History Characters / MetalGearSolidV

* DoesNotLikeShoes: She wears military boots but she will ditch them to go barefoot as soon as she possibly can.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: His voice actor does not speak English as his first language, and is well known for a [[MemeticMutation particularly famous bit of Engrish]]. He has improved greatly since then, even if his accent is still noticeable.

* EvilOldFolks: Is 52 years old during the events of ''Phantom Pain'' and 63 years old in the original ''Metal Gear'' when he fought Solid Snake.

* OldSoldier: Having been born in 1932, he is 52 when the player is placed in his shoes for ''V''[='s=] main story, and he is ''63'' when he takes on Solid Snake in ''Metal Gear 1'', and yet the battle is canonically regarded as among the most brutal and difficult fights Solid Snake ever endured in his career [[note]] Though Solid Snake ''was'' also a newbie on his very first mission who had just fought his way through all of Outer Heaven[[/note]]. All this is because of his years of combat experience, on top of having already been [[TheAce MSF's top operative]] (besides Big Boss himself), then brainwashed to become [[CloneByConversion Big Boss's doppelgänger]].

EvilOldFolks: Is 52 years old during the events of ''Phantom Pain'' and 63 years old in the original ''Metal Gear'' when he fought Solid Snake.

** While he [[spoiler:fails in achieving [[{{Dystopia}} his actual goals]], he does however succeed in satisfying his own personal desires — namely taking vengeance on Zero by causing [[FateWorseThanDeath the condition]] he appears in during [=MGS4=], as well as passing on [[StrawNihilist his philosophy]] down to Venom Snake, Psycho Mantis, Diamond Dogs, and even Cipher, which in part leads to the birth of Outer Heaven and the bleak setting of Metal Gear Solid.]]

* BigBad: Of ''Metal Gear Solid V'' (both ''Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes'' and ''Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain''). He's the leader of XOF and the Skulls unit that antagonize Snake in ''Metal Gear Solid V'', [[spoiler:wanting to destroy MSF and defeat Big Boss, then take over Cipher from Zero in order to halt Cipher's plans for cultural imperialism and implement his own plans.]]

* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Sort of. Though he dies at the end of Chapter 1, he's still the main villain of the MGSV duology.]]

--> '''Youtube Comment:''' Thanks to Skullface, the early concept for FOXDIE was introduced to Cypher. Thanks to Skullface, microorganisms living in and supporting human bodies ('''cough cough''' nanomachines) was also introduced to Cypher. Thanks to Skullface, the earliest “mass production” Metal Gears and nukes started popping up. But even more than that, thanks to Skullface, Zero was put in a coma. If Zero wasn’t in a coma, perhaps he could’ve reconciled with Big Boss (which his tape seems to suggest he wanted to do), turned back the Patriots, and stopped his machine before it got started. The AI would have never taken over, and the War Economy would never appear. The Snakes could have lived normal lives. The world would be left as is.
--> Every once of misery from Ground Zeroes onward is thanks to Skullface. And nobody knows it.
-->[[{{Tearjerker}} Here’s to you, phantom.]]

* ICannotSelfTerminate: After [[spoiler:being crushed by a radio tower, he begs Snake and Miller to finish him off. Instead, they blow off his arm and leg as revenge for his destruction of [=MSF=] and leave him to die slowly... only for Huey to finish Skull Face himself.]]

* InformedAbility: He's stated to be Big Boss' equal as a soldier, to the point that Zero considered [[spoiler:him a worthy candidate to complete Operation Snake Eater if Snake himself could not.]] However, we never see him actually fight, and he loses his cool the second his plan starts to go off the rails.
** He's more of an espionist than a soldier, if the lack of serious combat gear is any indication. However, we don't get to see the extent of his abilities as a cleaner/fixer/spy, but we're told that he was the one who dealt with the cleanup at Groznylgrad after Snake blew up everything important.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Does this to [[spoiler:Huey, leaving him to Venom Snake after he learns about his attempts to double-cross them.]]
** [[spoiler:Winds up being on the receiving end of this after his defeat, with Miller and Venom Snake taking vengeance on him in the most ''[[LudicrousGibs agonizing]]'' and surprisingly therapeutic way possible after all Skull Face has done, leaving him to bleed out and suffer as they did. He attempts to reach for his weapon to end himself and fails, but is eventually shot in the head by Huey.]]

