps, and found that they had also captured April O'Neil after she'd come snooping into their plot. Raph freed April and he and Casey fought Cobrato until the latter made his escape by slipping into a drainage grate. Casey and Raph were left to fend off Cobrato's mob hires until they could get away. Crime Spree
Trivia[]
- Rudolph Cobrato could be a nod to the Marvel Comics character Dr. Curt Connors, who, as a result of attempting to use reptilian DNA to regrow his lost arm, frequently uncontrollably morphs into a giant humanoid alter ego named the Lizard.