The Boss

"Is there such a thing as an absolute, timeless enemy? There is no such thing, and never has been. And the reason is that our enemies are human beings like us. They can only be our enemies in relative terms. The world must be made whole again. The Philosophers must be reunited."

- The Boss

The Boss, also known as The Joy, The Mother of Special Forces, Mercury Lady  and Voyevoda (Russian for "Warlord"), was the "final child of the Philosophers," and the mentor of Naked Snake. She was the founding leader of the Cobra Unit, in which she was known as "The Joy," however, when they were disbanded at the end of World War II, she was granted the codename of "The Boss." Together with Naked Snake, she developed the technique of CQC.

In the Virtuous Mission, The Boss wore a bandana and Olive Drab uniform (which appeared to be the staple FOX unit battle fatigues). After Naked Snake pulled the bandana from her head when she threw him from the bridge in Dolinovodno, Snake wore it during Operation Snake Eater and later wore it in tribute to her. The Boss commented on his inability to let go of the past by taunting him for wearing her bandana as a reminder of her during his mission.

Early life and career
The Boss was born in 1922 as the daughter of one of the original and higher-ranking members of the Wisemen's Committee, and later grew up in the care of the Philosophers. She learned from her father the most forbidden secrets of the Philosophers, and as a consequence, the shadowy organization arranged for his death. The Boss later went on to become an instructor at one of the Philosophers' "charm schools."

World War II
In 1941, during World War II, The Boss was invited to the SAS as a special advisor, which resulted in the creation of Rayforce and the original L Detachment. There she met David Oh, with whom she later formed the 22nd SAS Regiment. She also planned the dummy raids on Heliopolis and the bombings of German air bases during the North African Campaign. In addition to this she participated in many "snatch" missions, in which she had to capture important officers without killing them; the incidents later served as the basis for her development of CQC. According to Major Zero, the SAS motto, "Who Dares, Wins," was a tribute to The Boss.

On December 30th, 1941 she and Zero lost a mutual friend who had served under her in Rayforce (likely during Operation Crusader in Egypt). Zero delivered his SAS winged dagger pin to her after his death and she continued to keep it with her right up until her death.

In 1942, The Boss (then known as The Joy) founded the Cobra Unit, which consisted of herself, The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, and The Sorrow. They participated in many special operations during World War II, contributing heavily to the Allied forces' victory. Likewise, she was also trained in sniping by The End. The entire Cobra Unit looked up to her as their mother and leader, and she formed a close relationship with The Sorrow. The Boss became a legendary soldier, and was considered by many to be the "Mother" of America's special forces.

In 1943, The Boss was ordered to infiltrate Los Alamos and assassinate one of the Manhattan Project scientists, John von Neumann, under the belief that he was a Nazi spy, and make it seem like his death was accidental. But just before the operation, she found out that she was pregnant by The Sorrow. She proceeded with the mission as planned, though she ended up blowing her cover due to being distracted by her pregnancy. Though she avoided a bullet aimed for her gut, she received a graze to the side of her brain and would enter a coma for three months. After six months, The Boss made a complete recovery, theorizing that her body may have willed her to live for her child. She grew to regret failing the mission, even after it transpired that Neumann being a spy was actually Soviet misinformation to sabotage the Manhattan Project. The Boss felt that his living resulted in the Cold War, which made her partially responsible as well.

Invasion of Normandy
During the D-Day landings at Normandy, The Boss and her Cobras were sent on a mission to destroy several V2 rocket installations near Juno Beach. It was there that she gave birth to her and The Sorrow's child on the battlefield, going into labor after she had been shot in the gut. The caesarean section required in the chaos left her with a snake-shaped scar on her torso. She gave birth to a baby boy, though he was soon taken away from her by the Philosophers.

In 1947, two years after the end of the war, The Boss disbanded the Cobra Unit due to tensions between the Philosophers.

The Cold War
Afterwards, The Boss began participating in secret projects run by the U.S. Government. On November 1, 1951, The Boss was involved in the atomic testing at the Nevada desert, where she was exposed to radiation, and rendered infertile. It was around this time that she first met a 15 year old John (a.k.a. Jack), and was drawn to him due to sharing similar experiences. She spent nearly a decade with John, training him as her disciple and developing the tactics of CQC, a basic form of close quarters combat. John claimed that because of his training, part of him belonged to The Boss and that they were more than just friends, soldiers, or lovers. During 1957, she also was invited to the newly instated HALO School at the JFK Special Operations center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and was also responsible for the development of the HALO jump.

