Although 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra touched on Snake Eyes’ past (with Ray Park playing the character in that movie and Retaliation), the Snake Eyes spinoff is placing Henry Golding’s version of the swordsman front and center.
The purpose of this spinoff is to show how Snake Eyes became the badass warrior we know from the main G.I. Joe stories.
This takes place at a time when Snake Eyes is still talking and not wearing a full-face mask, and while we know he’ll eventually join the G.I. Joe team and become mortal enemies with Storm Shadow (who signs on with Cobra), now’s not the time for these two groups to prominently featured.