If any snake would deserve the sobriquet, Terminator, it would be the Mambas.
One of my buddies from college became a herpetologist and spent considerable time in Southern Africa. He would agree 100% with you. Nobody could handle mambas the way they handle cobras. The mamba can come up over their body to strike. They're very fast and lithe, and they are killers. The Green less than the black, just because it is about half the size.
Curiosity....would mambas survive here in the states? and where?