Secret operations in the Soviet Union
The Boss was forced to leave Jack when she was assigned a new top secret mission by the President on June 12, 1959 involving recruiting Russians who were against the new single-party regime in Moscow to steal and sabotage various Soviet space projects and possibly directly become involved when necessary. However, the CIA disagreed with this, and refused to help The Boss, forcing her to utilize the Philosophers' spy channels for the first time to accomplish it. She managed to succeed in placing a sleeper agent to recruit them, and the CIA took over, namely to take all the credit. The Boss didn't mind. However, late into the year, The Boss discovered some discrepancies relating to the Soviet blueprints that their sleeper agent was sending, namely in regards to the Sputnik 5 where there was an ejection pod. She tried to report her findings to the CIA and get them to investigate, but they ignored her, thinking she wanted to regain her glory. She ended up infiltrating the Soviet Union without any official support and infiltrated the OKB-1 research facility. She discovered not only had her sleeper agent defected to the Soviet Union entirely, but also that the reason he did so was because the CIA was pocketing a large amount of his paycheck, and that the ejection pod on the Sputnik 5 was actually an ejection seat for human personnel to utilize to survive reentry. She reported her findings to NASA, which resulted in the CIA blaming The Boss on everything that went wrong to cover up their failures to the recently inaugurated President John F. Kennedy.

The Mercury Project
Later on, The Boss was chosen for participation in the Mercury Project and met for the first time Strangelove, who was assigned to Mercury as a key staff member. She was sent to space on a mission to acquire data on how well the human body could cope in such conditions, but during which radiation was an inevitability. She unofficially became the first American in space, and seeing the Earth from above sparked her dream of uniting the world as one. Unfortunately, as she returned to Earth from her flight on April 12, 1961, the addition of a "window" caused her re-entry capsule to veer off course and crash land in the ocean, resulting in The Boss being thrown from the capsule and severely burned by both the cosmic radiation, and the heat of re-entry. Miraculously, The Boss did survive, but she was hospitalized as a result, and she and Strangelove never saw each other again. The Boss also never realized that Strangelove had very deep feelings for her. The injuries sent The Boss into another deep coma for six months. The military covered up the accident by claiming that The Boss took part in the CIA's botched Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba.

Alone and resented
The Boss recovered, but the current administration resented the fact that the Russians had a widely publicized successful space flight, while The Boss' injuries and crash landing forced the United States to cover up their own experimental spaceflight, despite the fact that she was in space first. The Boss had used Philosopher contacts outside of Russia to place her spy in 1959, but once Soviet Philosophers discovered the spy, no branch of the Philosophers was willing to help her. The Soviets decided to send in The Sorrow, The Boss' former lover, who had returned to the Soviet Union after the disbandment of the Cobra Unit. Unaware that The Boss was involved, The Sorrow successfully turned the spy into a double agent. In 1962, she was sent on a mission to eliminate her sleeper agent who betrayed her, and the United States, by intentionally feeding them erroneous data about Soviet rocket technology. Her second objective on this mission was to eliminate The Sorrow (technically the objective was that only one of them was allowed to live). The Philosophers forced them to participate in this task by threatening to kill their child if they both survived. The Boss and The Sorrow met on top of a bridge in Tselinoyarsk and discussed what they should do. Ultimately, they agreed that The Sorrow should be the one to die. Reluctantly, The Boss shot him through the left eye. However, The Sorrow, being a powerful medium and psychic, returned from the dead two years later as a spirit. In late 1962, a former SAS associate of The Boss, Major Zero, reached out to her and invited her to form a new CIA unit with him: FOX.



In 1964, The Boss, who still remained in contact with the U.S. homeland, was ordered to take part in a major operation to recover the Philosophers' Legacy, known as the Virtuous Mission. In order to acquire the Legacy, The Boss had to trade her way into GRU colonel Volgin's ranks, utilizing the Philosophers' spy network. She was contacted by Volgin with the suggestion of defection, as well as learning the location of Soviet rocket scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov, and the details of a secret nuclear weapon he had been developing. A month later, The Boss participated in the Virtuous Mission (which she got the CIA Director to greenlight), where she was reunited with Naked Snake. She served as part of the mission control, maintaining contact with the mission control and Snake via radio supposedly from on board a Permit-Class Submarine stationed in the Arctic Ocean.

