Gray Fox

Gray Fox (, Cyborg Ninja), civilian name Frank Jaeger, is a character from the series. Debuting in the first title of the series, he later appeared in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake as a primary antagonist, and in Metal Gear Solid as the Cyborg Ninja. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he is voiced by Rob Paulsen, who also voices him in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. He returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where he was revealed on August 8, 2018.

Origin
Gray Fox first appeared in Metal Gear for the MSX2, where he is an operative of FOXHOUND who infiltrated the rogue state of Outer Heaven. Before his capture, he manages to transmit a message with the cryptic last words of "Metal Gear..." FOXHOUND commander Big Boss sends rookie Solid Snake to finish Fox's mission. During the course of his infiltration, Snake is purposely captured and jailed in a cell next to Gray Fox. Snake breaks into Fox's cell and learns of Metal Gear and its creator Dr. Pettrovich. Gray Fox is not seen outside of this one instance.

Gray Fox next appears in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, also for the MSX2. Gray Fox is a more active participant in this sequel's story, as he serves as one of the main antagonists responsible for the Zanzibar Land uprising, and the right hand man of Big Boss. Fox first appears in-game piloting the new Metal Gear to destroy a bridge to prevent Snake's progress, killing his old lover Gustava in the process. Fox warns Snake to turn back or be killed, and later faces Snake both piloting Metal Gear, and in a fistfight after Snake destroys the mech. Fox is seemingly killed by one of the mines lining the room where he and Snake fight.

Metal Gear Solid reveals that Fox was revived by unethical experiments after his last encounter with Snake, being turned into a Cyborg Ninja by Dr. Clark (formerly known as Para-Medic). The ninja infiltrates Shadow Moses Island to fight Snake again, wreaking a path of death through the facility. Fox puts an end to the confrontation between Snake and Revolver Ocelot by severing Ocelot's hand, and later menaces Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich. However, Fox also assists Snake as the anonymous "Deepthroat," warning him of hazards, and ultimately lays down his life for Snake in order to stop Metal Gear REX.

Gray Fox's main weapon is his sword, which he uses to slice through the Genome Soldiers and weaken the Metal Gear REX that was controlled by Liquid Snake. When Snake and Gray Fox battle each other, Gray Fox initially uses his sword, but later switches to hand-to-hand combat. If Snake tries using any guns against him, he will always use his sword to block the bullets (unless he is "paralyzed" by chaff grenades). In Brawl, Gray Fox uses his sword against his opponents. Gray Fox's projectile-reflecting ability is a possible reference to how he blocks projectile attacks in Metal Gear Solid.

When Gray Fox is summoned in Brawl, he will say either "Make me feel alive again!", "You can't defeat me with a weapon like that,", or "Hand-to-hand. It is the basis of all combat." Whenever Gray Fox is summoned while Snake is on the battlefield (regardless of whether Snake or the opponent summons him), he either says "Like old times, Snake..." or "That's it! I've been waiting for this pain." All of these quotes are some of the things that Gray Fox says in Metal Gear Solid when battling Snake.

As an Assist Trophy
Gray Fox makes an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as an unlockable Assist Trophy in his Cyborg Ninja form. He is unlocked as soon as the player unlocks. His attack involves moving quickly around the stage and swinging his sword, with his swings capable of reflecting projectile attacks. If he falls off a stage, he can come back from the top. He can also teleport from anywhere in the stage and come back from the top. His skill, according to DOJO!, is so great, that it makes a few smashers want him as a playable character.

As an Assist Trophy
Gray Fox returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an Assist Trophy. Now, his appearance is based in his design as skin in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Instead of reflecting projectiles with his sword, he now seems to have an invisible reflector in front of him, referencing his intro cutscene in The Twin Snakes where he deflects gunfire by invisibly swinging his sword at high speeds without apparent motion from his arm. He can also be KO'd this time around. Like with, his series logo has also changed.

Spirit
Gray Fox also appears as an Ace-class primary spirit, using artwork from DLC for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

In Adventure Mode: World of Light, Gray Fox is presumably one of the countless spirits captured by Galeem during his takeover of the universe. After Galeem's defeat, Dharkon takes control of Galeem's spirits, including Gray Fox. Gray Fox's spirit is located in the southeastern area of The Dark Realm.

Gray Fox's Spirit Battle uses a puppet fighter and is fought on the Shadow Moses Island stage. During the battle, Gray Fox appears as a hostile Assist Trophy and Sheik has increased move speed, referencing Gray Fox's superhuman movement speed.

Gray Fox can be summoned using the cores of and.

Trivia

 * Gray Fox is voiced by Rob Paulsen in his Smash appearance, with his voice samples lifted directly from The Twin Snakes; in the Japanese version, he uses archived sounds from Kaneto Shiozawa, his actor in the original Metal Gear Solid, who passed away in the year 2000.
 * Gray Fox is the only Assist Trophy to have a specific line for when a specific character is in the battlefield.
 * If Gray Fox is summoned on PictoChat while a drawing with at least two walls is currently on the stage (e.g. Blocks or Spears), he will be stuck in his running animation and will be unable to escape until he disappears.
 * Gray Fox is the only Assist Trophy from Brawl cut in Smash 4 who was from a universe with a playable character in Brawl.
 * The artwork used for Gray Fox's spirit in Ultimate isn't actually him, but rather Raiden in his Gray Fox DLC costume from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
 * Gray Fox and Isaac are the only Assist Trophies to skip a game in the series before returning.
 * Both are also the only veteran Assist Trophies to receive promotional screenshots on Ultimate's website section devoted to the item.
 * In Ultimate, when the language is set to Korean, Gray Fox uses his Japanese voice clips, despite Snake using his English voice clips. This distinction is shared with Guile, who also uses his Japanese voice clips despite Ryu and Ken using their English voice clips.