Metal Gear Series/Big Boss

Early life and career

Jack's history prior to joining the armed forces and becoming a disciple of The Boss is mostly a mystery. He was born in the early 1930s, while his military service would seem to date back as far as 1945. In 1950, he became The Boss' apprentice and developed the CQC (Close Quarters Combat) fighting style with her. In 1956, Jack was involved in the Bikini Atoll testing of the first airborne detonation of a hydrogen bomb. The Boss and Jack went their separate ways on June 12th, 1959, and later met for the first time in five years during Jack's first field mission in the FOX unit, on August 24th, 1964.

Virtuous Mission

Events in this section take place during Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

In the year 1964, Jack was recruited by the fledgling FOX unit (Force Operation X - which was the immediate predecessor of the high-tech special forces unit 'FOXHOUND') and underwent an operation titled the Virtuous Mission, in which he was to rescue and extract a defecting Soviet scientist, Dr. Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov, from deep within mountainous Soviet territory. 'Jack' was given the codename of 'Naked Snake' for this mission.

The mission failed however, due to the defection of The Boss, a female soldier and a living legend who had originally led the Allies to victory in World War II, who indirectly had been responsible for the founding of the first US Special Forces units, and who had also been Jack's own mentor.

Operation Snake Eater

A cosplay of Naked Snake.

Events in this section take place during Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

A week after the incidents of the Virtuous Mission, the FOX unit and 'Naked Snake' were forcefully assigned 'Operation Snake Eater', in which the objective was to eliminate The Boss and her Cobra Unit, assassinate her new Soviet ally and host, a hawk GRU colonel by the name of Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin, as well as to destroy the prototype of the Soviet superweapon Shagohod and to rescue its chief engineer, Dr. Sokolov. It was during this same mission that 'Naked Snake' came across what would be the first prototype designs for a 'Metal Gear' bipedal tank from Director Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin, who was sending the documents to a friend and colleague in America (none other than the grandfather of Hal "Otacon" Emmerich), out of resentment for his superiors for their decision to adopt Sokolov's Shagohod project over that of his own bipedal tank research.

'Naked Snake' accidentally lost his right eye to a misplaced bullet from Revolver Ocelot's revolver during this operation, while enduring torture at the hands of Colonel Volgin after having been taken captive. However, he eventually escaped and would succeed in completing the mission in full, killing both The Boss and Colonel Volgin as well as eliminating the entire Cobra Unit and destroying the already completed Shagohod prototype. For these highly impressive feats, he became considered to be "above even The Boss" by the government and subsequently received the title of 'Big Boss' as well as being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by President Lyndon B. Johnson, during an official reception at the White House following the success of 'Operation Snake Eater'.

However, Big Boss was also a man who would be changed forever following the outcome of his landmark operation. He learned from his former cooperative EVA that The Boss had never actually intended to betray her country and had, in fact, willingly died for it as a scapegoat under orders of the US government, for the nuclear destruction of OKB-754 caused by Colonel Volgin in his continued attempts to have tensions escalate between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. This knowledge would apparently stunt Big Boss's patriotism further and he began developing a powerful, but veiled, resentment towards his superiors. And there after set out to destroy America.

During the same reception at the CIA Headquarters, Big Boss stoically yet openly ignored an invitation to shake hands with the CIA Director who had ordered The Boss' death, and very nearly with President Johnson himself as well, a subtle warning sign of things to come.

The San Hieronymo Incident

Events in the section take place during Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

After the events of Operation Snake Eater, Naked Snake, still distraught over the death of The Boss, quits the FOX unit and completely disappears from the world's eye and participating in dozens of conflicts across the globe for six years. Big Boss was unofficially called back in to active duty eventually to combat his former unit, FOX whom had revolted and stole a new type of nuclear weapon the Americans were developing. Unlike previous operations he had undertaken, Big Boss allied himself with numerous soldiers on the peninsula to stop the rogue FOX unit, which included a much younger Roy Campbell(the man who would later become FOXHOUND's commander). Big Boss is also aided by a young psychic named Elisa during his mission to take down FOX. After escaping the prison and rounding up a few soldiers to help them in their cause, Big Boss and Campbell eventually unearthed a shocking and troubling discovery, the new type of nuclear weapon FOX stole was being prepped for launch into the Soviet Union for a full-scale nuclear attack. That weapon was Metal Gear.