Unbeknownst to her and everyone else involved in the operation, Major Zero had secretly deployed field operatives from FOX's covert support unit XOF to keep track of both her and Snake's progress from afar, being under strict orders not to interfere in any way. However, she removed herself from radio contact just as Snake successfully retrieved Sokolov from Rassvet. The Boss was provided with two portable nuclear warheads and launcher, with the intention of handing them over to Colonel Volgin and gaining his trust. The Boss also helped Volgin recover Sokolov before he could escape the Soviet Union with Naked Snake's help. Volgin used one of the nukes to destroy Sokolov's design bureau, OKB-754. The destruction of the bureau in a nuclear explosion called for The Boss's mission to be greatly expanded and revised. The CIA, fearful of the renowned soldier's charisma, arranged to have her killed in order to clear America's name, in a mission known as Operation Snake Eater, which Hot Coldman had masterminded. Continuing to act as a traitor to America, The Boss would allow herself to be assassinated by her beloved protégé.

Understanding that she had to give her life and even eternally sacrifice her reputation for her country, in order to save the world from nuclear war, The Boss subtly helped Snake with his mission, while at the same time maintaining Volgin's trust. One by one Snake killed off the remaining Cobra Unit members. In his last moments of life, The Fury became worried for the life of his commander. In addition, The Boss almost had her cover blown after Volgin discovered the transmitter she had previously planted on Snake, and when she became hesitant upon being ordered by the colonel to cut out Snake's eyes while he was being tortured. However, his attention became focused on Tatyana, when she prevented The Boss from performing the act, also drawing Ocelot's suspicions. She also shot Snake in the leg with a Fake Death Pill and then slipped a Single Action Army she confiscated from Ocelot into Snake to provide him with a potential means of escape as well as a means to defend himself after escaping, respectively.

After Snake defeated Volgin and destroyed Sokolov's Shagohod, with the help of EVA, The Boss destroyed Groznyj Grad and Graniny Gorki with the last portable nuclear warhead and met Snake in a field of white flowers, by Rokovoj Bereg. There, she reminded him of his duty as a soldier, prior to engaging him in a final duel. She also described to him the perceived betrayal of the Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, as an example of the U.S. Government's questionable policies, concealing her true role in the events of the Mercury Project by claiming to have been there. Additionally, because of her previous experience as a teacher at one of the Philosophers' charm schools, The Boss had also seen through EVA's disguise as Tatyana.

"One must die and one must live. No victory, no defeat. The survivor will carry on the fight. It is our destiny... The one who survives will inherit the title of Boss. And the one who inherits the title of Boss will face an existence of endless battle."

- The Boss to Naked Snake.

To ensure that Snake would carry out his mission, The Boss radioed Russian fighters to begin bombing Rokovoj Bereg, which was only ten minutes away from their position. The Boss fought Snake with the intent to kill him, but he had gained much experience from his mission. She attacked with her assault rifle, the Patriot, but Snake evaded her attacks, and engaged her in CQC, now equalling her skill. Though her white Sneaking Suit aided in her camouflage among the Easter lilies, she eventually collapsed from Snake's ongoing attacks. After falling at the hands of her former disciple, The Boss passed the microfilm, containing the Philosophers' Legacy, to him. Snake then shot her with her own weapon. The Boss's horse approached her body, mourning her passing, while in the distance, Snake witnessed the spirits of The Boss and The Sorrow fade away.

Prior to her death, The Boss had explained part of the truth of her mission to EVA, who later informed Snake of this. She had also made EVA and GRU Major Ocelot promise not to kill Snake, nor aid in killing him. In the end, she had left everything in the hands of Snake.

The Boss's grave was later placed in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Snake would arrive later to pay his respects to her with an Easter lily and the Patriot planted on her grave by him.

