History Characters / ModernWarfareUltranationalistsAndOpFor

[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Makarov in ''Modern Warfare 2 Remastered''.]][[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vladimir_makarov_mw2r.jpg]] [[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Al-Asad in ''Modern Warfare Remastered''.]][[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/khaled.png]][[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:270:[[labelnote:Zakhaev in ''Modern Warfare Remastered''.]][[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/imran.jpg]][[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:V. Zakhaev in ''Modern Warfare Remastered''.]][[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/victor_zakhaev_mwr.png]][[/labelnote]]]]

* Expy: Pretty much ColdSniper Sasha Ivanic from ''Film/BehindEnemyLines'', right down to the tracksuit.

[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Zakhaev in ''Modern Warfare Remastered''.]][[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/imran.jpg]][[/labelnote]]]]

* ShoutOut: Pretty much an expy of ColdSniper Sasha Ivanic from ''Film/BehindEnemyLines'', right down to the tracksuit.

** Captain John Price is arguably the one person Makarov hates the most having him locked of in the Russian Gulag for three years. The feeling is very much mutual for Price, especially after Makarov kills [[spoiler:Soap]], and has made killing him his number one priority.

* GeneralFailure: Despite Makarov's immense success in getting control of Russia's military and launching attacks against America as well as Europe, they're also massive failures. [[spoiler:The invasion of the United States is a complete boondoggle due to Price's missile and the Russian military is in full-retreat after five days. The European Invasion kills millions but is doomed without the use of Russia's nuclear weapons arsenal (which he doesn't have the access codes to, and why he had Vorshevsky captured in the first place).]]

* HateSink: For leading the airport massacre, causing WorldWarIII, [[spoiler:his part in detonating the nuke that killed 30,000 soldiers,]] and [[spoiler:[[HeroKiller killing Soap,]]]] it's made pretty clear that Makarov is supposed to be as atrocious as possible so that it would be very satisfying giving his slow and undignified death. He has no redeeming qualities and there is nothing sympathetic about him.

* AssholeVictim: [=McMillan=] mentions him being "a nasty piece of work", with his crimes including terrorism, commercial piracy, human trafficking, arms dealing, illicit drug smuggling, and criminal homicide, which, combined with his most recent actions, make his death at Price's hands all the more deserved.

* KarmaHoudini: After "No Russian" he receives no comeuppance after that. However it's downplayed, only in the sense that he makes it out of the trilogy alive, since the Inner Circle is destroyed and it's unknown if he survived World War IIIT. So he didn't get off completely scot-free.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Regardless of the player's actions, he will survive the Zakhaev International Airport massacre, and ''2'' as a whole. Years later, he'll be killed by an HVI in "Exodus".

* UncertainDoom: Soap leaves him tied to a wall when he's done with him, saying "the streets will take care of him".

* DirtyCoward: He is explicitly called this by Nikolai when he explains [[spoiler:how he knows that Al-Asad is still alive after nuking his own capital.]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Price's interrogation to him would border on cruel, but Al-Asad is such a monster that it is completely justified.

* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: [[spoiler:Played straight in the first game, when Soap shoots him on the bridge thanks to the timely distraction of a Loyalist helicopter flyby. Deconstructed in the second, where the Ultranationalists portrays him as a martyr gunned down by evil Westerners while fighting the corrupt government.]]

* TheCameo: [[spoiler:He appears in the ''Modern Warfare Remastered'' version of "One Shot, One Kill" (in the same location shown in the flashback of ''Modern Warfare 3''), and killing him nets you an achievement for creating a time paradox]].

** [[spoiler:Subverted in ''3'', since it's revealed that he had a lot more resources and men on hand than first thought, as proven in "Persona non Grata". Having Price and Soap kill Shepherd was simply convenience, and it allowed him to track their movements while they do their deeds]]

* KickTheDog: Too many to count. [[spoiler:Although one moment was asking Price how long it took for Soap to die after a [[TranquilFury very pissed off]] Price rang Makarov to let him know he was coming for him]].
* TheMole: Makarov himself doesn't do this, but a good number of high-ranking officers in Ultranationalist Russia's military were secretly loyal to him, [[spoiler:which eventually allows him to kidnap the Russian President, effectively securing his control over the Russian military. As a result, Russia ended up fighting a war under an illegitimate regime]].

* SmallRoleBigImpact: He may be a crux of the plot of the first ''Modern Warfare'', but he only appears in person twice [[spoiler:before Price unceremoniously [[KarmicDeath puts a bullet in his skull.]]]] Yet the things he did would have grand, sweeping consequences for the sequels going forward, directly causing [[spoiler:General Shepherd's twisted motivations]], which would lead to Russia's invasion of the United States and so forth.

* HateSink: For leading the airport massacre, causing WorldWarIII, [[spoiler:his part in detonating the nuke that killed 30,000 soldiers,]] and [[spoiler:[[HeroKiller killing Soap,]]]] it's made pretty clear that Makarov is supposed to be as atrocious as possible so that it would be very satisfying giving his slow and undignified death. He has no redeeming qualities and not sympathetic about him.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: [[BilingualBonus If you know Arabic]]; it literally translates to "''the eternal lion''".

* TheUnfettered: [[spoiler:You kinda know that he's this when he sees no problem massacring a airport full of innocent civilians just to kickstart the events of the 3rd world war. He makes it ''even worse'' when he's willing to use chemical weapons on civilian and military targets alike]]. It's best described in this comment:

** It's pretty much why [[spoiler:Yuri refused to go through with the airport massacre and Yuri's entire revenge arc in [=MW3=]]].

* OverarchingVillain: Makarov is this for the ''Modern Warfare'' trilogy. His influence has shaped the events in said trilogy where he was apart of a BigBadEnsemble with [[spoiler:General Shepherd]] in ''Modern Warfare 2'', became the sole BigBad of ''Modern Warfare 3'', and was revealed to be the GreaterScopeVillain of the first installment, even making [[TheCameo a cameo]] in its remastered version.

* LowerClassLout: Has a bit of a ''gopnik'' vibe, especially due to his tracksuit, even although he is not lower class at all.

** The first involves [[spoiler:starting a war between Russia and the United States, and then invading the US East Coast in order to cause as much death destruction to the Americans as possible. To this end, he uses a terrorist attack on an airport in Moscow as the spark that ignites the powder keg, with the unwitting Pvt. Allen as the match.]]