In a recent interview Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts sat down with Colliders Steven "Frosty" Weintraub to talk about his vision for a big-screen adaptation of Hideo Kojima's seminal Metal Gear series of video games. Although Roberts was tight-lipped about the exact details of the script he has developed with Jurassic World's and Kong: Skull Island's screenwriter Derek Connolly, the director did make mention of certain, iconic characters from the franchise, which were later showcased in some of the concept art that was revealed.
For many, their introduction into the world of Metal Gear came with the 1998 PlayStation game Metal Gear Solid. In the game, Solid Snake was brought out of retirement to infiltrate an Alaskan military base housing the US Governments new top-secret nuclear super-weapon; Metal Gear - a bipedal walking nuclear-strike capable battle tank, which was being used to hold the government to ransom by members of Snakes former special forces unit, Foxhound. As mentioned, some of the concept art showcased does echo iconic scenes such as the Hind-D and Sniper Wolf boss fights.
The above pieces of concept art would leave most to believe that Roberts will be adapting the aforementioned game, which was remastered for the Nintendo GameCube in 2004 as Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes. However, as mentioned in the interview, these pieces were created as cinematic keyframe examples of iconic moments and characters from the franchise, which were likely produced to show studio executives at Sony Pictures Entertainment the visual potential of the product, while also showcasing to fans Roberts' dedication to the project. This together with Roberts' evident knowledge of the lore, mythology and sentiment behind the Metal Gear franchise would be enough to assure even the hardcore fans that he is the right director for the job.
However, the addition of the following pieces of concept art suggests that the legend of Shadow Moses Island, the setting for the aforementioned PlayStation game, will only be featured in flashbacks and/or as exposition. The next few pieces of concept art showcase the Metal Gear that was developed on Shadow Moses Island, Metal Gear Rex. The original Rex was destroyed by Solid Snake on the island, but in its sequel, Metal Gear Solid II: Sons of Liberty it was revealed that Rex's blueprints had been sold across the world. It was because of the adoption of Rex by most world powers that the US Government developed its successor, Ray. It is likely that these concepts, showcasing Rex in varying locales are highlighting the setting of the movie as being set after the events of Shadow Moses Island.
This is further exemplified by the following pieces of concept art, which showcase the Gekko. These drone units were an amalgamation of the tried and trusted technology of Metal Gear Rex and the agility of its bio-mechanical successor Metal Gear Ray. It is worth mentioning that the Gekko's were only ever featured in Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, both of which were less favorably received by fans and set during the closure of the franchises narrative arc.
Of interest is Roberts' repeated mentions of Big Boss. This character was only ever mentioned in the PlayStation game but over the course of games such as Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and the recent Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain has since been revealed to be the original Snake and true protagonist of the series. From Roberts' comments during the interview and from the concept art he showcased, we strongly believe that the movie adaptation will be set many years after the Shadow Moses Island incident, likely chronicling how the Metal Gear went from being a top-secret exclusive WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) to becoming the next iteration of nuclear deterrence.
Another character mention that has piqued our interest is that of Ninja AKA Gray Fox. Introduced as a Foxhound operative in Metal Gear 2, this character returned in Metal Gear Solid as a cybernetically enhanced, yet mentally tortured soul. It seems Roberts has a degree of love for this character, suggesting he will feature prominently in the forthcoming movie.