Legacy
After Operation Snake Eater, Snake was given the Big Boss codename to show that he had surpassed The Boss, though he refused to acknowledge that codename for some time, believing that he was not worthy of it. She was also used as a template for the Successor Project, which resulted in the creation of FOX operative Gene. Some time later, Gene discovered the true details of The Boss's final mission, which he later passed on to Big Boss in an attempt to break his spirit, and get him to join his side. Gene also implied that it was The Boss's actions that led to his belief that humanity should sacrifice their individual goals to a higher cause/being.

Despite her death, The Boss's beliefs greatly influenced major events that came later. Major Zero, inspired by The Boss's idea of a united world, formed the Patriots, of which Big Boss was also a founding member. However, Big Boss broke away from the Patriots in 1972, and formed his own private mercenary group, the Militaires Sans Frontières, in response to what he believed to be the Patriots' misinterpretation of The Boss's will.

In 1974, The Boss's personality was used as the model for the AI housed within Peace Walker's Mammal Pod, in a project carried out by the CIA Peace Sentinel. The person directly involved in her "revival" was a former acquaintance of hers, the AI researcher known as Strangelove, who requested that she have all the data on The Boss for the AI in exchange for her participation in the project. Big Boss and the Militaires Sans Frontières were then dispatched to Costa Rica after learning of the Peace Sentinel's activities as well as rumors of The Boss's survival. Big Boss later tried to converse with The Boss AI, asking if she had any regrets about her final mission, though the AI reacted with confusion. The Boss AI directly aided Big Boss afterwards by allowing him inside the Mammal Pod, when Peace Walker began transmitting false trajectory data to NORAD. When disabling the AI did not halt the transmission, Peace Walker decided to drown itself in Lake Nicaragua, in order to save the world from threat of a nuclear war. However, Big Boss lost some respect for The Boss, feeling that she had betrayed him, and by extension, herself, having been taught never to put down his gun as a soldier. He would nonetheless continue to bring about his interpretation of The Boss's will through his own means. During this time, he also cast her bandana to the wind at Lake Nicaragua, although Strangelove would retrieve it at least a year later.

Meanwhile, Zero continued to implement his own interpretation of The Boss's vision as unity under a single will, and sought to control the United States (and later the world) from behind the scenes. Big Boss later formed the nations of Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land in the 1990s, in order to bring about a soldier's paradise, free from the fickleness of politics, which he believed the Boss had truly envisioned.

In 2014, The Boss's final will was lost when the Patriots' AIs, disregarding Zero's intentions, implemented the war economy to propagate their means of control over the world. Upon meeting with Solid Snake at Arlington National Cemetary, Big Boss remarked sorrowfully that her death had greatly affected him to that point, going as far as to comment that he had been dead since the day he killed her. Saluting her grave one last time, a dying Big Boss finally came to understand the meaning behind The Boss's actions; that it was not about changing the world, but about leaving it as it is, by respecting the will of others and believing in one's own.

"In Memory of a Patriot, Who Saved the World"

- The Boss's Epitaph

Some of the Boss' traits would later be passed onto Strangelove's son, Hal Emmerich, displaying selflessness, and prioritizing the well-beings of his friends over his own, as his mother had hoped.

Because she spent ten years with Big Boss, rumors spread the two were romantically involved.

Personality and traits
The Boss, as her original codename "The Joy" suggests, did love war. However, when she went to space, her view on war changed. She believed that there was more to life than the Cold War, recognizing the pointlessness of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. As such, she longed for a world that would be united together in which people would respect each other as human beings, as opposed to remaining in constant conflict. This was despite the fact that she herself was a soldier.

Ever since failing her mission in 1943, The Boss had decidedly blamed herself for the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and the rise of the Cold War; having thought in retrospect that if she had succeeded, the Cold War might never have started in the first place. Because of this, she would go on to dedicate her entire life to her country and its faults based on what she felt was a conflict that she had brought upon the world. The Boss would go on to maintain this strong sense of loyalty to her country as a soldier; her loyalty was so great that she allowed the government to use her ruthlessly and knowingly had her killed by her apprentice Naked Snake. Despite this, she was not blinded by her loyalty to the extent that she didn't know how soldiers were used, as she mentioned to Naked Snake when they re-encountered each other after five years. Her unrelenting loyalty was ultimately what led to her death; having purposely suppressed her own ideals and personal feelings for many years as part of her penance. As her idealistic notions were condemned and feared by her superiors, she allowed herself to die hoping that Naked Snake would learn the truth of her tortured life so that he may learn from her mistakes and live a normal life dedicated only to himself. Though she believed that the Philosophers had grown far too corrupt to be redeemed, she clinged onto what little hope she had that her sacrifice would somehow help in uniting the rest of the world. She also accurately predicted that America and Russia would no longer remain enemies in the 21st century.