During the course of his mission Big Boss had numerous encounters with a young man known as the Perfect Soldier, whom turned out to be a child soldier he met in Mozambique that he had left in the care of a rehab facility. That young man turned out to be Frank Jaeger, the man who would later earn the codename of Gray Fox and become a mentor to Big Boss's son Solid Snake. After facing off against Null (Gray Fox) for the first time Snake is captured by the FOX unit and learns of a shocking conspiracy surrounding FOX's rebellion. Gene the ringleader of the revolt told Snake that FOX was under order's by the CIA to steal Metal Gear, Gene who had his own intentions for the use of Metal Gear used this opportunity to his advantage to gain a trump card in the founding of his mercenary nation Army's Heaven (a precursor to Big Boss's Outer Heaven). After escaping the prison Big Boss encounters Cunningham, who begins questioning him again over the missing half of the Philosopher's Legacy. Cunningham begin shooting down Snake's men before they were rescued by Elisa and escapes. Afterwards Big Boss and the others infiltrated the plant where Metal Gear was being stored to destroy it, but was caught by Gene and his men. Big Boss managed to sneak up to Gene and get him at gun point but failed to stop him from activating Metal Gear through Ursala (Elisa's dormant personality). Big Boss took on Metal Gear and destroyed it but soon after learned that it wasn't the real Metal Gear from Ghost who turned out to be Sokolov.

After leaving the plant and destroying a power plant along the way Big Boss finally made his way to the underground silo where the real Metal Gear was being stored. While on his way down to the launch control room Cunningham appears before Big Boss once again when he finally revealed the true nature of his mission and Big Boss being captured and brought to the peninsula. Apparently the Pentagon and the CIA were fighting over the amount of influence each other has over military affairs, Cunningham was sent in by the DOD (the Department of Defense) to retrieve the missing half of the Philosopher's Legacy and make sure that Gene still launched the nukes into the Soviet Union. Once the nukes were launched Cunningham was to destroy the base using a Davy Crocket. When Big Boss learns of this he decides to stop Cunningham out of loyalty to himself not the CIA nor the Pentagon. Snake stops Cunningham and finally makes it to the control room to stop Gene. While Gene is preparing to launch Metal Gear he tells Big Boss of the true nature of his plans, the real target was never the Soviet Union it was the CIA headquarters and the Pentagon saying that "the Philosopher's twin layers will be obliterated". Big Boss also learns of a shocking and disturbing conspiracy surrounding the events of Operation Snake Eater, the entire operation was a set up. Volgin was under orders to launch the nuke at Sokolov's research facility which led up to the events that took place during that mission. Big Boss demands to know who set it up but Gene does not answer and moves forward to activate Metal Gear but is stopped by Elisa/Ursala. After mortally wounding Elisa Gene heads to the next room to try to activate Metal gear again, Snake tries to comfort Elisa before she dies but she tells Snake of the grim future that will come to pass because of his family. Snake makes his way to the control room to stop Gene from launching Metal Gear but is too late as it has already been activated. Big Boss and Gene clash with each other during the countdown but is defeated by Big Boss. Gene gives the funds he amassed for Army's Heaven to Big Boss (giving him the foundation he will use later to build Outer Heaven) before dying. Snake then makes his way into the Silo itself to try to destroy Metal Gear, he succeeds with the help of the other Russian soldiers and it falls into the sea.

Soon after Big Boss and Campbell are returned to the states and Big Boss is commended and awarded as a hero once again which establishes his "Greatest Soldier of the 20th century moniker". While on a phone call with Campbell he tells him he realizes something. "I'm not living unless I'm in battle so I have to find my own reason to fight. I have to pass on what's been handed down to me", Campball tells Snake that they will meet again someday and hangs up the phone.

