Here's why Jonas Cobb - AKA the port-to-port killer - is one of the most underrated villains the NCIS team has faced off against. Fans of TV show JAG will remember NCIS' humble beginnings as a backdoor pilot on that show, where Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and DiNozzo made guest appearances investigating a case. While it was a little slow to build an audience, within a few seasons NCIS had become one of the most popular shows on television and has run for seventeen series thus far.
It's success eventually led to spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles, starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. Like its parent series, it also proved to be instantly popular and its eleventh season started airing in 2019. The franchise's continued popularity spawned yet another series with NCIS: New Orleans, starring Scott Bakula. The franchise also crossed over with several other shows over the years, like Hawaii Five-O, Scorpion, and MacGyver.
The NCIS team has faced some memorable villains throughout the show's history, including Harper Dearing, Saleem Ulman, and Ali Haswari, who famously killed Agent Caitlin Todd in season 2 and was Ziva's half-brother. One villain who doesn't get much recognition is Jonas Cobb, who was dubbed the port-to-port killer.
Jonas Cobb appeared during NCIS season 8 played by Kerr Smith (Final Destination), and his backstory is that he was a sailor recruited by the CIA to be part of an operation dubbed "Frankenstein." As the ominous name suggests, this operation wasn't very ethical and the intention was to create assassins using behavioral modification that would allow them to remain composed and calm no matter how stressful the situation. Naturally, this backfired and instead turned Cobb into a serial killer who targets enlisted men all around the world, including Spain and Japan.
What made NCIS' Jonas Cobb a unique villain was his ability to think a few steps ahead of Gibbs and the team, and he always managed to slip through their fingers. He also had a flair for the dramatic, such as delivering an eyeball to DiNozzo via an ice cube in his drink. Cobbs was also an expert at infiltration and was responsible for the death of Gibbs' friend and mentor Mike Franks. He killed, wounded and kidnapped several other agents throughout his arc - including Ziva - before he was finally shot and killed in season 8 finale "Pyramid."
Kerr Smith's Jonas Cobb only appeared onscreen for two episodes of NCIS, but he was a cunning foe and remains somewhat unique in the pantheon of the show's villains, being a sociopathic serial killer.