Like her apprentice Big Boss and his son Solid Snake, she was a very strong-willed person and had a very strong charisma as she could take the burden of her country having her killed, turning her back on her Cobra Unit and having her reputation destroyed in order to complete her final mission. Her charisma was so strong that it influenced the very creation of the Patriots and was among the reasons she was killed.

Possessing great wisdom in warfare, she was a fierce soldier that sparked fear and admiration among her enemies, colleagues, and allies. Although she held a calm and collected demeanor, she possessed such a strong and overbearing presence that even Volgin was intimidated by her whenever she questioned his mistrust towards her. Despite "The Joy" being her former codename, The Boss rarely smiled during the events of Operation Snake Eater. In contrast, her lover The Sorrow always smiled during his encounters with Naked Snake, with not one occasion where there was a frown on his face.

The Boss also had a lot of love and care for her apprentice Naked Snake. She also protected Snake during Operation Snake Eater from Ocelot and EVA by making them promise not to kill him, and she instructed EVA to tell Snake the truth behind her final mission and death as she wanted him to know. The Boss knew that Snake would feel guilty for killing her so she told EVA to tell him to forgive himself and to let it go.

The Boss was a proficient user of CQC, having helped found the techniques and principle with her apprentice Naked Snake. She was able to execute field-strips at fast speeds against her opponents; often disarming them in a matter of seconds. The Boss possessed a tremendous amount of physical strength, evidenced by her carrying the containers for the Davy Crockett launcher and the two Davy Crockett shells, which in combined weight would have exceeded 300 kg (nearly 700 pounds) late into the Virtuous Mission, and fire it by hand at Groznyj Grad and Graniny Gorki late into Operation Snake Eater.

The Boss used to smoke cigars, but quit sometime prior to the Virtuous Mission. Although The Boss scolded Naked Snake for wearing her bandana during Operation Snake Eater, she was really somewhat happy in her heart. The Boss had a huge snake-shaped scar that ran across her upper torso, the cause of which was the result of her giving birth through caesarean during the invasion of Normandy. The extreme nature of the scar's shape was never elaborated upon, though The Boss likened her remaining sense of pain to that of a snake slithering across her body. After her death, the scar mysteriously faded away. The scar vanishing from her upon death seemingly referred to being freed from her pain and conflict.

She was also one of the few members of Groznyj Grad to be allowed access to Groznyj Grad's weapons lab's west wing in spite of being below Colonel-class.

Tributes
The Boss's words to Naked Snake in 1964 were often paraphrased by the latter and others in later events:
 * The speech that The Boss gave to Naked Snake in their final battle is paraphrased by Gene in one of his speeches in his final battle with Big Boss (Naked Snake) in 1970.
 * The Boss's final speech to Naked Snake was similar to that given by Big Boss to Solid Snake in 1999.
 * The Boss's last words ("There's only room for one Boss and one Snake") to Naked Snake were similar to the speech given by Solidus Snake ("The world needs only one Big Boss!") to Solid Snake and Raiden and the speech given by Liquid Snake ("There's room for only one Snake and one Big Boss") to Solid Snake and Solidus Snake, both which was said in 2009, and as one of the final phrases uttered by Big Boss ("Boss...You only need one snake. No...The world would be better off without snakes") prior to his demise in 2014.

In the early 1970s, Big Boss fashioned a fake snake-shaped scar across his chest, similar to that of The Boss. This was used to conceal a jigsaw on himself for use in emergency situations.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The Boss (ザ・ボス) is the secondary antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. According to Hideo Kojima, she was created specifically to be a motherly character in order to emphasize the maternity theme that he was going for. This is further reflected in The Boss' original design, in which one of her breasts was exposed. The design also featured a snake tattoo around her chest. This was so that when she fired a gun, it would appear that the snake was laughing. It was based on a legend that says that if someone sees a laughing snake, it means that their life is about to be over. Ultimately, this design was scrapped.

