The Phantom PainEdit
In 1984, Skull Face learned that Zero had placed the comatose Big Boss in a British military hospital in Cyprus a few months after the Trojan Horse operation that destroyed Mother Base. Seeing it as the perfect opportunity to eliminate the legendary soldier, Skull Face had a platoon of XOF soldiers, which included elite XOF assassin
Quiet, to eliminate Big Boss and everyone else present at the hospital. While the mission was a failure, Skull Face had succeeded in covering his tracks and managed to gain control over
Tretij Rebenok and the
Man on Fire when they sensed his burning desire for revenge and became attracted to it.
Skull Face and Venom Snake meet for the first time.
When
Venom Snake recovered the
Honey Bee from the caves of
Da Smasei Laman before the Soviets could locate it, Skull Face captured Venom Snake using the arm of Sahelanthropus, briefly taunting him about having survived the attack nine years ago before having the giant's fist release him. Skull Face then mounted the Sahelanthropus' hand like a platform and departed into the mist, leaving Venom Snake to battle a group of the Parasite Unit. Venom Snake would escape and return to
Mother Base.
Skull Face later personally observed the finishing touches to Sahelanthropus at the
Serak Power Plant with Huey nearby. They entered a brief squabble, where Huey insisted they wait until the AI was finalized. Skull Face decided against it because that was the mistake
Hot Coldman made
ten years prior. He then learned from one of his soldiers that Huey had made contact with Venom Snake, causing him to deduce that Huey intended to defect from XOF to
Diamond Dogs. Enraged by this revelation, Skull Face mirrored Coldman's actions a decade earlier, shoving Huey down the stairs while declaring that he intended to take his legs back. He then inferred he'd let Venom Snake take him anticipating full well that Diamond Dogs intended to exact revenge on Huey for his role in the Mother Base attack. Although he wanted to kill him, he decided to keep Huey alive a little while longer, as he still had some use for drawing out Venom Snake, knowing full well he was most likely nearby. True to his suspicions, Venom Snake had indeed tracked down Huey at the Soviets' Afghanistan Central Base Camp. Just as Venom Snake was about to extract Huey, Skull Face revealed that Sahelanthropus was fully operational, catching even Huey off-guard. He then departed on an XOF chopper to allow Sahelanthropus and Tretij Rebenok (who was piloting it remotely via his psychic powers) to attack Venom Snake and Huey.
Skull Face and Venom Snake meet again at "The Devil's House."
Skull Face later re-encountered Venom Snake (who was trying to rescue an African child soldier unit leader named
Shabani) at the
Ngumba Industrial Zone shortly after executing one of the test subjects, and decided to burn the facility via Tretij Rebenok and the "Man on Fire", intending for Venom Snake to die in the flames. Venom Snake ultimately escaped with his life, although Shabani was not as lucky.
Skull Face then intended to kill Code Talker, seeing no more use for him anymore, although Diamond Dogs ultimately succeeded in rescuing him. Anticipating that Venom Snake and the Diamond Dogs would locate Sahelanthropus as well as himself, he then waited for Venom Snake's arrival. After Venom Snake arrived at his helipad, he then commented on how they were both demons, before ordering for his men to stand down. He then had Venom Snake follow him to the hangar Sahelanthropus was at: eventually boarding a jeep and riding with Venom Snake in the back to the stretch of road leading to the hangar. During the trek, Skull Face elaborated on his history with Zero and Snake, as well as his motives and his past. He then claimed that silencing the world was in fact what The Boss wanted. He revealed that he had deduced Zero's plan to have the AIs rule the Patriots in his place, and attempted to use
Walker Gear to indefinitely eliminate his "employers", and ensure the world ran through chaos by eliminating the English language. Later on, Venom Snake and Skull Face arrived at a hangar containing Sahelanthropus. He then attempted to have the Man on Fire fight Venom Snake. During this time, Skull Face hinted at the Man on Fire's
true identity and background, as well as
his connection to Snake.
However, just as his plan was to come to fruition, Sahelanthropus activated prematurely due to Tretij Rebenok turning on XOF in favor of allying himself with
Eli, who is stationed inside a Diamond Dogs helicopter. Skull Face was caught off-guard, enraged that someone had more of a lust for revenge than even he. He was so stunned and shocked by the revelation that he had to be physically dragged away by two of his men in order for him to evacuate the premises, all the while demanding to know whose hatred it was that was causing Tretij Rebenok to defy his orders.
[11] Frustrated, he then had his forces try to stop Sahelanthropus with very limited success.
Seeing the damage wrought, he realized Zero might have ultimately succeeded in his plans, although he was nonetheless confident that his plans would usurp Zero's in the near future. Skull Face was later crushed under rubble while the latter was ranting, yelling he was burning up just beforehand.
[12] After defeating Sahelanthropus, Venom Snake and Miller exact revenge against Skull Face for his role in the destruction of MSF, as well as the injuries he inflicted on them, by shooting him several times with his own gun, detaching his left leg and right arm, before leaving him to his fate. However, Huey ultimately killed Skull Face by shooting him in the head shortly thereafter.
[3] His body was left untouched after the incident.
While Diamond Dogs were moving in Sahelanthropus, Venom Snake saw a phantom of Skull Face.