** As for the staff members themselves, all but a few unique characters share the word + animal code name scheme that many MGS characters have used.

* TraumaCongaLine: In MGSV alone, he fails to find the second bomb sewn into Paz, gets the brunt of the explosion that lodges shrapnel all over his body and blows off his arm, most of his allies get killed, the military organization he dedicated himself to is all but completely wiped out, his CO Kaz ends up losing AnArmAndALeg, he falls into a 9 year coma, his personality is steadily erased to make him into Big Boss's body double, he finds out Huey betrayed MSF, and so on. Skipping to the end, nothing goes well for this guy, up to and including getting shot with an RPG by Solid Snake while the organization he built up for years literally explodes around him.

* TheDeterminator: He's not going to let ''anything'' get in the way of his revenge against XOF and Cipher.

* BadassBaritone: Both his English and Japanese [=VAs=] give Skull Face a deep, menacing tone.

* HandicappedBadass: He loses his left arm during to the events of ''Ground Zeroes''. Not that it hinders him at all...

'''Unmarked spoilers in the bios below. Proceed with ''extreme'' caution if you have not finished the game yet.'''

* BadassNormal: Even before becoming Big Boss's doppelgänger, Venom was considered the best soldier MSF had besides Big Boss himself. So much so that he was chosen to personally accompany Big Boss on his mission to rescue Paz and Chico, providing medical support. Yet even after undergoing plastic surgery and hypnotherapy to make him into Big Boss's body double (which included mentally programming in some of Big Boss's training and experience), he's just a regular soldier fighting enemies who have superhuman abilities, like Quiet and the Skulls. Not only that, but he can take on tank squads single handedly, and win. Taken several steps further with the fact that he can instead ''steal'' tanks and ''kidnap'' their potentially elite infantry support. And this doesn't even have to be considered an objective, let alone a side-op or part of a story mission. [[ButForMeItWasTuesday For Venom, it's Tuesday]].
** Perhaps best shown in a cutscene on Mother Base, when Quiet is trying to kill a guy [[spoiler:who is unknowingly infected with the parasites; she is trying to silence him to save everyone else.]] She [[NeckLift easily throws aside]] two men trying to stop her, and her SuperSpeed and SuperReflexes are well-established. But then Venom steps in and she [[CurbStompBattle lasts about four seconds]].

* DoppelgangerGetsSameSentiment: [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]]: while at face value [[spoiler:Ocelot and Zero [[ExploitedTrope exploits]] this for the benefit of Big Boss and the Outer Heaven/Zanzibar Land project (Ocelot even [[EnforcedTrope enforcing]] this on himself via hypnosis), the characters surrounding him take it all pretty different when the truth comes out. The personnel of Diamond Dogs, especially in the aftermath of "Shining Lights", sticks by him and proclaims they will stay under Venom's command to the end. In contrast, Quiet and Eli/Liquid Snake leave Diamond Dogs never even realizing the difference. The same is true of Huey, except he was kicked out. [[SubvertedTrope And then there]]'s [[NumberTwo Kaz]], who takes it very badly and vows undying hatred against the real Big Boss]].

* AFatherToHisMen: Loves his Diamonds Dog soldiers ''dearly'', and greatly mourns their deaths. [[spoiler:The subtext here is piled up on considering in addition to Naked Snake/Big Boss's original proclamation of Outer Heaven in ''Peace Walker'', Venom also comes from the position of being under the original Big Boss's command, and is therefore working towards living up and building on that legend as well]].

