Guile (Japanese: ガイル, Hepburn: Gairu) is a fictional character from Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games.

Early Street Fighter II sketches and notes suggest that Guile was developed specifically to appeal to American fans.

[4] Guile's design and hairstyle is based on Rudol von Stroheim and Jean-Pierre Polnareff, characters from the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

The former elite SOF teammate from the United States, Guile along with his best friend and co-pilot Charlie Nash were missing in action during a mission in Shadaloo.

Guile's returns in console versions of Street Fighter Alpha 3 (1998) as an Air Force JTAC ordered to track down Charlie, who has gone missing.

Guile also appears as a supporting character in the crossover fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken (2012), with Abel as his official tag partner.

Guile returns to his duty to investigate the ongoing conspiracy at Nayshall caused by the Amnesia terrorist organization led by JP, ever since they framed Ken for the crime he did not commit.

Van Damme was approached to reprise the role in the reboot, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, but ultimately did not appear.

Similar to the official story, Guile is chasing after Shadaloo to discover the whereabouts of his Air Force buddy, Charlie Nash.

Afterwards, Guile continues to assist Chun-Li in looking for Bison (whom they believe survived his encounter with Charlie) but all the while juggling his struggling relationship with his wife, Julia, and their daughter, Amy.

Guile isn't heavily active during the second series of comics (Street Fighter II) but he is given an invitation to Bison's tournament, which he accepts as his final bid for vengeance.

Through a carefully woven set of scripted matches, Guile and Chun-Li get themselves eliminated from the tournament and successfully free the Delta Red squadron.

The aftermath of the tournament show that Guile is satisfied with the results, believing he has successfully avenged Charlie, and is now comfortably living with his family.

[16] In another article for the website, he argued that the image of an "American soldier" is often the first that comes to mind for the Japanese, and felt of the whole cast the most like a "regular guy" in many ways.

He voiced some disdain for how different the character was in the live action film, noting that despite Van Damme being a good fit physically, the rest of the aspects deviated too far.

[17] Den of Geek's Gavin Jasper praised Guile's backstory of revenge, and how the cost of his "soul" in the metaphorical sense helped make the conclusion of his story in Street Fighter II one of the best in video games overall.

[18] Nicholas Ware in a dissertation titled You Must Defeat Sheng Long to Stand a Chance suggested Guile acted as a connection for the series to American blockbuster films, comparing him to characters such as Rambo or those played by Charles Bronson who were often involved in quests for vengeance.

He further argued that Guile's military background was not only intended to reflect the "one man army" hero archetype common in American films, but also reflect Japanese views of foreign military forces, establishing him to Japanese audiences as different from themselves compared to Ken for example, and thus not portrayed as crucial for inclusion in subsequent Street Fighter entries.

"[19] University of Delaware professor Rachel Hutchinson also discussed the use of imagery and military aspects to illustrate Guile as "not Japanese", stating that combat was "militarized and sexualized" through the presentation of his character and aesthetics in Street Fighter II.

She also noted the increased use of American iconography in this regard, namely in comparison to the first Street Fighter game, and how significant it was to Guile as a character through aspects such as his tattoos.