While the first protagonist of the Metal Gear series was Solid Snake, no character had as big of an impact on the franchise as Big Boss. The legendary soldier killed the Boss, helped create The Patriots, and was the "father" of the Twin Snakes. All of these events played giant roles in Metal Gear's overall narrative.
However, the character's popularity didn't simply come from his importance. He was also a badass, as seen when he put down Volgin and the entire Cobra Unit during one of the best games in the series, Metal Gear Solid 3. With Metal Gear's deeply complex storyline, it's easy to forget details about even the most beloved characters. So here are some need-to-know facts about the iconic Big Boss.
10 Confusion About His Real Name
Most players refer to the character as Big Boss or Naked Snake. Yet, he does have a real name, which is Jack or John or both. At first, everyone thought it was Jack as that's what The Boss and Zero called him in MGS3. The fact that the man himself told Ocelot that his name was John was seen as a lie to fool his rival.
But since then, he's been labeled as John in a few other things, most notably the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database. Naturally, this has confused plenty of people. Although many fans have concluded that his real name is John, and he uses Jack as a nickname.
9 David Hayter Had To Audition For Naked Snake
One of the biggest complaints from fans about Phantom Pain was that series regular, David Hayter didn't reprise his role as Big Boss. Instead, Kiefer Sutherland provided the vocals for the iconic character. This meant that it was the only mainline Metal Gear Solid not to have the Hayter on the cast.
But he nearly got ousted from his position years earlier. As even though the voice actor's deep tones helped make Solid Snake such a highly regarded action hero after the first two Metal Gear Solids, he had to audition to play his clone/father in the MGS3 prequel. If he hadn't landed the role, then Big Boss might've never been as popular as he became.
8 Outlived The Other Founding Members Of The Patriots
Eventually, The Patriots were run by a bunch of highly advanced A.Is. But the group's original members were Zero, Ocelot, EVA, Sigint, Para-Medic, and Big Boss.
Unfortunately for them, creating and, in some cases, betraying the most powerful organization in the world has risks. And all of them were murdered in the following years - most by FOXDIE. The last two remaining were Zero and Big Boss. That was until the latter switched off the former's life support shortly before passing away himself.
7 Left The Patriots Because Of Les Enfants Terribles
The birth of Liquid and Solid Snake created one of gaming's best-ever rivalries, but it also caused Big Boss to leave The Patriots. His relationship with Zero was already strained by that point, and being secretly cloned was the final straw for the legendary soldier. He left the organization and built his own mercenary group.
Despite his hatred for the project, he didn't hold much resentment for the Twin Snakes. Yet, he didn't see them as his sons either.
6 Initially Refused The Big Boss Moniker
After defeating The Boss in one of the best fights in the series, Naked Snake was given the title of Big Boss. However, he didn't initially go by that moniker. Instead, he stuck with the name Snake for some time as he felt he hadn't truly earned the title.
Eventually, though, he started to feel betrayed by his former mentor. He thought that by allowing herself to be killed, she rejected her entire life, including the time she spent with him. And that she betrayed everything she was as a soldier. It was then that he finally accepted that he was Big Boss.
5 Rebuilt Using Liquid And Solidus
For many years, Naked Snake was thought to be dead. Thus, it was shocking when the man appeared in the final moments of MGS4 with barely a scratch on him. It turned out that after the events of Metal Gear 2, The Patriots had kept what was left of him.
Then later, EVA stole the body and reconstructed it using parts from Liquid and Solidus. Not many games would have a character rebuilt with what are essentially his dead sons' body parts, but that's what makes Metal Gear unique.
4 Trained Solid Snake In CQC
Big Boss might never have been a father to Solid Snake, but the two did work together in their days at FOXHOUND. The older Snake even taught the young clone the CQC that he co-developed. Although because of his teacher's questionable moral decisions, Solid Snake didn't use the teachings for some time.
In his old age, though, he started to incorporate the skills he'd learned into his arsenal. And it made him an even better stealth operative — perhaps even superior to Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher.
3 The Circumstances Of His Death Were Ironic
At the end of MGS4, Big Boss was killed by the new form of FOXDIE inside Solid Snake's body. The original strand of the virus was partially developed by Naomi Hunter, who injected it into Snake before the Shadow Moses incident. Her main reason for doing so was to get revenge on the soldier for severely injuring Gray Fox and killing Big Boss, both of whom were the most important people in her life.
However, years later, the Patriots altered the original virus to make a new form of it that targeted different people, including Big Boss. So something that was initially intended to avenge the legendary soldier played a part in his death.
2 Desperately Wanted A Place For Soldiers In The World
One of many things to happen between Phantom Pain and the Metal Gear titles was Big Boss's true descent into villainhood. And while there's no doubt that he became a reprehensible individual, he started with decent intentions.
He was sick of how soldiers were treated by the Government, as evidenced when The Boss had to lay down her life for political reasons. So Big Boss wanted to create a world where soldiers were always needed. Unfortunately, this meant that the world needed to be in perpetual conflict, something that would cost many lives.
1 Believes In Santa Claus
The Metal Gear series can get away with some weird things, including having a tough, no-nonsense war hero that believes in Santa Claus. Big Boss made the admission during a codec call in Peace Walker.
He told Huey Emmerich about how NORAD tracks Father Christmas every year. And the engineer couldn't help but laugh at his boss's festive beliefs. In Big Boss's defense, he's met a slew of outrageous individuals with bizarre powers. So a man with flying reindeer who manages to visits billions of kids in one night isn't too unrealistic by comparison.