Psycho Mantis

Psycho Mantis (サイコ・マンティス) was one of the renegade members of FOXHOUND who took over Shadow Moses with the Genome Army. He wore a gas mask to help prevent people's thoughts from "forcing their way into his mind."

Early Life and Career
Psycho Mantis was born in a small Russian village before the collapse of the Soviet Union. His mother died giving birth to him, which made his father resent and hate him. He discovered his father's true emotions one day while accidentally reading his mind. He wondered if his father would kill him, and the shock of this revelation awoke his subconscious. He used his telekinetic powers to burn down the village that he lived in, killing all residents. This release of psychic energy caused severe burns across his body, particularly his face.

He joined the KGB and was part of its psychic intelligence division. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mantis moved to the United States and began to work immediately for the FBI. He would enter the minds of suspected killers and uncover the truth about their crimes. However, while interrogating a certain serial killer, he dove too deeply into his mind. As a result, he adopted the personality of this serial killer and became psychotic.

He eventually left the FBI and became a freelance psychic, offering his services in the world to the highest bidder. During his travels throughout the world, he read thousands of peoples thoughts, and became disgusted with humanity for, as he calls it, "their mindless, selfish desire to pass on their DNA." He was eventually enlisted into FOXHOUND, becoming the unit's psychic expert and it's psychological warfare specialist. By this time he had taken to wearing a gas mask, partially to hide his deformed facial features, but also to prevent the thoughts of others from entering his mind. At some point, Mantis recieved barcode tattoos on each of his shoulders and on the right side of his head, along with a large scar across his head.

Eventually, Psycho Mantis and the other members of FOXHOUND (Liquid Snake, Decoy Octopus, Vulcan Raven, Sniper Wolf, Revolver Ocelot, and the Genome Soldiers) grew tired of their roles as puppets to the government and they took over Shadow Moses Island. Mantis used his psychic powers to brainwash those soldiers that didn't support the insurrection into participating with the rebellion.

While on Shadow Moses, Mantis attempted to read Donald Anderson's and Kenneth Baker's minds but failed due to the surgical implants in their brains that provided them with "psychic insulation." When Revolver Ocelot "accidentally" killed Anderson during a torture session, Mantis came up with the idea of tricking Solid Snake into getting the PAL Key from Baker and using the keys to activate Metal Gear REX, while making Snake think he was de-activating REX. They made Decoy Octopus disguise himself as Anderson to talk Snake into the act.

As Snake and Meryl Silverburgh made their way through the island, Mantis managed to gain control over Meryl's mind. He turned her against Snake and tried to make her shoot him, though Snake was able to knock her unconscious. Mantis then revealed himself and fought Snake himself. On the edge of defeat, Mantis decided to awaken Meryl and try to make her shoot herself in the head. However, Snake managed to both prevent Meryl from killing herself and defeat Mantis.

Close to death, Mantis's mask was removed by Snake, allowing him to speak his final words. He told of his tragic past, comparing it to that of Snake's, and explained that his past experiences had shown him that all humans were fated to bring each other pain and misery. He stated that he never really agreed with Liquid's revolution, only that he wanted the chance to kill as many people as he could. However, he went on to say he was "not so bad," in comparison to Snake, saying that the legendary soldier was even worse than Liquid himself. Mantis also revealed that he had read Meryl's mind and that Snake had a large place in her heart, though he did not know if their futures lay together.

Mantis then asked Snake to put his mask back on, since this prevented people's thoughts from forcing their way into his mind, and he wished to be by himself. Using his powers, he opened a secret passageway that led to Metal Gear REX's underground maintenance base. Right before he died, Mantis said that this was the first time in his life that he had used his power to help someone, and that it felt "kind of nice."

After his death, the effects of his brainwashing on the Genome Soldiers began to wear off, and they started to lose their morale. Revolver Ocelot later theorized that Mantis was probably included in the programming of FOXDIE, but that his mask probably shielded him from infection.

When Liquid Ocelot was building up his PMC armies, Mantis' psychic remnants were somehow harnessed with nanomachines. Liquid wasted no time putting Psycho Mantis' harnessed psyche to use, with it playing a vital role in the creation of the Beauty and the Beast Unit. Mantis' psyche integrated into the mind of BB Corps member Screaming Mantis via nanomachines and hypnosis, which made it possible for her to channel her constant state fear so that she could use it in battle, although in time, her psyche was ripped out almost entirely. Using Screaming Mantis and the nanomachines as a medium, Psycho Mantis' psychic powers were also used to control the minds of the other BB Corps. members so that they could be effective in combat as well. Like Psycho Mantis, Screaming Mantis had what seemed like a form of Psychokinesis, but in reality she was only able to manipulate the nanomachines inside the bodies of soldiers—both living and dead—by using dolls fashioned after Psycho Mantis and The Sorrow.