* GoodCounterpart: Despite his rather horrifying appearance, there's ''a lot'' of in-game hints that Venom is the more benevolent side of the two Big Bosses, often showing mercy, honor, and compassion towards his foes, and being much more tempered, and level headed than say Kaz, or even the original Big Boss. Further reflected by Outer Heaven's morality, compared to Zanzibar Land. [[spoiler:This is likely due to the remnants of his original personality. Being a medic, his primary duty in life was the preservation of life. Opposed to Snake whose primary purpose was to end the lives of MSF's enemies.]]

* {{Expy}}:
** Resembles a scaled-up version of the [[VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}} Metal Gear Mk. II]] [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots / Mk. III]].
** Likewise, D-Walker bears a resemblance to the Metal Gears seen in the first two games.
** The way it skates along the ground also makes it look like a stripped-down [[Franchise/CodeGeass Knightmare Frame]].
** Its H-Discharger main weapon is identical to the Pupa AI-Weapon's Shock unit. Apparently, Huey saved a copy of the design specs.

* {{Expy}}: Given Kojima's well-known love of movies, it wouldn't be surprising if the Sahelanthropus's shape and weapon of choice was inspired by Balrog from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing''.
** It also references the uplifted ape with the bone from the opening of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.
** Its more humanoid form bears a passing resemblance to [[Franchise/{{Gundam}} Universal Century mobile suits]], complete with head vulcans.
** Its overall appearance when standing, along with its occasionally bestial movements, is also similar to an [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]]. Also similar to the Evas from ''Evangelion'', Sahelanthroprus can only be piloted by children. Furthering the link is the name of the psychic boy who helps Eli control it: Tretij Rebenok, Russian for "Third Child", which was the designation given to Shinji Ikari from ''Evangelion''.

[[center:[-[[Characters/MetalGear Main Character Index]] | Characters/MetalGear1 ([[Characters/MetalGearSolidSnake Solid Snake]] | [[Characters/MetalGearBigBoss Big Boss / Naked Snake]]) | [[Characters/MetalGear2SolidSnake Metal Gear 2]] | [[Characters/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear Solid]] | [[Characters/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Sons of Liberty]] ([[Characters/MetalGearRaiden Raiden]]) | [[Characters/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater Snake Eater]] | [[Characters/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots Guns of the Patriots]] | [[Characters/MetalGearSolidPortableOps Portable Ops]] | [[Characters/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker Peace Walker]] | [[Characters/MetalGearRisingRevengeance Revengeance]] ([[Characters/MetalGearSenatorArmstrong Senator Armstrong]]) | '''The Phantom Pain''' | [[Characters/MetalGearAcid Acid]] | [[Characters/MetalGearGhostBabel Ghost Babel]] | [[Characters/SnakesRevenge Snake's Revenge]]-]]]

* WhipItGood: Sahelanthropus wields a pair of nanofiber whips capable of hardening into a gigantic straight-sword.

* HandicappedBadass: In ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid V|ThePhantomPain}}'', he loses his left arm. Not that it hinders him at all...
* HeroesLoveDogs: [[CanineCompanion He can adopt a wolf pup named DD]] in ''[=MGSV=]''.

* CombatMedic: His role back in the MSF. While he is never shown in combat during ''Ground Zeroes'', there is a good reason he was chosen to accompany Big Boss on the mission to rescue Paz and Chico. Even before becoming Big Boss's doppelgänger, he was considered the best soldier the MSF had to offer (outside of Big Boss himself), so he did not lack in the combat department.

->'''Voiced by:''' [[spoiler:Hideo Kojima]]

An undercover MSF operative who has been compromised after recovering a cassette tape relating to XOF. Snake and Morpho rescue him from the base in "Intel Operative Extraction." Rescuing him in ''Ground Zeroes'' causes him to join Diamond Dogs in ''The Phantom Pain''. He can also be recruited in a special Side-Ops mission if you don't have ''Ground Zeroes''.

