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It’s one of the greatest moments in the franchise. The villains throughout the Call of Duty games have done extremely brutal things to either the characters or in the plot as a whole. Here are the 10 most brutal villains in the franchise, ranked.
Updated on May 4th, 2021 by Emma Majoros: Call of Duty is arguably the most influential game franchise of all time. Even people who’ve never played it knows what it’s about, and people who’ve played it are hooked. Its villains continue to be a huge appeal. These characters help make the story fuller, and create epic moments that stay with players for a long time. Every antagonist has a great story behind them, and of course, goes to the extremes to reach their insidious goals. Without further ado, here are the absolute most brutal villains this franchise has served yet.
13 Edward Richtofen
While his name sounds like a medication one would take for a nasty headache, this doesn’t mean he’s not to be taken seriously. There’s a debate among fans about whether he’s a conventional villain, or an anti-hero, or something completely different. Still, most players view him as a villain in the franchise.
His actions throughout the storyline make him somewhat of an anti-hero or a full-on villain. Ultimately though, he becomes one of the good guys, trying to stop the evil version of himself. He gets himself a pass in this list, as the least brutal villain in the franchise.
12 Khaled Al-Asad
Serving as the main villain of the first act of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Khaled Al-Asad was a terrible man that worked closely with Imran Zakhaev.
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He committed terrible deeds in his rise to power. For example, he ordered citizens to be executed in the streets for being loyal to the current president, Yasir Al-Fulani. Khaled ends up capturing Al-Fulani and executes him on television. Towards the end of act one, Khaled Al-Asad is finally captured by Captain Price, Soap, and his team. Price ends up killing Al-Asad after discovering that Imran Zakhaev is still alive.
11 General Barkov
The newest game in the franchise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, released in 2019 brought a return to the traditional campaign mode that was missing from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. General Barkov serves as one of the main villains in the game. Barkov is the general of the Russian army and does cruel things throughout the campaign missions such as unleashing a chemical gas that kills several civilians and also tortures one of the main protagonists, Farah, and her brother Hadir.
He’s eventually taken down by Farah in the final mission of the Modern Warfare campaign. Barkov has become a quite memorable villain and could possibly get more backstory in a potential sequel.
10 Nikita Dragovich
Call of Duty: Black Ops was so ahead of its time when it released in 2010. The campaign mode brought so many crazy twists and turns that hold up just as well as the Shepherd betrayal scene. Players step into the shoes of Alex Mason in different missions, while he’s trying to repair his mind after being turned into a sleeper agent. The person responsible for brainwashing him was Nikita Dragovich, who is the main villain of the game.
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Not only does he turn an American against his people but he also has a hand in weaponizing Nova 6, a powerful biochemical weapon that he intended on unleashing upon the United States. Thankfully he was able to be stopped in the final mission. He’s perhaps not one of the most memorable but did definitely do extremely brutal things throughout the game.
9 Gabriel T. Rorke
Call of Duty: Ghosts had a very different story than some of the past games. It was a lot more personal and while not as memorable as the Modern Warfare and Black Ops games, it did a great job of trying something new and refreshing. The main villain of the story, Rorke was overall extremely cruel and took things way too far for his quest for revenge.
He was formerly the leader of the Ghosts but was left for dead in a mission gone wrong. After surviving, the Federation tortured and brainwashed him to turn against his former fellow soldiers. One of the most brutal acts Rorke committed was killing Elias T. Walker in front of his sons. It was terribly cruel, but shaped him as a great villain that players wanted to see dead.
8 Jonathan Irons
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare made huge changes to the franchise. Taking the futuristic setting to the next level, Advanced Warfare brought in Exo-Suits and a focus on a more cinematic feel to the campaign mode. Jonathan Irons serves as the primary villain of Advanced Warfare after he betrays his soldiers and is revealed to be working on a biological weapon that would kill countless innocent people.
He’s really just as bad as Shepherd. While his betrayal is certainly not on the level of when Ghost and Roach are killed, it’s still a great twist overall. And as an added bonus, he’s portrayed by the iconic eye-candy, Kevin Spacey.
7 Salen Kotch
Speaking of eye-candy, let’s give it up for Kit Harrington’s role in the CoD franchise. He nearly destroyed the planet Earth! But even if that attempt wasn’t successful, he did wage war on Earth. Salen Koch is a blood-thirsty dictator with a great sense of style.
All of the above screams class and pure awesomeness on the ruthless radar. There are times when he’s almost better than Mendenez and the rest of the sharks on the list. His only goal is to conquer Earth, and nothing can stand in his way.
6 Imran Zakhaev
Following the end of the first act, Imran Zakhaev takes over as the main villain in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He really started the foundation for the movements that would eventually lead to World War III in Modern Warfare 3. He proved to be hard to kill, surviving an assassination attempt by John Price years prior to the present-day story that only left him losing his left arm.
Zakhaev is the real mastermind behind the events in the Modern Warfare trilogy. He made a puppet out of everyone that served him, until his death at the end of the campaign mode in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
5 DeFalco
From the very start, this character was cool and mysterious. After encountering him for the first time and establishing that he is an awesome character, he starts shooting hostages, and shoots someone in the face. If players can’t catch up to him, he flies into the sunset.
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If that’s not wicked, check the dictionary. DeFalco proves over and over again that he’s one of the most ruthless characters in the franchise, cutting throats with a smile on his face. The only “fault” with this character is that he doesn’t have the same resources as the most ruthless villains. But if he had a wide arsenal, he’d make every villains in the franchise his minion.
4 Fredrich Steiner
Fredrich Steiner is one of the main villains of Call of Duty: Black Ops and was a German scientist and ex-Nazi that worked closely with Nikita Dragovich to develop Nova 6, the biochemical weapon that would kill anybody exposed to it in a short amount of time.
Steiner became a top priority target during the war and was ultimately taken down by Alex Mason while believing himself to be Viktor Reznov. Steiner was partly responsible for manipulating Alex Mason into becoming a sleeper agent that would turn against his fellow soldiers.
3 Raul Menendez
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was all around an amazing game and sequel. It built on everything that was great about the first game and cranked it up to 1000. Now taking place in a futuristic setting with drones, brand new guns, and breathtaking locations, the game also brought along a brand new villain that had deep connections with the story and characters in Black Ops 1. Raul Menendez is his name and he was certainly not a force to be reckoned with.
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He had clear motivations that made sense within the story. While not on the level of Makarov, he proved himself to be an iconic villain.
2 Vladimir Makarov
Modern Warfare 2 brought the end of Shepherd. However, players still had Makarov to deal with. He’s basically the ultimate villain of the original Modern Warfare trilogy. Makarov’s dark deeds are held as some of the darkest things a villain has ever done in a Call of Duty game.
From the airport mission to killing Soap, Makarov was just a huge pain to deal with. He was always getting away whenever the protagonists would get so close to bringing him down. It’ll be very interesting to see if Makarov makes a return in a sequel to the Modern Warfare reboot so players can get revenge on him once again.
1 General Shepherd
Shepherd is one of the most iconic villains in video game history. The betrayal scene in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of the most memorable moments in the franchise and was the first major plot twist in the Call of Duty campaigns that really stuck with gamers.
It’s a twist fans still talk about to this day. While many will never forgive Shepherd for betraying Ghost and Roach, it’s impossible to deny how great his performance was at making himself seem trustworthy. In the end, players were able to get revenge on him as Soap in the most satisfying way possible.
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