Mean looking indeed! A couple years ago I took a guided tour of Phoenix Herpetological Society. They have a venomous snake room and all the other snakes (including other types of cobra) were essentially coiled up in their tanks in a relaxed state. But the king cobra was constantly sitting up and swaying back and forth eyeing us. I heard a presenter at a wildlife park once state they are the most intelligent of all reptiles.
King cobras are certainly the smartest species of snake on the planet according to people who have experience with them. They can recognize their keepers/owners and are better behaved around that particular person, and they even wait to administer their venom into its victim. They are also build their own nest, and are the only snake that ever does this. And how they are going to strike. King cobras will actually wait until their handlers slip up and then they strike. Most snakes just strike as a reactant. Of course it's very hard to distinguish intelligence in animals as simple-minded as snakes, but I definitely think they are the smartest snake species on the planet.
