Elbert Maberto

Jim Fowler as Elbert Maberto, making a face inspired by Filthy Frank.

### Biographical Information

Elbert Maberto, also known as The Beast of the Mideast,started up the ranks of Cafafiso Brown's terrorist organization at a very young age, with some sources speculating that he was in his late teens when he first joined. He began as a lowly security grunt. Later in his twenties, it is reported that he revealed himself as a homosexual, with some reports stating that he even made advances on Cafafiso himself. Only it seems Cafafiso rejected his advances and demoted him to the bomb squad (an almost suicide job in the terrorist base). However, after Cafafiso's death, he inexplicably shot up the ranks. Whispers spread through the ranks that his promotions resulted in some way from his sexuality, but this was never confirmed. Regardless, he took charge of the remnant of the Brown's organization after the deaths of Heap and Alfalfa. This brought the attention of the CIA, who had Agent Cobra bring him to justice. He is presumably now doing hard time, although it may be more enjoyable from his perspective than you might think.

### Film Appearances

\**Spoilers for "The Browns Strike Back!!! Proceed with caution!\**

#### The Browns Strike Back

Near the end of "The Browns Strike Back", as Agent Cobra is about to climb into the helicopter to evacuate the Brown's base, Elbert fires upon him from across the pond. When Cobra returns fire, Elbert sort of "jogs" away. Cobra then evacuates.

*\*No known copies of "Infiltration" exist, so I guess you can read this without a spoiler warning\**

#### Infiltration

Elbert serves as the main villain of "Agent Cobra: Infiltration". In this movie, he leads a remnant of the Brown's organization. The most memorable thing about this movie is that Elbert wears a ginger wig and scandalously short basketball shorts. In the end of the movie, Cobra arrests Elbert, marking the first time the main villain of an Agent Cobra movie had not been killed.

### Portrayal

Like most villains in the original canon, Elbert Maberto was portrayed by Bobby Fowler. For Elbert's costume, Bobby wore a ginger wig and very short gym shorts. The executives at JBB Studios had not noticed how short these shorts were until after the final cut had been made, and the movie had been burned onto a DVD. Once they realized the mistake, they destroyed the DVD. This mistake led to the later extended universe trivia concerning Elbert's questionable sexuality.

Also, notably, Bobby Fowler liked Elbert's character so much that he wanted him to be the first Agent Cobra villain not to be killed in the end.

## New Canon

### Biographical Information

Dr. Elbert Benvolio Maberto, PhD, also known as The Beast of the Near East, was a Canadian biochemist who helped found Plan Omega along with the Browns.

#### Early life

Born to Giancarlo Maberto and Philippa Gamerson in Lloydminster, Alberta, Elbert had a mostly normal, although somewhat troublesome, childhood. He usually appeared to be a devoted son, and he usually had several friends, but sometimes he displayed flashes of sadism. Whenever he felt threatened by a bully, he would act as a sycophant and try to join the gang. However, if he found weakness in a bully, he would quickly exploit it.

He often dissected small to medium sized animals.

#### Adulthood

Elbert worked at large farms while pursuing his bachelor's degree. Afterwards, he joined the Canadian Army. However, there was an incident in which one of Elbert's officers was fragged. Although Elbert was not proven to be responsible, he was discharged from the army after a month. He then began to pursue a master's degree while working as a paramedic in Lloydminster. However, after some ethical concerns when Elbert had forced a drunk man with a broken leg to walk to the stretcher, Elbert was fired. Later, Elbert obtained his PhD from the University of Toronto with his doctoral thesis, "The Effects of Stimulants on the Human Body and the Possible Military Application Thereof". Shortly after obtaining his doctorate, Elbert was hired by Heap Brown to head the Brown's Applied Sciences Division. Later, Cafafiso sent Elbert to Panama to work alongside El Dogo's drug cartel.

### Film Appearances

\**seriously, do not even THINK about reading this section if you haven't seen "Agent Cobra: Reborn". It just came out, just go watch it on YouTube\**

#### Agent Cobra: Reborn

In "Agent Cobra: Reborn", Elbert first appears walking through a hallway in the terrorist base with Heap and Mohammed Barchar. After Heap and Mohammed pass by, Agent Cobra pulls Elbert into a closet. Cobra then proceeds to torture Elbert in an effort to gain information on Plan Omega. Elbert, groveling, reveals that Plan Omega is an effort to sell supersoldier steroids. After Elbert confesses he does not know who the buyer is, Cobra stabs him in the knee and knocks him unconscious.

Later, in the aftercredit scene, Elbert is shown digging through some ruins. He finds a box containing a vial containing the Plan Omega serum, and he smiles menacingly.

### Casting & Portrayal

#### Casting

During the early drafting stage of the development of "Agent Cobra: Reborn", Elbert was among several villains set to be in the film. During this stage, Thomas Spurlock and Bobby Fowler were considered for the role. However, when the script was being finalized, Elbert was one of the several characters who were cut from the movie. Despite this, during a later filming session, it was decided that a new interrogation scene should be added in order to explain the plot better. It was decided that the character Elbert could be introduced into the new canon in this scene. Bobby Fowler, who originally portrayed him, was on hand during this time, but he was ruled out due to concerns of overcasting him in multiple roles in the same movie. Although initially reluctant, Jim Fowler agreed to play Elbert. However, he at first wanted someone else to play him in later films. Thus, Kincaed Williams and Jobe Arnold were considered for the part. However, Jim eventually decided to reprise his role.

#### Portrayal

Jim Fowler portrays Elbert in "Agent Cobra: Reborn". He uses the original wig that Bobby Fowler wore in "Agent Cobra: Infiltration". Fowler captures the groveling side of Elbert, while also hinting at the more sadistic side in the aftercredit scene.

Initially, there was some back and forth over how to treat Elbert's alleged sexuality, with Bobby Fowler advocating for portraying Elbert as a more stereotypical, flamboyant homosexual, a la Milo Yiannopoulos, but other members of the GSS Productions board arguing for it being more toned down. We shall see how this debate resolves.