David, known as Solid Snake, was born in 1972 as a clone of Big Boss, one of the three Les Enfants Terribles. He grew up in the military, and by his twenties he was a FOXHOUND operative. In 1995 he infiltrated Outer Heaven in Africa, destroyed the Metal Gear TX-55 and killed its leader. In 1999 he infiltrated Zanzibar Land, destroyed Metal Gear D and defeated Big Boss, while Gray Fox, once his friend, was crippled in the fighting. In 2005 he returned from retirement to stop FOXHOUND's rebellion at Shadow Moses, where he destroyed Metal Gear REX and killed Liquid with the FOXDIE virus he unwittingly carried. In 2007 and 2009 he intervened at the Tanker and the Big Shell. In 2014 he completed his last mission, in which he and his allies dismantled the Patriots' AI network and the Outer Haven coup, although the FOXDIE strain in his body had accelerated his ageing and set a limit on his remaining life.
Status: Alive, with at most months left.
Liquid Snake, Solid's twin, was the second of the Les Enfants Terribles. Where Solid inherited the recessive genes, Liquid carried the dominant ones, and he spent his life convinced that Zero had cheated him of his inheritance. In 2005 he led a FOXHOUND revolt at Shadow Moses, seizing Metal Gear REX and demanding the remains of Big Boss. He fell to FOXDIE. His arm, grafted onto Ocelot, kept his personality alive in the form of Liquid Ocelot, who in 2014 attempted to seize the Patriots' AI network by force.
Status: Deceased (2005).
Solidus Snake, the third clone, was raised as the old soldier's spiritual heir. In the Liberian Civil War of 1989 he led the Army of the Devil, a unit of child soldiers that included the young Raiden. He later entered politics and became President of the United States under the name George Sears. He resigned and moved against the Patriots, forming the Sons of Liberty and seizing the Big Shell in 2009. He was killed in single combat by Raiden aboard Arsenal Gear.
Status: Deceased (2009).
Rumors persist of Big Boss being seen in different places around the same time, leading some to believe there was more than one man bearing the name. Details of his identity and fate remain obscure, and the public record credits the victories of the Diamond Dogs to Big Boss himself.
Status: Deceased (1999).
Frank Jaeger, codenamed Gray Fox, was a FOXHOUND operative and Snake's closest friend. Outer Heaven captured him in 1995 and Snake rescued him. He was crippled in the Zanzibar Land fighting in 1999, rebuilt as a cybernetic ninja, and died in 2005 at Shadow Moses, fighting Metal Gear REX to save Snake. His ninja identity became the template for the modern cyborg soldier.
Status: Deceased (2005).
Raiden, whose birth name is Jack, was born in Liberia and became a child soldier in Solidus's Army of the Devil, earning the names Jack the Ripper and the White Devil. After the war an NGO took him to the United States, where the Patriots later selected him for the S3 Plan, a simulated Shadow Moses on the Big Shell that was meant to produce a new Snake. He fought Dead Cell, met Solid Snake and Otacon, and defeated Solidus. Afterwards, he stayed close to Snake's cause and eventually protected Sunny from the Patriots. By 2014 he had been rebuilt as a cyborg ninja and fought alongside Snake at Outer Haven. He married Rose and has a child.
Status: Alive. Working independently.
The existence of anomalously gifted soldiers was formally cataloged during Cold War intelligence operations in the 1960s. These subjects were documented through state administrative files, debriefs, and direct military encounters.
The Cobra Unit (GRU / CIA Debriefs, 1964): A specialized World War II unit under the command of The Boss.
The Pain: Controlled swarms of Vespa mandarinia (hornets), utilizing them as defensive shields and directed kinetic projectiles.
The Fear: Hyper-flexible joint structure coupled with advanced optical camouflage techniques.
The End: Exceptional physiological longevity; exhibited photosynthesizing capabilities allowing indefinite immobility without rations.
The Fury: Severe burn-trauma survivor utilizing extreme heat endurance alongside specialized incendiary apparatuses.
The Sorrow: Formally cataloged as a mediumistic asset; reports note high-level psychometric reading and auditory disruption in surrounding personnel.
Colonel Yevgeny Volgin (KGB / GRU Internal Records): Internal Soviet medical files confirm high-voltage bio-electric generation directly from muscle tissue. Volgin possessed a high-density nervous system mutation capable of storing and discharging lethal electrical current without internal tissue damage.
Following the dissolution of early Cold War units, field intelligence noted a severe deficit in verified anomalous personnel. However, combat logs from the Soviet-Afghan War and intelligence intercept logs from Dhekelia, Cyprus (circa 1984) consistently reference two unconfirmed entities.
"The Man on Fire" (Afghan Theater / Dhekelia Intercepts): A thermokinetic entity completely unresponsive to small-arms fire. Soviet post-action reports from the Northern Provinces depict an entity appearing as a humanoid entirely engulfed in flames, though military analysts dismiss this as local battlefield superstition.
"The Floating Boy" (Field Hearsay): Intercepted Mujahideen radio chatter and Soviet patrol logs describe a levitating person wearing a gas mask.
Intelligence regards both as unverified urban legends or hallucinated combat trauma responses.
By the 21st century, anomalous capabilities shifted from rare biological mutations to refined psychological and technological integration.
Psycho Mantis (FOXHOUND - Shadow Moses, 2005): A highly potent telepathic and telekinetic operative. Capable of direct neural intrusion, sensory manipulation, and fine-motor kinetic displacement.
"Vamp" (Dead Cell - Big Shell, 2009 / Shadow Moses, 2014): Exhibited hyper-accelerated cellular regeneration and extreme mobility. While initially rumored to possess supernatural origins, forensic recovery following his 2014 neutralization confirmed his traits were maintained entirely by a high-density, self-replicating nanomachine network regulating cellular repair.