Men In Boxes



The Men In Boxes, MIB for short, are a mysterious group of cyborgs that Raiden encountered during the Desperado Incursions of 2018. Their most notable trait is that they hide underneath cardboard boxes. At least five were known to be in operation during this time. Exactly what they were was unknown, although rumors circulated that they originated from Area 51, as well as their being agents of an unspecified group.

Behind the scenes
The Men In Boxes were characters in the game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. They hid in boxes and effectively acted as collectables. The player, after attacking the soldiers, could either execute them or leave them to their fate as they beg for mercy. Defeating them, regardless of methods, will result in the individual soldiers appearing in specific poses that are reminiscient of artwork seen throughout the Metal Gear series.

These types of enemies first appeared in the VGA 2011 trailer for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, with developer statements initially indicating that they would have used the cardboard box to attempt to ambush the player, although this was not retained in the final version. In the E3 Demo, the player encountered a Men In Boxes character who possessed a necessary key code to access a laptop containing data.

Their name, MIB, was a reference to the Men In Black, which was a group in conspiracy theories that are rumored to appear in areas that had paranormal activity and abduct people, having an appearance similar to government agents. This is further corroborated with Kevin's claim of there being a rumor about them originating at Area 51.