** Hideo Kojima declared fans would be "ashamed of their words and deeds" releated to Quiet's apperance. As it turns out, the reason that she is that her lungs were burnt to a crisp so now she can ''only'' breathe through her skin. Her physiology's so mangled that even wearing a ''shirt'' causes her to ''[[BizarreHumanBiology suffocate]]''.

* BadassNormal: Even before becoming Big Boss's doppleganger, Venom was considered the best soldier MSF had besides Big Boss himself. So much so that he was chosen to personally accompany Big Boss on his mission to rescue Paz and Chico, providing medical support. Yet even after undergoing plastic surgery and hypnotherapy to make him into Big Boss's body double (which included mentally programming in some of Big Boss's training and experience), he's just a regular soldier fighting enemies who have superhuman abilities, like Quiet and the Skulls. Not only that, but he can take on tank squads single handedly, and win. Taken several steps further with the fact that he can instead ''steal'' tanks and ''kidnap'' their potentially elite infantry support. And this doesn't even have to be considered an objective, let alone a side-op or part of a story mission. [[ButForMeItWasTuesday For Venom, it's Tuesday]].

* CanonCharacterAllAlong: Even after turning out to be a doppelganger, the credits reveal him to be the Big Boss from the final battle in the original ''Metal Gear''.

* CigarChomper: He is a doppelganger of Big Boss, so this is expected. Subverted most of the time, as he prefers an e-cigar filled with Wormwood, but during his birthday cutscene he is given a crate of real cigars which he happily smokes one.
* CombatMedic: His role back in the MSF. While he is never shown in combat during ''Ground Zeroes'', there is a good reason he was chosen to accompany Big Boss on the mission to rescue Paz and Chico. Even before becoming Big Boss's doppelganger, he was considered the best soldier the MSF had to offer (outside of Big Boss himself), so he did not lack in the combat department.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: To an honestly insane degree. The "twist" that you are just a doppleganger of Big Boss is all but posted on the screen in big bold letters, almost even before the game was released.

** One of the game's most prominent songs "The Man Who Sold The World" is a song about meeting one's doppleganger.

** Eventually subverted by the end of the game. With the final scene of the game making several allusions to Venom Snake's role in Operation Intrude n313 and threatening nuclear war upon the world via Metal Gear (his reflection in the mirror showing him covered in blood, and his "horn" having grow to its largest possible size). Despite now knowing he isn't the "real" Big Boss, he fully accepts his role as Big Boss's doppelganger and becomes his image in morality as well as looks.

* LossOfIdentity: His original persona died in the helicopter crash in 1975, as the hypnotherapy he received to turn him into Big Boss's doppleganger was through enough that he retained the "Big Boss" personality even after regaining some of his original memories and realizing he was a copy.

* OldSoldier: Having been born in 1932, he is 52 when the player is placed in his shoes for ''V''[='s=] main story, and he is ''63'' when he takes on Solid Snake in ''Metal Gear 1'', and yet the battle is canonically regarded as among the most brutal and difficult fights Solid Snake ever endured in his career [[note]] Though Solid Snake ''was'' also a newbie on his very first mission who had just fought his way through all of Outer Heaven[[/note]]. All this is because of his years of combat experience, on top of having already been [[TheAce MSF's top operative]] (besides Big Boss himself), then brainwashed to become [[CloneByConversion Big Boss's doppleganger]].

* PsychoticSmirk: In TheStinger, he gives a small one after regaining his memories and being deemed worthy of the title of Big Boss by the real deal, showing he's embraced his role as the former's doppelganger.

* ThatManIsDead: While not directly spoken by him, Ocelot states that "the medic", aka who Venom used to be, died in the helicopter crash in 1975, leaving only the Venom Snake persona. Venom himself follows this in his actions. Fully accepting the name and identity of "Big Boss", even after learning he is a doppelganger.

