Gray Edwards Captain Gray Edwards is a character in " " . He is a military Captain and leader of the elite Deep Eyes squadron which patrols the vast restricted wasteland overrun by Phantoms . He was one of the first ever photo - realistic computer - generated human characters ever to be created and used in film . Gray is voiced by . Appearance and Personality . Determined , practical , focused , intrepid , honorable , and valiant , Gray is a loyal soldier , effective leader , and trustworthy friend . He lets his conscience guide him in his decisions and will trust the decisions of those he respects , even from those such as Aki , whose beliefs he may not personally understand or believe in . Throughout the movie Gray is associated with comments and scenes involving eagles that recur in throughout the movie . This may be a reflection upon him as having " eagle - like " character traits much in the same way Squall Leonhart from " Final Fantasy VIII " possesses " lion - like " character traits in his association with the lion motif and Cloud Strife from " Final Fantasy VII " possesses " wolf - like " traits in his association with the wolf motif . Story . Born in Chicago in 2034 , Gray Edwards was raised in a loving family . The eldest son of a civil engineer , Gray ' s father tried to keep his family safe and intact during the years before the barrier cities were developed . Forced to care for his family alongside his father at an early age , Gray showed strong signs of leadership . Prior to the construction of the Chicago Barrier City , Gray was active in the youth task force , providing protection and assistance to the remaining citizens of Chicago . In the draft of 2050 , Gray was enlisted in the Los Angeles USMF . Praised for his quick thinking and skilled athleticism , Gray quickly rose to the rank of Cadet leader . Gray trained at the Houston Military Academy ( HMA ) , the institution responsible for all military training in the USMF and USAF . It is during this period that he began a relationship with fellow military student Aki Ross . Upon her graduation , Aki returned to New York Barrier City to complete her doctorate , while Gray was subsequently assigned to the Deep Eyes military unit . Despite the distance , they continued their relationship between Gray ' s missions and Aki ' s commuting to other barrier cities . However , one day , Aki cut off their relationship abruptly without explanation . Many months pass with Gray seeing or hearing nothing from her , until one night his squad is called to retrieve her from an unauthorized venture in the New York wasteland . Managing to keep his identity from her until well into the extraction , the two began bickering as soon as Aki found out who he was and the bickering continued through the city ' s contamination detector where Aki managed to bypass it by saving Gray from a Phantom infection he had sustained during the extraction . When Aki announced her contained Phantom infection to the committee , Gray realized the reason for why she had left him and sought her out , finding her embarking on a scan of the city for the seventh spirit . The two were given the chance to rekindle their relationship through the mischievous actions of Neil and Ryan . Their time together was helped furthermore unwittingly by a suspicious General Hein , who temporarily assigns Gray ' s Deep Eye squad to accompany Aki on her remaining voyages and orders him to report any suspicious behavior immediately . To ensure Gray ' s compliance he orders Major Elliot to insert some of his own men into the squad . Aki ' s search for the seventh spirit leads her , Gray ' s team and Major Elliot ' s support to the Tucson wasteland and the remnants of the Phantom Cleansing Mission . Deducing that the spirit was the living energy inside the OVO pack of a dead soldier , Aki retrieved the pack however , almost immediately after the spirit ' s retrieval , the Phantoms in the area begin reacting to the Phantom infection inside her and start chasing after her . Aki falls into a coma as the Phantom infection overcomes her , forcing Gray to carry her the remaining way to the evacuation ship . During the escape Major Elliot ' s men attempt to take control , however Gray ' s team resists , resulting in the former group members ' deaths . Returning to the New York Barrier city Gray , Aki and his men are arrested on grounds of suspicions of collaborating with the Phantoms . This incarceration however was short - lived as soon after , due to General Hein ' s attempts to stage a Phantom invasion , the Barrier City ' s power grid went off - line . Released the group escaped from the prison ward to discover the Barrier City being overridden by Phantoms . Eventually acquiring transport they made their way to the hangars where the " Black Boa " was being detained , however only three ( Aki , Sid , and Gray ) escaped to safety aboard the ship , as the others were killed in the events surrounding its launch . Resting in space Gray and Aki comfort each other over the death of their friends , leading to them becoming intimate in their grief . Dr . Sid , meanwhile , begins the search for the eighth spirit and enlarges the search field to include the Phantom crater in the Caspian Mountains . Successfully locating it as a Phantom , Aki and Dr . Sid , despite Gray ' s skepticism , devise a plan to obtain the eighth spirit by lowering Aki and Gray into the crater and fusing the spirit with the other seven spirits on location . When an energy beam from the Zeus Cannon hits the meteor , the eighth spirit is seemingly destroyed . As the Cannon continues its attack , the Phantom Gaia appears from the meteor and begins to grow , dragging down the pod Aki and Gray were in . Despite pleading for them to stop , saying that they were doing more harm than good , Aki ' s cries fell on deaf ears , as General Hein continued to fire the cannon despite warnings of a system overload . The pod damaged Aki and Gray discover that they had landed right between the Earth Gaia and the emerging alien Gaia . Being this close to Gaia also incidentally meant that they were in the best possible location to find another eighth spirit and indeed after falling comatose again Aki discovers the final spirit had become the Phantom infection within her . Linking to the chest plate that contained her infection and using the OVO pack of Gray ' s gun she managed to reroute power back into the pod ' s shields and emit the combined wave of all eight spirits . The combined wave was working as the Phantoms were destroyed but a final beam from the overloading Zeus Cannon penetrated and weakened Gaia , allowing the Phantom Gaia to grow and begin infecting the planet ' s soul . With the pod rendered inoperable due to the blast there was no way to transmit the wave however Gray , mortally wounded , comes up with a plan ; he would sacrifice himself as a way to transmit the completed wave inside Aki directly into the Phantom Gaia . The plan works , at the cost of Gray ' s life and soul , and the Phantoms and their Gaia are destroyed . As Dr . Sid , on board the " Black Boa " , winches her from the crater , Aki cradles Gray ' s body in her arms and watches the world ' s wildlife return . Other appearances . Thriller Easter Egg . Gray makes an appearance ( along with the rest of the film ' s virtual cast ) in a hidden parody of Michael Jackson ' s " " music video created for the DVD release of the film . The parody is set shortly after Douglas Hein inadvertantly causes the destruction of the New York Barrier City ' s barrier control room . As he runs away he runs into Aki , Gray , Ryan , Jane , Neil , Dr . Sid , Major Elliot and three alive Phantoms who proceed to , as a group , perform the dance number to " Thriller " with Aki as the lead .