Ace Combat: Assault Horizon/Characters
Below is a list of characters in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.
NATO
William Bishop, callsign "Warwolf 1"
The primary Player Character of the game, Bishop is an renowned ace who is plagued by nightmares of his own death at the hands of a Russian plane with a "Sharkmouth" on its nose—the plane that he later discovers to belong to the Russian ace Andrei Markov. He is the leader of the Warwolf Squadron.
- The Ace: Both literally and in terms of personality.
- Composite Character: According to Word of God.
- Colonel Badass
- Dreaming of Things to Come: "I saw my death in my dreams, many times. A nightmare I'll never forget."
- High Altitude Battle: His specialty.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: In the second Miami mission, when Guts takes damage to his plane, his canopy won't open to allow him to eject, so Bishop uses his machine gun to shoot off the canopy of Guts' damaged and out of control plane.
- Bishop is also able to snipe an out of control trinity missile seconds from impact with the White House.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: Bishop is well endowed in the chin department.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Though he was Canadian, not American, the famous WWI flying ace "Billy" Bishop's full first name was "William."
- Pokémon-Speak: Frequently acknowledges orders or events over the radio by simply saying "Warwolf."
- The Rival: To Markov.
José "Guts" Gutierrez, callsign "Warwolf 2"
Bishop's loud-mouthed Wing Man who keeps causing him trouble, much to his own dismay.
- Expy: Fans of the series can discover the traits of both Chopper and PJ in him.
- Like Brother and Sister: Word of God is that this is his relationship with Rehl.
- The Load: Seems to view himself like this sometimes, especially in "Pipeline".
- Wing Man: To Bishop.
Janice Rehl, callsign "Spooky 1", later "Razor 1"
An experienced bomber pilot who has been assigned to pilot the Task Force 108 gunship Spooky against her wishes. Out of combat, she is a cheerful young woman who is best of buds with Bishop and Guts.
- Death From Above: Her specialty.
- Good-Looking Privates: To quote Guts, "there is only one person who fills out a flight suit so well".
- Like Brother and Sister: Word of God is that this is her relationship with Guts.
- Majorly Awesome
- Number Two: Her co-pilot Finn in the bomber missions.
- Pokémon-Speak: "Razor."
- Power Blonde
- Token Girl: The only female character with spoken lines in the game and the first female Player Character in the entire series.
Pierre La Pointe
A French General in command of the entire Task Force 108.
- Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Averted. La Pointe is introduced as a solid, dependable guy and remains so for the duration.
- Cool Old Guy
- Reasonable Authority Figure
- The Brigadier: Technically, a general.
Doug Robinson, callsign "Shooter 1"
Phlegmatic commander of the "Shooter" Apache squadron and "Nomad" Blackhawk squadron.
- Gunship Rescue: His specialty.
- Number Two: His co-pilot Jack.
- One Chopper Airforce: He and Jack fly on a solo mission in enemy-occupied Moscow... and succeed.
- Sergeant Rock: Technically, a Captain, but he fits the personality.
Magic
The Warwolf Squadron's AWACS.
Russians
Ivan Stagleishov, callsign "Big Bear 1"
Commander of all Russian forces in the Task Force 108 (who don't belong to NATO and thus don't answer to La Pointe) and simultaneously the leader of the "Big Bear" squadron.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Unlike his NATO counterpart, he personally leads a fighter squadron.
- Badass Grandpa: Despite his age, he personally leads the Big Bear Squadron.
- Face Heel Turn
- Four-Star Badass
Sergei Illich, callsign "Red Moon 1"
Leader of the Russian "Red Moon" squadron and one of the few Russians to remain loyal to Task Force 108 after Stagleishov's betrayal.
- The Dragon: To Markov late in the game.
- I Owe You My Life: Illich is ridiculously devoted to Markov as a result of him saving his life back when he served as his Wingman. So devoted, in fact, that he dutifully carries out Markov's orders to stall Bishop and effectively get himself killed, if not by Bishop then by the approaching hurricane. And he does it with good humor.
- Graceful Loser: He congratulates Bishop on shooting him down.
- Majorly Awesome
- The Mole
- Wing Man: Flown on Markov's wing before Markov went rogue. Becomes his wingman again after the Moscow offensive.
Andrei "Akula" Markov, a.k.a. "Sharkmouth"
The primary villain of the game, a Russian ace pilot decorated with the "Hero of Russian Federation" medal.
- Ace Pilot
- Broken Ace: Comes pre-broken by the death of his wife.
- Colonel Badass
- Composite Character: According to Word of God.
- The Dragon: To General Stagleishov.
- The Starscream: Markov kills Stagleishov for trying to surrender and takes control over their organization.
- Evil Counterpart: To Bishop. The writers basically started with the idea of a flip-doppelganger and then built his personality, but for a time that's all he was.
- Nose Art: His distinct "Sharkmouth" paint-job.
- Red Baron
- Renegade Russian: Markov is explicitly a former Russian Air Force pilot, with "good Russians" fighting at your side against him.
- The Rival: To William Bishop.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Anton Markov. He lost his wife to a U.S. bombing run gone wrong, and now he seeks revenge against America. In the process, however, he also helps the attack on Moscow, meaning he would be willing to get back at anyone to fulfill his task.