M. Bison, known as Vega in Japan, is the main antagonist of the Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha series. He was inspired by Washizaki, a villain from the manga and anime Riki-Oh; and Yasunori Kato, the antagonist from the fantasy film, Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis. In Street Fighter Alpha 3 he refers to himself by the full title of Master Bison ("Vega-sama" in the Japanese version), with Cammy and the Dolls referring to him in the same way as well.

Appearance

His general attire consists of a red military uniform with large silver shoulder plates, wrist bands, and shin guards; on his peaked/service cap is the skull insignia of his crime syndicate known as Shadaloo (sometimes referred to as Shadowlaw or Shadowloo). His clothing highly resembles the uniforms worn by SS officers of Nazi Germany, the winged skull on his visor cap and the first letter of Shadaloo on his belt is shaped as a single sig rune.
Bison's eyes were originally red, both within and outside the irises, though the irises were still visible. After Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, they were changed to a complete ghastly white, a trait shared by other characters such as Sagat and Dhalsim. He sports a dark colored cape in the Alpha series, in which he appears with his original body. In Street Fighter II and the Capcom vs. SNK series, he appears with a much slimmer body, and removes his cape before battle.

Personality

M. Bison is an archetypical villain character motivated by his own self-seeking interests and lust of power. He is a ruthless, callous and unforgiving dictator with no hesitations for destroying anyone or anything who opposes him. While demanding absolute loyalty and obedience from his subordinates, Bison considers them as mere pawns rather than human beings, and tolerates his henchmen only as long as they serve his dark ambitions. He decided to exterminate Cammy and the Dolls for becoming useless to his further plans in Street Fighter Alpha 3, and attempts to eliminate Seth for usurping him in Street Fighter IV.
He is not above trying to use coercion by force (as seen during at least one storyline in SFA3) and brainwashing to convert skilled martial artists to his cause. Bison shows no compassion or mercy at all towards his hapless victims, considering them insignificant and pitiful wretches not worth living. As the founder and leader of Shadaloo, he is prepared to gain power and wealth using all possible criminal activities, ranging from drug trafficking and arms dealing to terrorism and illegal human experimentation.

In addition, M. Bison is also supremely arrogant and narcissistic, with a vast ego that rivals or may even surpass that of Vega's, and a penchant for fancying himself as a god. He has nothing but contempt for his opponents and considering himself the truly superior fighter for mastering the Psycho Power. However, Akuma notes during his pre-final boss dialogue in Street Fighter Alpha 3 that Bison is foolish for not relying solely upon his fists. As stated in his own pre-boss fight dialogue with Ryu in SFA3, Bison's ultimate goal is to rule the world forever and be recognized as the most powerful martial artist of all time. Intending to accomplish that objective, Bison has cheated death and returned to wreck havoc not once, but at least twice.

Unlike other seemingly villainous boss fighters of the series, like Gill (who desires to rule mankind as a benevolent sovereign) or Akuma (who just wants to test his strength against worthy opponents), Bison is quite interested in tormenting, exploiting and ultimately oppressing other people to achieve absolute power for his own personal urges. Unsurprisingly, he has earned the eternal enmity of many other Street Fighter characters (Chun-Li, Guile, Guy, Cammy, Rose, T. Hawk, etc.) for his malevolent and sinister nature. Having banished all goodness in his heart to control Psycho Power, he possesses a dark and irredeemable spirit. He does display a twisted sense of humor, and seems to possess a "business before pleasure" attitude.

Interestingly, in his appearances in crossover games (most notably the vs. Marvel and SNK vs. Capcom series), Bison has been deemed worthy of respect by villainous characters who would join forces with him (such as Magneto and Geese Howard).

Given all these personality traits and his sheer inner evil, M. Bison can be considered a true cold-blood psychopath, since he is completely unable to feel any love, compassion or remorse for his actions, and has countless pleasure in not only taking his opposers' lives, but also destroying their spirits and hearts. Furthering this, Bison has little to no regard for the suffering and damages he caused, as mentioned in several of his win quotes, and also brands others to be weak or that they don't stand a chance against him.