Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5085906-20130627191357/@comment-4913740-20130707232326

Plus the character of Snake (which is who we recognise when we see Big Boss and Solid Snake because they're identical) is an iconic character. Everybody who knows the game knows that it's Metal Gear Solid because of Solid Snake.

Also, I think Yong might've been accurate when he said Snake didn't want to tarnish The Boss' name on his quest for revenge. Sure, he said at the end of Peace Walker that they should call him Big Boss but that was 1974. GZ is in 1975. By that time, Snake has decided that rather than defend himself against the world (again, like he says at the end of Peace Walker), he will pursue Cipher and try to defeat them, in order to gain revenge against Zero for using him and trying to make him a false icon.

And one other pertinent fact. The whole point of a codename is that nobody is meant to know who is behind the codename. I think there's a reason why we never heard about MSF or Diamond Dogs. Because as far as everyone knows, it wasn't Big Boss behind those. It was a man named Snake.

And that could be how Big Boss gains control of FOXHOUND. Zero acts in the dark, so if Big Boss was to return to the US, reveal himself as Big Boss (the man heralded a hero by everyone after he killed The Boss), Zero would be unable to show himself and reveal that Big Boss was Punished Snake, the man who become a demon in the 80s. Big Boss will use Zero's secretive nature against himself.