Venom Snake

, also known as , is a fictional character from Konami's Metal Gear video game series. Created by Hideo Kojima and designed by Yoji Shinkawa, he is most notably the protagonist in the 2015 game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. He is performed via voice acting and performance capture by Akio Ōtsuka in the Japanese version and by Kiefer Sutherland in the English version. The leader of the Diamond Dogs mercenary unit who returns to the battlefield after waking up from a nine-year coma with his left arm prosthetic and a piece of shrapnel embedded into the right side of his forehead, he is initially introduced in-game as Big Boss but he is actually a former physician and combat medic who underwent facial reconstruction and subliminal brainwashing to serve as a body double and is also revealed (via retcon) to be the man killed by Solid Snake in the original 1987 game. Venom Snake's role as a doppelgänger for Big Boss in The Phantom Pain received mixed opinions from critics, with some finding the decision fitting in the context of the series, while others thought it negated the emotional crux of the game's story or failed to provide closure. Sutherland's performance garnered praise from critics, although some were bemused by his relative lack of dialogue. Appearances