Later career

When direct American involvement in the Vietnam War started the following year, Big Boss offers his combat services in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and Far East and participated in Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) as an "unofficial soldier" attached to a team of Green Berets and US Army Ranger units. His skills earn him the "great mythological soldier" moniker. Supposedly (perhaps after the hiatus of the Virtuous Mission and Operation: Snake Eater or by continuity error) he also fights in Congo until the Second Congo Crisis in 1968. Once the conflict Vietnam had ended, Big Boss took part in more than 70 missions attached to groups such as the SOG (Studies and Observations Group), the Wild Geese, and Delta Force. He also adopted a war orphan named Frank Jaeger (who would later become FOXHOUND member Gray Fox) in Vietnam. A year after the FOX unit revolted and was disbanded; Big Boss formed his own unit, FOXHOUND in it's place.

An abundance of governments, military organizations, and terrorist groups contacted Big Boss to recruit him. However, he declined many (often well-paid) missions, and only participated in conflicts where people's liberation was concerned. This drew attention from journalists, who championed this perfect killer.

In 1972 the U.S. Government brought Big Boss' unconscious body (he was rendered comatose from a battle) to a lab where his genes were extracted to make genetically enhanced soldiers. This project would be known as "Les Enfants Terribles". The goal was to create genetically perfected soldiers based on Big Boss' DNA. All three offspring of the project were given "Snake" codenames when they reached adulthood.

Les Enfants Terribles Project

Big Boss's genes would be used in a pair of secret projects to make the ultimate super-soldiers, one based on genetic information taken while he was in a coma, the other after his death (see the "Genome Soldiers" section below).

In 1972, the Patriots set out a plan to artificially create the most powerful super soldier possible through genetics, in a project called 'Les Enfants Terribles' (a French phrase, literally meaning "the terrible children"). Big Boss at the time was wounded in combat and in a coma, and being regarded as the world's greatest soldier, he was chosen as the project's model. His cells were collected.

Clones were created from collected cells, combining 20th century analog cloning, and the Super Baby method. An egg was fertilized with one of the cells, and was then let to be divided into eight. The embryos were then transferred into a surrogate mother's uterus. When the eight embryos matured into fetuses, five were intentionally aborted to encourage strong fetal growth in the three remaining fetuses. Two of them were Solid and Liquid Snake. While both brothers are identical at the genetic level, Liquid is led to (wrongly) believe that he is an inferior clone with recessive phenotypes. The technology to alter a gene's phenotype did not exist during the 1970s. The third offspring created with the other two was Solidus Snake.

Solid Snake, with his natural self-confidence and determination, seemed to be the best clone. Liquid, having been told that he has the "flawed, recessive genes", exhibited low self-esteem. However, a short telephone conversation between President Sears (Solidus) and Ocelot revealed that Solid Snake is "inferior" compared to Liquid, who is considered to be the superior clone. Liquid inherited all of the superior genes, Solid all of the inferior genes, and Solidus was a perfect copy of Big Boss, interpreting the same mix of all faulty and perfect genes that the person he was cloned from had. Even though it is Solidus who is considered the perfect mix of superior and inferior that Big Boss had, it was Solid Snake who inherited the majority of Big Boss's looks.

Following their births, the 'Snakes' were separated and raised in different places. Liquid was sent to the UK, while Solid Snake remained in the US. Solidus also remained in the U.S. and trained child-soldiers in the Liberian Civil War in the late 1980s. It is theorized, though not officially confirmed, that Solidus was kept in the U.S. where he was watched, and later used, by the Patriots.

The lives of all three clones each ostensibly suffer from accelerated aging, a result of their vintage genetic material (the speed of this aging is evident with Solidus Snake, whom in his thirties already resembled Big Boss in his seventies). As of 2009, only Solid Snake is still alive as a whole being, while Liquid's consciousness lives inside Revolver Ocelot. Solidus Snake died at the outcome of the Big Shell incident, killed in a sword fight by his foster son, Jack, who went under the codename Raiden during the Big Shell operation.

