Big Boss (Metal Gear)

Big Boss
Metal Gear character
Big Boss as he appears in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)
First appearance	Metal Gear (1987)
Last appearance	Canon: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015; as Venom Snake) Non-Canon: Super Bomberman R (2018)
Created by	Hideo Kojima
Designed by	Yoji Shinkawa
Voiced by	English David Hayter (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Super Bomberman R) Richard Doyle (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots) Kiefer Sutherland (Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) Japanese Akio Ōtsuka (Metal Gear Solid 3, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid V and Super Bomberman R) Chikao Ōtsuka (Metal Gear Solid 4)
Motion capture	Various Mizuho Yoshida (Metal Gear Solid 3) Akio Ōtsuka (Metal Gear Solid 4) Miou Tanaka (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker) Erik Brown (Metal Gear Solid V) Kiefer Sutherland (Metal Gear Solid V [facial only])
In-universe information
Nationality	American

Big Boss (Japanese: ビッグ・ボス, Hepburn: Biggu Bosu) 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 and father of Solid Snake, featuring in a twist as the game's main antagonist.^[a] He is later featured in the prequel games (starting with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater) as Naked Snake (ネイキッド・スネーク, Neikiddo Sunēku), 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 (スネーク, Sunēku). Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain featured a different character as a body double of Big Boss known as Venom Snake (ヴェノム・スネーク, Venomu Sunēku) / Punished Snake (パニッシュド・スネーク, Panishudo Sunēku).

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.
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