As revealed in today's review, the germ of the idea that became the 1980s GIJoe team was a pitch Larry Hama made for an in-continuity Marvel book called Fury Force. Here's the team's initial, very familiar, lineup:
- Sgt. Fury (Hawk)
- Steeler (Rock'n'Roll)
- Spook (Snake-Eyes)
- Louie Louie (Stormshadow)
- Jelly (Stalker)
- Brijo (Zap)
- Lilah Gaul (Scarlett)
Even when GIJoe was greenlit, it was originally going to be set in the Marvel 616 universe just like ROM or the Micronauts, with the team still answering to Nick Fury and fighting foes like Hydra. But Marvel realized it would be a gigantic pain trying to split the book's profits when they owned some of the characters and not others, so Hydra became Cobra and the book was launched in its own standalone continuity.