Zangief

Story

Zangief, a powerful wrestler known as ‘the Red Cyclone,’ is one of Russia’s greatest exports. With the world’s opinion about Russia not being the best, the task of sanitizing Russia’s image and proving that they are a powerful nation with strong heroes falls on his broad shoulders. Zangief travels around the world promoting wrestling and the Motherland. In the Alpha games, Zangief pitted himself against the nefarious organization known as Shadaloo and to bring down their leader. He is ultimately unable to, but he makes some lifelong friends on the way. When it is time for the second World Warrior tournament, he enters to show Russian might. He is defeated again, but he is not without his fans. He is approached by a huge organization that wants Zangief as part of their promotion. He would not have joined but for the promise of bigger stages to show off his strength and the eyeballs of millions of viewers watching him. He decides to join the organization.

Later, when the S.I.N saga begins, Zangief is initially not interested in entering the tournament. However, he changes his mind when he overhears some youngsters claiming that martial arts are the new fighting style of note and that Zangief might be past his best. Hurt that he would be forgotten so soon, he decides to enter the tournament to show them the power of wrestling as a style and to remind everyone that he is still a powerhouse. He enters the tournament, and he defeats Seth, even taking a photo of the villain with him in a headlock. He gives this to his young fans, who are awed at his ability even after so long. 

In Street Fighter V, Zangief, while still a patriot, is a lot more interested in displaying the power of wrestling and is searching for something he calls the ‘muscle spirit.’ He teams up with Mika, and the two even fight in a match together. Mika is a huge fan of Zangief and is honored to step in the same ring with him. Zangief also helps in the takedown of Shadaloo as he faces Balrog and one of the dolls. 

Zangief’s size has always made him seem terrifying, but in truth, he is a good-natured man who simply wants to be the strongest. He bears no ill toward anyone and wants everyone to strive to be better than they were before. His patriotism is also a huge part of who he is as he loves his country and will do anything for it to be seen in a good light. His work ethic is also unquestionable with his legendary training camps in the Siberian forests against bears, a thing of wonder. 

Appearance

Zangief is a big man with crisscross scars on his body (possibly from his battle with bears), red pants and boots, and the iconic mohawk. Nowadays, Zangief looks more like a wrestler than ever as we see that he now wears an elbow sleeve and trousers that reach just below his knees while his calves to his feet are housed in his huge red boots. He has big chest hair in a unique shape and a full beard and mustache.

Gameplay

Zangief is the grandfather of grapplers and was the pioneer of a new playstyle. Zangief’s power means he doesn’t have to do much to defeat an opponent. But, his slow mobility and massive bulk make him a huge target. Zangief looks to overwhelm opponents by getting in close to them and destroying them with his earth-shattering grabs. His command grabs do a lot of damage which makes Zangief a terror when he’s in range. Due to the proclivity of players trying to keep Zangief at bay with fireballs, he has developed a strong armor that helps him deflect some attacks and helps in his aim to get close to his opponent.