A Real American Hero (DDP)
Union of the Snake
General Philip Rey is first introduced as a US Military General battling a COBRA faction known as the Coil. This faction was led by Major Bludd and was battling General Rey and his forces in Europe. During a brawl with Bludd, Rey severs Bludd’s hand and sends the Coil to retreat. This is when the Jugglers, a cabal of military generals, take notice of Rey’s skillful leadership and his efficacy against COBRA. The Jugglers first task Rey with issuing the arrest warrants against Duke & Snake-Eyes, and he is also tasked with overseeing their convoys. However, Duke and Snake-Eyes end up being freed by Scarlett and Storm Shadow. Meanwhile, the Cobra Commander is freed from GI Joe captivity by Zartan and the Dreadnoks at the same time Duke and Snake-Eyes are freed. This gives the Jugglers probable cause to appoint General Rey to command the GI Joe team. When Rey is placed in command shortly before an assault on the Pit by COBRA to free Blackout. Under Rey’s command, the Joe team thwarts a plot by COBRA to unleash the Tempest, a weapon that can control the weather, on the world. The mission is successful when Rey orders Barrel Roll to kamikaze into the Tempest, drawing the objection from Flint. After this mission, Rey earns respect from many of the Joes including Flint.
Dawn of the Red Shadows
The next event to take place under Rey’s command is the emergence of the Red Shadows, a group of assassins targeting both members of GI Joe and COBRA. The Joes first learn about this group when they attempt to kill General Joseph Colton. Colton’s notes identified their leader as Wilder Vaughn a former acquaintance of Colton’s. Here Rey begins to devote the Joe team’s resources to find and neutralize the Red Shadows before they kill again. However, the Red Shadows manage to kill the Jugglers and Serpentor, while he was in captivity. This gives Rey and the Joes greater cause to pursue the Red Shadows. During this time Lady Jaye became suspicious of Rey because she can’t find any background information on him, and Duke is uneasy towards Rey given that he had previously executed an arrest warrant on Duke. When Kamakura thwarts an assassination attempt on General Hawk the Joes begin to hunt down any leads on the Red Shadows and eventually find Dela Eden. Duke and Flint attempt to apprehend her but fail. Then Dela Eden attempts to kill Flint before Lady Jaye rescues him. However, Jaye is killed by Eden, and Scarlett captures Eden. The Joes hold Eden prisoner in hopes of finding the Red Shadows’ headquarters. When the Red Shadows attack the Joes and free Eden. Flint begins to follow Eden’s escort to discover the Red Shadows’ headquarters, Rey and the rest of the Joes find Flint through a homing beacon Flint placed on himself. They assault the Red Shadows’ headquarters and capture Dela Eden again, but Vaughn escapes.
America’s Elite
In Sheep’s Clothing
In the GI Joe: America’s Elite run, Rey returns for the “In Sheep’s Clothing” arc. After the events of “Dawn of the Red Shadows,” Rey rejoins the US Military as an active general. However, he is tasked by President George W. Bush and Chief of Staff Garrett Freedlowe, who is Cobra Commander in disguise, to lead a new counter-terrorism unit called the Pheonix Guard. The Pheonix Guard’s operatives were Snake-Eater, Halo, Mech, Friday, and High-Tide. At first, the Pheonix Guard was sent to Utah to eliminate a COBRA base of operations to upstage the GI Joe team. Then after demonstrating that the Pheonix Guard was a worthy replacement for GI Joe, Garrett Freedlowe sends the Pheonix Guard to infiltrate the Rock, the Joes’ new base of operations, to neutralize and displace the Joes because according to Freedlowe the Joes had gone rogue. The Pheonix Guard captures Roadblock, Stalker, Shipwreck, and Hawk during their assault on the Rock. However, GI Joe, Spirit, Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, and Kamakura remain free to fight off the Pheonix Guard’s attack. Eventually, Duke returns to the Rock to help fight off the Pheonix Guard’s assault on the Rock. During the attack, the Baroness escapes captivity in the Rock and proceeds to flee the scene. Meanwhile, General Rey began searching through GI Joe files and learned that the Pheonix Guard was composed of COBRA operatives. Snake-Eater was Firefly, Halo was Wild Weasel, Mech was Scrap-Iron, Friday was Zarana, and High-Tide was Copperhead after learning this Rey decides to help the Joes fight off the attack. He confronts Mech with the knowledge that he knows that Mech is actually Scrap-Iron and proceeds to fight Mech and is aided by Snake-Eyes. Shortly after Rey made his discovery, President Bush soon learns that the real Garrett Freedlowe was dead and that Cobra Commander was impersonating Freedlowe. After the Joes reclaim the Rock, Rey enters a state of depression because he followed orders to attack the Joes without questioning them.
Emperor’s New Clothes
Following the attack on the Rock, Rey begins to see a psychiatrist about his PTSD and nightmares from carrying out the heinous attack on the Rock. However, Rey is unable to remember anything before his first assignment to the Joe team and decides to investigate to see if he could piece it together. While the Joe team is on leave Rey seeks out Duke to see if he’s willing to help him learn about his past. At first, Duke refuses to help because he was enraged with Rey over the attack on the Rock. However, Duke eventually agrees to help Rey and takes him to the Rock where Rey is met with disapproval from the other Joes. Duke and Rey find the name James Nurss in the classified documents involving Rey’s past and learn that James Nurss was an alias of Zandar’s and they decide to go to the Everglades where the Dreadnoks hideout is. They confront Zandar about their discovery about Nurss and Zandar tells them that he used the alias of James Nurss to broker a deal with the Jugglers. Zandar then tells Duke and Rey to go to Scott Stevens, Rey’s psychiatrist, for their answers. Rey and Duke arrive at Stevens’ office and find out that Stevens was Crystal Ball the whole time. Crystal Ball reveals to Rey that he was a clone of Serpentor created by Dr. Mindbender that wasn’t artificially aged like the master Serpentor copy was. Zandar’s deal with the Jugglers was to place a Serpentor clone, Rey, in the hands of one of the Jugglers. They were unaware of Mindbender’s hypnotic suggestions or code-word triggers that allowed whoever used them to completely control Rey. Crystal Ball then uses hypnosis to turn Rey on Duke, but Rey eventually manages to fight off the hypnosis and stop Crystal Ball. After that Rey earns Duke’s trust and Duke promises that he would only tell General Colton that Rey was a Serpentor clone and that it would be a secret kept between the three of them. Duke also tells Rey that if he sees the slightest sign of Serpentor taking over that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Rey. Rey understood that Duke’s intentions are pure and promises to not let Duke down.
World War III
During the events of World War III, Rey leads a team of Joes in Jordan to find and rescue President Bush after Cobra Commander stranded him in Jordan. Rey’s team successfully finds the President and rescues him shortly before the war ends and COBRA is defeated.