Big Boss (Metal Gear)
Big Boss is a fictional character and one of the protagonists of Konami's Metal Gear series, created by Hideo Kojima. He was first introduced in the 1987 Metal Gear game as the commanding officer of Solid Snake, featuring in a twist as the game's main antagonist. In Metal Gear Solid, it is revealed that he is the genetic father of Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. He is later featured in the prequel games as Naked Snake, an American Special Forces Operator and decorated war hero. Political manipulations cause him to be disillusioned when facing his own mentor, and he gradually develops his own private mercenary company while growing into the original Big Boss persona and being referred to as simply Snake. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain featured a different character as a body double of Big Boss known as Venom Snake / Punished Snake.
The concept of Naked Snake was an attempt to distance him from Solid Snake, despite both being physically similar through their characterizations. He has been voiced by Akio Ōtsuka and Chikao Ōtsuka in the Japanese version, and by David Hayter, Kiefer Sutherland and Richard Doyle in the English translation. Critical reception to Big Boss has been positive, due to his role as a villain and his enmity with his son. His younger persona has been praised as likeable, with critics generally enjoying the execution of his character development in the series designed to shape him into a villainous icon.
Creation and design
In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Big Boss's visual appearance was inspired by actor Sean Connery, but for the ports of the game's re-released version, the original design was replaced by Yoji Shinkawa's design. During the making of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Hideo Kojima asked Shinkawa to make Naked Snake similar to Solid Snake, but with the differences that unlike Solid Snake, Naked Snake was a rookie and thus acted more naive. Shinkawa stated having no difficulties in designing Naked Snake as basically a revised version of Solid Snake. As a result, Naked Snake is virtually identical to Solid Snake from the previous Metal Gear Solid games in terms of appearance. The love scene between Naked Snake and EVA was inspired by the first Pink Panther. Kojima and Shinkawa watched the movie but the former stated it might have come different from the original version. Since the game's trailers did not state that Naked Snake was Big Boss, Kojima often gave vague answers to the character's true identity. Although the ending of Metal Gear Solid 3 reveals Naked Snake was given the Big Boss title, Kojima stated "he's not really the Big Boss yet". With Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, he wanted to explain how Naked Snake turned into the man who appeared in the original Metal Gear games as Solid Snake's enemy.Naked Snake as portrayed in Metal Gear Solid 3 is voiced by Akio Otsuka in the Japanese version and David Hayter in the English version. Hayter, despite voicing protagonist Solid Snake in previous entries, was forced to re-audition in order to secure the part of Naked Snake. Hayter told Game Informer that Kojima had hoped to hire Kurt Russell to voice Naked Snake, but that Russell declined the role. Both actors would return to provide the character's voice in Portable Ops and Peace Walker. The elderly version of Big Boss who appears in Metal Gear Solid 4 was voiced by Chikao Otsuka in Japanese and by Richard Doyle in English.
On June 6, 2013, during Konami's third annual pre-E3 show, it was announced that Kiefer Sutherland would be replacing Hayter as the character in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Sutherland was assigned the role after a suggestion to Kojima from Hollywood producer and director Avi Arad; Kojima's reason was to "have a more subdued performance expressed through subtle facial movements and tone of voice rather than words", and that he "needed someone who could genuinely convey both the facial and vocal qualities of a man in his late 40s". Sutherland plays the original Big Boss, as well as Venom Snake. In addition to the voice, Sutherland also provided facial capture for the character. Akio Otsuka reprised his role, voicing the character again in both Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, additionally portraying Venom Snake in the latter.
Appearances
Big Boss is introduced in the original game Metal Gear as the Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND's leader and Solid Snake's commanding officer. He initially acts as a radio contact who provides Snake with information about mission objectives involving Outer Heaven, a mercenary nation in South Africa. After Snake destroys the TX-55 Metal Gear, the villain confronts Snake, acting as a twist villain. The leader is defeated and Outer Heaven is destroyed, but Big Boss vows revenge. The Big Boss that is killed in Outer Heaven is later retconned to be Venom Snake, the true Big Boss' doppelgänger. Big Boss reappears in the sequel Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, where he has taken control of Zanzibar Land, a fortified nation in Central Asia. Snake confronts Big Boss once again while escaping from Zanzibar Land's detention camp, with Snake incinerating Big Boss.Despite his apparent death, Big Boss is frequently mentioned in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, which reveals that his DNA was used to create genetically-altered clones as part of the secret "Les Enfants Terribles" government project, with Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, and Solidus Snake.