%%* ColdBloodedTorture: Suffers this at one point.
%%* ColdSniper: Though she does have a softer side.

%%* StarCrossedLovers: [[spoiler:With Venom Snake.]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AkioOhtsuka (JP), Creator/KieferSutherland (EN)

* PracticallyJoker: Some fans have drawn a few parallels between Skull Face and the Joker, particularly his incarnation from ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and the eponymous ''{{ComicBook/Joker}}'' graphic novel. That [[spoiler:the audio tapes, particularly the one with Skull Face detailing his backstory can be likened to one of Joker's infamous "[[EveryScarHasAStory scar stories]]" and the fact that he's a WildCard playing against ''both'' Snake and Cipher]] doesn't help one bit.

* WeaksauceWeakness: As unbelievable as it sounds, the Sniper Skulls literally '''can't do shit''' if you're inside a smoke plume provided by smoke grenades, so as long as you have Grade 4 [[NightVisionGoggles NVGs]] and a powerful-enough sniper rifle, you can freely pick them off at your leisure whilst inside the smoke plume without them ever firing back at you, just make sure to re-apply a smoke grenade whenever the one you used starts to expire in order to freely pick them off so that they never trigger the classic '''[[red: !]]''' sound. Yes, this even works on their Extreme counterparts, including Quiet herself, where they can usually [[OneHitKill kill you with one shot of their rifles.]] '''No bullshit.'''

* CoolPet: A wolfdog with an eyepatch, that can accompany Snake on a mission? It goes without saying that's awesome.

* {{Butterface}}: The female Skulls have incredibly voluptuous figures with {{Gainaxing}} physics, yet the mere fact that they are veiny, pale-skinned, cyborg-like bald women makes them appear [[FanDisservice nightmarish rather than sexy]]. The game makes emphasis of this by showing shots of their breasts and butts before moving to their faces.

* HandCannon: His WeaponOfChoice is a Mare's Leg, a rifle that's been sawed down to be a pistol.

* NewOldWest: Troops at Camp Omega note that he has the mannerisms of a cowboy, and his later appearance with an appropriate hat, boots with spurs, and a domino mask only reinforce this. He even carries a Mare's Leg (a sawed-off lever-action rifle) as his WeaponOfChoice.

* WalkingTank: Subverted. Unlike other Metal Gears, this one appears to have more of a humanoid shape.

* KnifeNut: Pretty decent with a combat knife [[spoiler:and she manages to briefly incapacitate Ishmael with a well timed throw]]. Later utilizes one in the MookHorrorShow she performs in "A Quiet Exit".

* KnifeNut: D.D. can be equipped with either a regular knife for throat slitting or a stun knife for non-lethal attacks.

* DifficultButAwesome: She's apparently the most difficult support buddy to use effectively. From what we've seen, timing is everything with using her effectively with such tricks as shooting grenades out of the air.

* FacialMarkings: At times, particularly when focusing on sniping, she develops black splotches on the skin around her eyes.

** As it turns out, the reason that she is that her lungs were burnt to a crisp so now she can ''only'' breathe through her skin. Her physiology's so mangled that even wearing a ''shirt'' causes her to ''[[BizarreHumanBiology suffocate]]''.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: You can later research and have her wear [[spoiler:her old XOF]] tactical uniform with no ill effect.

* SociopathicSoldier: The prologue of ''Phantom Pain'' pretty much confirms this. During the hospital massacre, when you're fortunate enough to see them murdering the staff firsthand, they ''intentionally shoot innocent civilians in non-vital areas and make them writhe in pain for several agonizing seconds'' before finally capping them in the head. And there's no obvious tactical advantage to this, so it's apparent they do it ForTheEvulz. They also brutally beat and raped Paz and Chico to near death.

* TakingTheBullet: When the second bomb inside Paz explodes almost immediately after she jumps out of Big Boss's chopper, he throws himself in front of Snake and takes the full brunt of the explosion.