Big Boss (Japanese: ビッグ・ボス, Hepburn: Biggu Bosu) is a fictional character from the Metal Gear series created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami.

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).

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.

[10] 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.

[19] Big Boss is introduced in the original Metal Gear game 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.

[23] He reappears in the game's sequel Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, where Big Boss has taken control of Zanzibar Land, a fortified nation in Central Asia.

[29] 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.

[30][31] 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.

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.

[34] Big Boss survived Zanzibar Land 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.

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.

During the events of Ground Zeroes while acting as a medic, he loses his left arm while his body has fragments of bones, teeth and a large piece of shrapnel lodged within his cerebral cortex.

[61] Dave Meikleham of GamesRadar+ placed his relationship with EVA in his top list of disastrous game romances due to how it was ruined by the two's different roles in the story.

[64] Joe Dodson, writing for Game Revolution, disliked Big Boss's character in Portable Ops due to his process of kidnapping and indoctrinating enemy soldiers through "confusing rants" about the idea of loyalty.

[66] Charles Herold of The New York Times described him as a tragic character based on the events shown in Snake Eater, and with Portable Ops had been forced to face a new conflict despite retirement.

[68] Jeff Haynes of IGN noted how the game presented major plot twists and exposition that would affect his characterization and lay the groundwork for important items shown later in the series.

[69] Oli Welsh of Eurogamer criticized Big Boss's characterization in Peace Walker as confusing in the wider context of the series, with mixed comments being given to Hayter's performance.

[70] Jonathan Holmes of Destructoid enjoyed how Peace Walker further developed Big Boss's character from Portable Ops by completing his journey from lone soldier to leader and cementing him as the series icon he would become.

[77] The repetitive nature of the quest system in The Phantom Pain was highlighted by VICE writer Cameron Kunzelman as helping to show Big Boss's role as someone who simply does work rather than acting as a hero.