These are the Best Villains in the Metal Gear Solid Franchise

The Metal Gear Solid franchise is renowned for its balance between phenomenal gameplay and brilliant storytelling. Considered a masterpiece franchise by legendary game designer Hideo Kojima, you could probably write a book on how Metal Gear Solid impacted the industry.

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Besides the iconic bipedal tanks the series is based around, the games wouldn’t be what they are today without their cast of unforgettable characters, weapons, locations, cardboard boxes, and most of all, its villains. Every good story needs a good villain, and no matter how big or how small their roles were, there’s something about these notorious characters that left an impression on players.

10

Vamp

“Unfortunately, Hell Had No Vacancies.”

In the world of Metal Gear Solid, death is more of an inconvenience than a finality. So many characters have died and come back for multiple reasons, but Vamp is one of the strongest. Given experimental nanomachines, Vamp acquired incredible strength, speed and an accelerated healing factor. He delights in killing and drinking the blood of his victims. Even dying bores him because he knows he’ll come back.

The unbeatable soldier has shrugged off a bullet to the head. Twice. Despite his skills, Vamp has acted more as a henchman than a mastermind. His only goals in MGS 2 were for revenge and serving Solidus Snake. When returning during the events of MGS 4, he fought for Liquid Ocelot, though it seems his only true desire was a good death, which he finally got when he met his demise at Raiden’s blade.

9

Skull Face

“Do You, Too, Believe that Your Sacrifice Will Change the World?”

The ghost without a past. For Skull Face, pain and revenge were the only things keeping him alive. He’s one of the few villains in fiction whose outsides match his insides — pure ugly evil. Skull Face’s extensive crimes would make a war criminal ill. He willingly tortured and experimented on POWs, African natives, and even children. So long as it furthered his goals, nothing was off-limits.

Skull Face was also responsible for putting Big Boss into a coma after bombing Mother Base and slaughtering most of its staff. Skull Face’s greatest achievement, however, was a weapon to surpass Metal Gear, a horrible bioweapon that targets and kills individuals who speak certain languages: The Vocal Cord Parasite. You can argue about his presence in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, but you can’t deny that Skull Face’s actions didn’t leave a painful scar on the world.

8

Colonel Volgin

“Welcome to My Country, and to My Unit.”

As the main villain of Metal Gear Solid 3, Colonel Volgin was both ruthless and powerful. In 1964, during the age of the Soviet Union, Volgin conspired to depose Khrushchev, seize control of Russia, and end the Cold War in a Soviet victory through the creation of a new superweapon: The Shagohod, the first Metal Gear. The power-hungry colonel was more than just a pretty face with unlimited resources, however.

Volgin possessed incredible strength and could generate and manipulate the electricity in his body for lightning attacks. Though he proved a challenge to put down, his plans ultimately failed when he was defeated in battle and suffered a fatal lightning strike. But this wasn’t the end. In 1984, Volgin returned as the Man on Fire, a raging abomination hellbent on killing the one who took everything from him: Big Boss.

7

Senator Armstrong

“Nanomachines, Son!”

Don’t mess with this senator. Armstrong might be the most powerful villain in the franchise from strength alone. His nanomachines not only gifted him with Herculean strength, but they also made his body impervious to pain, hardening in response to physical trauma. Unlike most politicians, Senator Armstrong can back up his words with action. With an ends-justify-the-means outlook, his end goal was to use war as a business so he could get elected as the U.S. President and end war as a business.

Despite his questionable methods of kidnapping children to turn them into killers, Armstrong truly believed he could rid the world of pointless war. Unfortunately, as epic as Armstrong was as an antagonist, he doesn’t appear in the story until the final mission. Still, sometimes less is more, and his brief moments of screentime are hailed as the best in Metal Gear Rising, as well as the final battle between him and Raiden.

6

Solidus Snake

“All I Want Is to Be Remembered.”

Considered the perfect clone of Big Boss, Solidus Snake founded the Sons of Liberty and would go on to start what would be remembered as the Big Shell Incident. Taking control of an enormous marine decontamination facility, Solidus and his forces took everyone on board hostage, including the U.S. President. During these events, Solidus was reunited with Raiden, the former child soldier he trained and tortured.

Despite his radical actions, Solidus’ ultimate goal was to expose the Patriots, the shadowy organization controlling information and manipulating the world. You can call him a terrorist or a rebel, but what’s so unfortunate is that he was right. Had Solidus succeeded, he could have stopped the Patriots AI from going online, and the events of Metal Gear Solid 4 might not have happened. In the end, Solidus Snake died to his own creation when Raiden cut him down in a one-on-one duel.

