David Bowie

David Bowie is a British singer, comedian, and actor, who was well known for various image songs such as Ashes to Ashes, Diamond Dogs, "Space Oddity," and Major Tom (Coming Home). One of his most distinguishing traits, at least during his early years, was his possessing an androgynous physical appearance.

Relation to Metal Gear
In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the character Major Zero, during the Virtuous Mission, adopted the codename "Major Tom" for the mission, referencing the songs "Space Oddity" and "Major Tom (Coming Home)" by David Bowie (although in-universe, it was a reference to one of the failed tunnels in The Great Escape). The boss character The Fury, shortly after being defeated by the main protagonist Naked Snake, radioed mission control while reliving his accident and stated that he was "coming home" before smashing himself through the roof, referencing the aforementioned song. When calling the character Para-Medic, she will ask Snake whether he's seen the film My Mother was a Teenage Spider Queen from Mars before admitting she hadn't absentmindedly, alluding to David Bowie's former band "The Spiders from Mars." Both Ashes to Ashes and Space Oddity were originally planned to be used as the ending themes for Snake Eater, although they were cut in favor of Starsailor.

In the Raymond Benson novelization for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, David Bowie was briefly referenced in one of the beginning chapters, specifically when Raiden was onboard the elevator upon infiltrating the Big Shell, where he reflected that Rosemary had once told him that his androgynous physical appearance gave him a physical resemblance to David Bowie during the latter's youth.

In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, during the Steven Armstrong boss fight, Armstrong will occassionally say "Ashes to ashes, motherfucker!", referring to the song Ashes to Ashes.

In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the name of the military group Big Boss and Kazuhira Miller were running after the devastation of the Militaires Sans Frontieres, Diamond Dogs, was partly based on the name of another song by David Bowie of the same name.