The Boss defecting to the Soviet Union at the beginning of the game was intended to be a plot twist, to such an extent that the demo for the game, covering the Virtuous Mission, was designed specifically to avoid any hints at The Boss defecting.

In-game, she is credited with the creation of "Rayforce" (which is clearly based on Layforce) and the L Detachment which in real life were created by British colonel Robert Laycock. It is possible, however, that the implication was that they created these groups together with The Boss assisting Laycock in an advisory capacity. Similarly, an optional radio conversation has at least three errors, two of which are anachronistic in nature: Zero mentions that The Boss acted as a HALO instructor for the JFK Special Operations Center at Fort Bragg in 1957. However, the facility in question was not actually created until 1982, its name is incorrect as it would actually be the JFK Special Warfare Center, and the name itself is anachronistic because this occurred four years before John F. Kennedy was sworn into the Presidency.

Kojima revealed in a Metal Gear Solid 3 commentary that The Boss' appearance was based on the the English actress Charlotte Rampling. Yoji Shinkawa also confirmed this in an interview with Game Informer.

One of the game's cutscenes, in which Naked Snake's disguise as Major Raikov is discovered, The Boss comments, while removing his mask, "What is this fairy disguise? It's gonna rub off on you. And then you'll lose sight of who you really are." According to Kojima's commentary, this was intended to be a reference to herself, as well as an early hint at the true nature of her defection to the Soviet Union.

A voice casting sheet for Metal Gear Solid 3, which was leaked prior to E3 2004, stated that The Boss was a Green Beret and Navy SEAL, and that she was of British descent, though these details were never mentioned in-game.

Although The Boss's and Ocelot's familial relationship can be deduced from the game's storyline, it is not made clear whether the two characters themselves were aware of it. In addition, although their familial connection is strongly implied, it was never directly stated. Kojima later confirmed their relationship in an interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly. This was further confirmed in the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database.

The Boss's personal data (accessed via the radio during the Virtuous Mission) states that her hair is brownish gray, though her in-game character model actually has blond hair, similar to her son Ocelot. Since The Boss no longer serves as a radio contact following the completion of the Virtuous Mission, she is the only support team member whose radio profile does not allow a sixth or seventh data slide to be unlocked by the player through multiple calls.

In the ending cutscene for the Virtuous Mission, The Boss and Naked Snake are seen reaching out to each other from far away (on the Hind chopper and on the ground, respectively) before pulling back. According to Hideo Kojima, this scene was originally going to have The Boss release her bandana to the wind for Snake to catch, which he'd then use as a sling. However, the concept was cut (though not the scene itself) because one of the motion capture actors requested that they move Snake's acquiring the bandana to when The Boss threw him down into the river earlier.

During the filming of The Boss's fighting Naked Snake at Dremuchij North during Operation Snake Eater (specifically, the part where she says to Snake "Go Back!"), Eriko Hirata, The Boss's motion capture actress, started breaking into tears, as she had read the script and thus already knew about The Boss's ultimate fate.

According to a commentary by Kojima, the boss battle with The Boss originally had her wearing shooting goggles to hide her tears, as well as using a machine pistol alongside the Patriot. In addition, she was also originally to have worn a blue sneaking suit, similar to that of Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, so as to make her more visible. However, both of these concepts were cut.

Part of The Boss's backstory has her being tasked with assassinating Manhattan Project scientist John von Neumann under the pretense that he was a Nazi spy, only for it to later become apparent that him being a spy was actually Soviet misinformation. In reality the Soviet Union utilized many individuals known as Atomic Spies who conducted "Nuclear espionage", giving them information about nuclear weapons production in Great Britain and the United States during World War II and the early Cold War. Therefore it is likely that the spy within the Manhattan Project was one who was placed by the Soviets themselves. The most likely candidate is a man named Klaus Fuchs a German-born British theoretical physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project and was later convicted of communicating information about it to the Soviet Union.

In the Secret Theater film The Joy, The Boss dies in a manner similar to the rest of the Cobra Unit, with the detonation of a microbomb and the exclamation of her former codename, "The Joy."

Defeating The Boss in the HD version of Metal Gear Solid 3 will unlock the achievement/trophy "The Patriot."