In 2014, after Snake infiltrated Liquid Ocelot's Outer Haven, he was confronted by the final member of the Beauty and the Beast Unit Screaming Mantis. After defeating Screaming Beauty, Screaming Mantis' suit reformed and floated in the air, with Psycho Mantis' spirit appearing behind it. Psycho Mantis once again showed Snake his telekinetic powers. Afterwards, The Sorrow intervened and sent his ghost back to the grave for good.

Behind the Scenes
The battle with Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid is widely known for him "displaying" his mental powers. This includes making the controller move by activating the rumble feature, making players think the TV channel has changed by turning the screen to black, with the green caption "HIDEO" displayed in the top-right corner of the screen. He also "reads" the player's memory card, commenting on the number of saves that have been made in the game so far, and the presence of other saved games, first noting their genre, then mentioning specific examples. In the original, Mantis mentions Azure Dreams, Suikoden, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Vandal Hearts (plus Policenauts and Snatcher in the Japanese version), while in the remake, he references Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.

After the battle with Mantis, he will state, regarding Snake and Meryl, that he is "unsure whether or not their futures lie together." This could be a reference to the fact that the game has two endings, one where Meryl lives and one where she dies.

According to Hideo Kojima's Grand Game Plan for Metal Gear Solid 2, there was originally supposed to be a mask based on Psycho Mantis's likeness (called the Mantis mask), that allowed Raiden to read the thoughts of other characters. One example would be using the mask to discern a SEAL's identity as Solid Snake. This item ultimately never made it into the final version.

The fight against Screaming Mantis in Metal Gear Solid 4 is designed to play off the player's memory of fighting Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid, right down to the music being a recreation of "Mantis Hymn" from the original Metal Gear Solid. After Screaming Mantis screams "Blackout!" the screen turns to black and displays a green caption saying "HIDEO2." If the player switches the PS3 controller over to Controller Port 2, Snake will call Otacon saying that he can't move, with Otacon telling him that the trick won't work this time, much to Snake's chagrin. Roy Campbell also suggests that Snake try either swapping controller ports or destroying the mask on the bust of Mantis' face, but Rosemary and Snake rebuke him, stating that neither of those strategies is applicable in the situation. After the battle, when Mantis himself appears, he attempts to read the memory card once more, but fails due to the PS3's hard drive-based memory system. He also tries to repeat his controller-moving trick, but is unsuccessful due to the lack of rumble feature in the SIXAXIS controller. Enraged, he disappears. However, if the scene is played with a DualShock 3, Mantis will perform the trick successfully and gleefully declare that vibration is back before disappearing.

Psycho Mantis is also mentioned in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Roy Campbell can feed Snake data on Ness if he uses his Codec taunt. During the talk, Snake will recall his encounters with Psycho Mantis, to the point of even asking if Ness can also read minds. Campbell assures him that Ness is "a good kid" and would not use telepathic powers to scan Snake's mind against his will, whether he had such powers or not.

In the novelization of Metal Gear Solid by Raymond Benson, Psycho Mantis foresees during his dying speech that Snake, as an old man, will place a gun in his mouth. Also, the manner in which Snake had to defeat Psycho Mantis in the novelization was significantly different than the game, as Snake had to try and trick Psycho Mantis into levitating all of the contents of the Command Room so he would be unable to defend himself from Snake shooting at him (he used his psychic abilities to prevent Snake from even touching his holstered gun). Also, Psycho Mantis was successful in briefly placing Snake under his control, causing Snake to hallucinate Master Miller escorting him out of the Command Room into Kiddieland at night, trying to save Meryl from the funhouse, as well as encountering the images of Meryl, Otacon and even Big Boss inside the funhouse mirror reflections.

Psycho Mantis was previously chosen as the #3 best boss fight ever by GameSpot. He also ranked eighth in IGN's recent "Top 100 Videogame Villains" poll, beating out fellow FOXHOUND members Sniper Wolf, Liquid Snake, and Revolver Ocelot; even beating Big Boss.