Question: Zartan asks the real president where the prison is where Cobra Commander and Destro are held. But didn't Zartan take the president's place at the end of the first movie, before those two were captured between films? So if that is something that would be told to the president, wouldn't Zartan already know? Or is this a major plot hole?
Brad
4th Aug 2013
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)
Answer: At the end of the previous movie, they were in custody on the USS Flagg and transferred to the German prison in between films, after the point Zartan had replaced the president. This means when Zartan asks the real president where it is, he must think the president knows about some protocol to send high-value prisoners there. If that prison was a pre-existing facility that the president knew about, and the transfer took place after Zartan took over the president's identity, then yes, he should have been updated about it. And if he, as the president, wasn't informed, then he has no reason to think the real president would know either. The whole issue could have been rendered moot because Storm Shadow presumably assassinated the Pakistani PM and allowed himself to get caught so they'd take him to that prison, revealing its location to Firefly, who is tracking him—but Storm Shadow seems to know its protocols about the REM drug already, implying the real president did reveal the info.
Chosen answer: Zartan is assuming the identity of the President. He doesn't have access to every single piece of information that the President knows. That's why the real President is kept alive in the case that Zartan needs information he doesn't know. Zartan can only do so much to look like and act like the President, but he has no idea about top secret information such as that. As for why Zartan would wait so long to free Cobra Commander and Destro, either that was part of Commander's plan, or Zartan has his reasons.
Brad ★