The prequel Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, set in 1964, depicts a younger incarnation of the character, under the codename of Naked Snake, as a member of the CIA special forces unit FOX headed by Major Zero. Snake is sent on assignment in the Soviet Union to thwart the uprising of GRU colonel Volgin, rescue weapons researcher Nikolai Sokolov, destroy the Shagohod prototype, and kill The Boss to avert a nuclear war while having a rivalry with Ocelot and receiving assistance from fellow spy EVA. Snake completes his mission and kills The Boss, but learns that the defection was orchestrated by the US government and who had ordered his mentor's death to prevent war. The political motives behind the operation do not sit well with him, especially after he is awarded the "Big Boss" title for his actions which he initially rejects, and prompts him to retire from active service.
In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, he still operates under his former codename, believing that he has yet to surpass The Boss as a warrior. Having spent six years wandering the globe, Snake finds himself involved in an armed uprising caused by Gene's rogue FOX unit in the San Hieronymo peninsula in Colombia and learns that he has been convicted for instigating the revolt. Hoping to clear his name, Snake forms his own team of specialists by recruiting both old allies and defecting enemy soldiers to his cause. He faces not only the members of the FOX unit, but also Metal Gear's first prototype. After he learns that The Boss's death had been planned all along, Snake eventually defeats Gene and obtains the funds for Army's Heaven.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, set years after Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2, reveals that Big Boss and Zero were divided over how to realize The Boss's final will: a world where soldiers are free to choose and fight their own battles on their own terms, and not at the whim of a government. Big Boss initially sided with Zero before being discouraged by Zero interpreting the will as imposing order and control over the world. Big Boss further despises his role as a figurehead since Zero's vision places no value on loyalty to ideals and people, which The Boss treasured above all else. Big Boss ultimately leaves when he learns that his own DNA was used for the "Les Enfants Terribles" project, and later stages the coup d'état with Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land against Zero's organization. Big Boss survived and was placed in an artificially induced coma with his genetic code used for an ID recognition system, the use of which allows access to the AIs that make up the Patriots. His body is recovered and reconstructed using parts from the bodies of both Liquid and Solidus, and he awakens from his coma after the fall of the Patriots' AIs. Big Boss appears before Old Snake with the elderly catatonic Zero to reveal the truth about the Patriots, before shutting off Zero's life support system, killing the latter. He comes to terms with his feelings regarding The Boss, and reconciles with his son before dying from exposure to the new strain of FOXDIE virus.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, set after Metal Gear Solid 3 and Portable Ops, establishes Naked Snake founded the mercenary force Militaires Sans Frontières with Kazuhira "Kaz" Miller. He intends to use MSF to live out The Boss's final will. Student Paz Ortega Andrade and Professor Vladimir Zadornov seek to hire MSF to remove Coldman's CIA Peace Sentinel unit that has established bases in Costa Rica. Snake reluctantly accepts the mission, to which the MSF takes over an offshore research platform in the Caribbean as a "Mother Base" in a bid to expand the group's capabilities. Snake comes to learn about the true purpose of Coldman's Peace Walker prototypes and accepts his Big Boss identity. Big Boss has Huey Emmerich create Metal Gear ZEKE as a weapon to defend his interests before Zadornov makes several escape attempts and is killed in self-defense while Paz takes control of ZEKE which Big Boss defeats and continues his operations with MSF. Ground Zeroes, set in 1975, sees Big Boss sent to rescue Paz and ally Chico from a U.S. Naval prison facility in Cuba, believing that Paz can be converted to MSF's cause to reveal more about Cipher. Snake rescues Paz and Chico but the XOF paramilitary force led by Skull Face attacks Mother Base. A bomb secretly planted in Paz results in injuries which puts Big Boss in a coma. The Phantom Pain, set in 1984, shows Big Boss awaken in Cyprus and works elsewhere on the true Outer Heaven's development.