Gameplay
Draining The Boss's stamina during the final battle in Metal Gear Solid 3, will yield the Snake Camo. Though not as effective as The Fear's Spider Camo, it nevertheless provides a high Camo Index in the average environment. Also, if the player attempts to use the fake death pill, The Boss will see right through the trick. If the player times the CQC right against The Boss, instead of simply grabbing her arm and throwing it aside, Snake will instead flip over her and leave her stunned, leaving an opening to attack her.

Other appearances
During the March 29, 2007 edition of the Metal Gear Solid Podcast, David Hayter, when explaining Big Boss's characterization and why he went down the path he did, erroneously implied that The Boss was Big Boss's biological mother.

The Boss appeared as a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which granted the player an increase of flinch resistance by 161.

"The Boss" was the name of Solid Snake's brand of cigarettes in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Although The Boss herself did not appear in Metal Gear Online, the CQC gloves were described as having been based on those of The Boss. The player could also attain her codename by playing as a female character and holding a 2/1 kill/death ratio or higher. Her symbol was a Grass lily, which were the flowers that were seen in Rokovoj Bereg and was used by Big Boss to pay his respect to her at her grave.

In Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, female hunters can unlock an outfit based on The Boss's appearance. Also while equipping said outfit, the player's hunter's audio files changes to that of The Boss. The game's general sound effects are replaced as well with typical Metal Gear sound effects.

In a press release by Kojima, he admitted that the original concept for Metal Gear Solid 5 was to be about The Boss, though he gave up on the idea after it became apparent to him that the new staff at Kojima Productions were probably not ready to handle such a plot by themselves.

The Boss was a participant in the Konami-sponsored E3 Battle, where she defeated Anne Cunningham from Silent Hill: Downpour in the first round. She will end up facing Metal Gear RAY in the second round where she defeated it (although going by percentage points, she seemingly lost). Afterwards, she faced off against, and defeated, Gabriel Belmont from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow in the third round. She then faced off against, and defeated, Vamp in the fourth round. She fought Metal Gear REX in the semifinals and lost.

During a BAFTA conference to give his recollections of the series, Kojima reiterated that The Boss was designed for the purpose of creating a more motherly character, although her becoming a powerful and moving character was unintentional on his part. In addition, Kojima also stated that she is the one of the few characters who could star in a future game for this reason alone.

Although The Boss herself neither makes an appearance nor is referenced directly, her life-changing experience in space and her resulting view of the world are similarly echoed by Raiden in an optional Codec call to Sunny in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, regarding how the world was one and not made up of borders, shortly after using a Solis-issued Mach 23 spacecraft.

"THE BOSS FIRST APPEARED IN: Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater (2004) Mother of special forces and creator of Close Quarters Combat (CQC). Leader of the Cobra Unit and mentor of Naked Snake"

- The Boss' bio in E3 Battle

During a Twitter conversation between a fan and Lori Alan, Alan was asked if The Boss will appear in at least a flashback form in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Alan responded, "Maaaaaaybe so?!?:-)))." Similarly, Yumi Kikuchi confirmed in a Twitter post that she and Kikuko Inoue will have roles in the game, although only The Boss AI appears in The Phantom Pain. She is also mentioned frequently in Ground Zeroes, namely via Paz's report as well as the previous story covering the events of Peace Walker. She is also, alongside her comrades in the Cobra Unit, an unlockable character for the Mother Base Developer in the Ground Zeroes app, acting as an officer character. The Boss specifically is unlocked by either obtaining 10+ S ranks overall or completing Ground Zeroes on Hard with an S rank. Dummied content discovered on the disc also revealed that The Boss, or at the very least a female featuring a similar snake-shaped scar, was meant to appear in some capacity.[8 ] TGS 2015 also revealed that The Boss, or rather, an outfit based on her white sneaking suit, will be appearing as part of a Snake Eater-themed DLC set.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (indirectly quoted)
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
 * Metal Gear Acid 2 (non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (Secret Theater; non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (mentioned and flashbacks)
 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (mentioned, flashbacks and painting; painting's non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (A.I. counterpart, mentioned and flashbacks)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops (trading card)
 * Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (mentioned)
 * Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (A.I. counterpart and mentioned; DLC outfit)

Notes and references
The Boss The Boss