Outer Heaven Uprising

Events in this section take place during Metal Gear.

In the 1990s, Big Boss used the exorbitant amount of money he had collected over the years from mercenary work to covertly create the fortress nation Outer Heaven, an organization opposed to the Western Powers (and, by proxy, the Patriots who controlled them), all the while ostensibly remaining the commander of the U.S.'s elite FOXHOUND unit. Big Boss also funded the development of the first Metal Gear prototype, called Metal Gear TX-55. It was a weapon system designed to give Outer Heaven military supremacy over the West.

When FOXHOUND was commissioned by the U.S. to infiltrate Outer Heaven and destroy Metal Gear, Big Boss first sent in his most trusted soldier, Gray Fox. Once Gray Fox was captured, Big Boss sent in Solid Snake, at that time FOXHOUND's greenest, least experienced member. Big Boss figured that there was no way that a rookie like Solid Snake could fulfill such a mission, that his efforts would delay further action by the West and buy Big Boss enough time to complete Metal Gear's development.

However, much to Big Boss's surprise, Solid Snake succeeded in defeating Outer Heaven's elite mercenaries and destroying Metal Gear itself. Faced with the failure of his plans, Big Boss confronted Solid Snake in the heart of Outer Heaven and revealed his identity as Outer Heaven's mastermind. After Big Boss activated the base's self-destruct countdown, the two of them engaged in one-on-one combat, dodging between crates and firing at each other. Even in his advanced age, Big Boss proved fast and dangerous, but Solid Snake eventually managed to defeat him.

Zanzibar Land Disturbance

Events in this section take place during Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

Big Boss survived his battle with Snake and managed to escape Outer Heaven during its destruction. Four years later, he took control of another nation known as Zanzibar Land after his involvement in the War of Mercenaries. Recruiting war orphans from across the Third World and raising them as soldiers, Big Boss hoped to create a nation dedicated to the ideals of warfare and battle. Big Boss also recruited Gray Fox to his cause. To ensure Zanzibar Land's success, Big Boss once again commissioned the creation of a Metal Gear, known as Metal Gear D. This time, Dr. Madnar (the scientist who was forced to develop the original Metal Gear prototype in Outer Heaven) developed the new model of his own free will, after being ostracized by the academic community in the U.S.

Solid Snake once again managed to infiltrate the enemy nation and destroy Metal Gear. Snake eventually defeated Fox in hand-to-hand combat and, bruised and unarmed, was once again confronted by a gun-wielding Big Boss. Having spent his entire life on the battlefield, Big Boss could not conceive of a world without war, and attacked Snake in one final battle. Snake managed to create a makeshift flamethrower using an aerosol can and a cigarette lighter, using it to kill Big Boss once and for all.

Genome Soldiers

After the death of Big Boss and the downfall of Zanzibar Land, members of Big Boss' mercenary dispatching company (Outer Heaven) are integrated into the Next Generation Special Forces after the U.S. Government purchases their contracts. The team is subsequently merged with Task Force 21 and are given VR training. Members of the team are also secretly enhanced with Big Boss' "soldier" genes, giving them augmented senses and reflexes.

In 2005, the Genome Soldiers took part in what was scheduled to have been a routine training exercise in Shadow Moses Island. The Genome Soldiers and FOXHOUND (under Liquid Snake's command) instead stage a revolt on the island, taking over the nuclear facility (where Metal Gear REX was secretly developed), along with a few hostages. The terrorists (calling themselves the "Sons of Big Boss") threaten to launch a nuclear strike if the remains of Big Boss were not delivered to them in less than 24 hours. It is revealed that the Genome Soldiers are suffering from genetic defects as a result of their gene therapy treatments and that Big Boss' remains are the key to their survival.

After the destruction of REX by operative Solid Snake and the death of Liquid, the surviving Genome Soldiers are transferred to the Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire, where they are imprisoned for treason. One Genome Soldier named Johnny Sasaki however managed to avoid being arrested and joined Sergei Gurlukovich's group.