5

Major Zero/Cipher

“If We’re to Unite the World, Literacy Must Be Suppressed.”

Major Zero, or Cipher as he’s sometimes known, might be the biggest antagonist in the series, even though he’s rarely seen. Many of the significant events in the series were secretly orchestrated by him and his organization, the Patriots. For years, he used his unlimited resources to pull the strings from the shadows, all while creating his technological veil that would control the world through AI and information.

What’s so sad is, as seen in MGS 3, he was once a trusted friend of Big Boss. Together, they founded the Patriots to create a better world, but their conflicting views led to them becoming enemies. By the time Cipher was too old to run his organization, his proxy AIs had led the world into an age of control. His creations almost doomed the lives of billions, and by the end, he was left a shriveled husk. Oh, and he loved James Bond films.

4

Psycho Mantis

“This Is No Trick. It Is True Power.”

Psychic and spiritual powers are widely known throughout the Metal Gear games, but Psycho Mantis was the first to demonstrate them in Metal Gear Solid (1998). The deformed gas mask wearer never seemed to have any long-term goals in his various appearances. The closest thing he even had to an ally was Liquid Snake, whom he’d been aiding since they met as children. Psycho Mantis was mostly fixated on reading minds and using his powers for his own pleasure.

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This was demonstrated during the most iconic boss battle in the series when he fought Solid Snake on Shadow Moses Island, breaking the fourth wall and reading his mind. Yet even with his incredible powers, Snake overcame Psycho Mantis and killed him. However, even death couldn’t stop Psycho Mantis as he returned in Metal Gear Solid 4 to aid Liquid Ocelot as a spirit controlling the B&B Corps.

3

Big Boss

“Our Heaven and Our Hell. This Is Outer Heaven.”

Once, he was a Legendary Hero. Then he became The Man Who Sold the World. As the prequels have shown, Big Boss started as a good man. He made jokes, made mistakes, and made friends. Unfortunately, after being used and betrayed by his country and allies time and time again, he was pushed over the edge into the abyss, and what crawled out was a fallen legend.

His ultimate dream was to build Outer Heaven, a land where soldiers could live and fight for themselves, free from government control and politics. Unfortunately, the path to Outer Heaven is paved with bullets and bloodshed. Big Boss used and betrayed his closest allies, brainwashed and altered his most trusted soldier, turning him into his deformed Phantom, and created a Metal Gear of his own, threatening the nuclear balance of power. Despite his intentions, Big Boss’s dreams were brought to an end by his own son, Solid Snake.

2

Ocelot

“You’re Pretty Good.”

There are triple agents, and then there’s Ocelot. From the 1960s to the 2010s, he played multiple sides. Even when he’s supposed to be on your side, he never truly is. Longtime fans of the series still have trouble comprehending his complicated agenda. It’s one of the reasons Ocelot’s the ultimate spy.

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Ocelot’s gone by many names over the years: Shalashaska, Revolver Ocelot, Liquid Ocelot, but no matter his moniker, he’s remembered for his revolver skills, deadeye aiming, and being a master of interrogation. He’s been present for nearly every major event in the series, from the beginning of the Patriots to their downfall. Some argue that it was Ocelot’s actions that led to the end of the shadow organization, but it doesn’t change the fact that he played a role in their rise to power and is responsible for the torture and deaths of many.

1

Liquid Snake

“Not Yet, Snake! It’s Not Over Yet!”

Some villains can be justified, but Liquid Snake is rotten to the core. He’s been killing since he was a boy, and it didn’t matter if it was soldiers, civilians, or children—all that mattered was proving his superiority over the Patriots and his father, Big Boss. Unlike his family, Liquid enjoys violence and war, claiming it’s because of his genes, which he thought were recessive.

Liquid believed he was deserving of the same honor and glory that his father once had during the Cold War. It’s one of the many reasons he started the Shadow Moses Incident, threatening the world with Metal Gear Rex. From there, he would build his own warped version of Big Boss’s dream, Outer Heaven, except one where soldiers were free to take and do as they please. Even after all his pontificating about genes, Liquid was inevitably defeated by his weaker brother, Solid Snake.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1

3.5/5

Released

October 24, 2023

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Violence

Engine

Unity

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