Everyone has skeletons in their closet; some of us just don't know it. In Marvin Hinton's case, this could not ring more true. With fame, comes consequence, the loss of privacy. As every celebrity soon learns, nothing is sacred.
As a slap in the face of GI Joe, Cobra set in motion a plan to help further demoralize their foes more than any other single event has ever done. To make one of the best known Joes, codename: Roadblock, turn against his country and his comrades and join COBRA!! Putting Watkins' to work it was uncovered that there was indeed a dirty little secret kept from Marvin all these years. As it would turn out, Roadblock's parents never told him that he had a brother.
Fortune smiled on Cobra as more details of this long lost brother surfaced. One detail in particular would prove to be quite useful. The child was born two years before Marvin, to parents who knew they had no choice but to give him up for adoption. Young, poor, and scared of meeting with their own parent's disappointment, they made a decision that would and up doing far more damage then they could ever imagine. Even though Marvin's parents had no idea what became of the child, Cobra with their vast connections found out quite easily. The child, who was eventually adopted by a family in Chicago, lived a rough life until the age of 14. He turned up missing and no clues were found to head the police in the right direction. This was the chance Cobra needed; they could fabricate anything they wanted from this point on.
Several writers who had become indebted to Cobra began weaving a tale of a disillusioned youth, searching for answers, only to have them answered in the ranks of the red and blue. The story went on to depict this child who, as they found in the files was later named Antonio, by his adopted parents, and how he quickly rose through the ranks of Cobra, attaining crimson guard status in an unheard of amount of time. But, the fabrications did not stop there; the last detail cemented the plan. Using some of the most advanced technology in the world, a scene involving a dead on Duke stand-in shot a black crimson guardsman in the back. This footage, documents including falsified birth and death certificates, identification, the works were all delivered to Roadblock with a note telling him to watch it all.
Marvin sat, reading and watching, taking in all the lies and deception that Cobra spoon fed him. The first thing he did was call his parents, who, when faced with the fact that their son knew the dirty little secret, told him it was true. Although he spared the rest of the facts, especially the final fact placed in the box. The fact that Duke had killed his brother to spare the Joe program any embarrassment by the world learning that a relative of one of the best known members, was in fact a high ranking Cobra! With these facts and the rage building in his heart, Roadblock marched into Joe headquarters and strangled Duke with his bare hands. And as the last twitch of Duke's body subsided, Roadblock made his escape and joined up at the same position as his "brother" had once commanded. Now meet Roadblock, the Crimson Guard Lieutenant.