But thankfully Snake-Eyes, the black-clad, silent warrior of “G.I. Joe” averted a scandal that may have rocked the Internet community to its knees. And all thanks to one very protective father.

“We actually had Snake-Eyes utter one sentence at the very end of the movie,” revealed Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the producer behind the upcoming mega-budget “G.I. Joe” adaptation. “We thought [it] was very clever…Larry didn’t think it was clever at all.”

That Larry is, of course, comic writer Larry Hama. Having penned all 155 issues of the original Marvel run and numerous “Joe” series since, Hama was drafted by filmmakers to act as consultant to the project. And consult he did.

“The good news for us was we gave him the script and we held our breaths,” recalled di Bonaventura. “Because that was the moment where if he rejected the whole thing I’m not sure what we would have done. And what was great was he had really small notes, one or two very passionately held. And what Larry said was no matter what you guys think, you can’t have Snake-Eyes utter a word.”

Di Bonaventura took the advice to heart, choosing to stay true to the character’s past and more than likely avoiding hordes of angry fan letters. But don’t get the idea that Hama was all criticisms, because nothing could be further from the truth, exclaimed the producer.

“He’s really cool because I would say he might be the most aggressive of all of us about moving it forward. When we were first engaging with him we hadn’t written the script yet, and so we’d sort of ask him questions like, 'Well, what do you think?' And he’d go, 'Oh, sure.' Or 'Well, I don’t know.' But he would also say look, comic books are one medium, you guys are doing something else. Go for it.”

According to di Bonaventura, Hama’s endorsement gave him the most important sign of all…that they were treating the fan-favorite series with the respect it deserved. “More than anything [it] gave us a lot of feeling of alright, we’re on the right track,” he said. “The godfather giving us the thumb’s up.”

“G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra” is scheduled to hit theaters August 7, 2009. Stay tuned for much more from the hotly-anticipated film.

Are you glad Hama convinced the filmmakers to staple Snake-Eyes’ mouth shut? Let us know what you think below!