United Kingdom Special Air Service
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Price
Lieutenant, later Captain John Price
"Right. What the hell kind of name is Soap, eh? How'd a muppet like you pass selection?"
Voiced by: Billy Murray (English)note
Live Actor: David Kinsman (Operation Kingfish)
The humorless, straightforward and unflappable leader of the SAS units in Modern Warfare, callsign Bravo Six, and the central protagonist of the Modern Warfare series.
Previously Lieutenant Price, he was involved with the assassination attempt on Imran Zakhaev in Pripyat in 1996, alongside Captain MacMillan. Present day, he leads the primary investigation into the actions of OpFor and the Ultranationalists party, eventually leading to Zakhaev. He suffers severe injuries at the climax of the first game.
Between Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, he recovers and joins Task Force 141 around the same time as Soap. In Operation Kingfish in 2013, he was captured in an attempt to capture/kill Vladimir Makarov, and spends three years being tortured in a gulag.
Initially missing in Modern Warfare 2 due to his capture, he was eventually rescued and rejoins Task Force 141. He spends the rest of the two games trying to track down Vladimir Makarov as he steps up his efforts to conquer the world.
- And This Is for...:
- In "Return to Sender":Price: This is for the boys at Hereford.
- And in "Dust to Dust":Price: This is for Soap.
- In "Return to Sender":
- Anti-Hero: Price is willing to get his hands dirty to keep the rest of the world clean. Seen best when he sets off a nuke in the atmosphere to knockout Russian equipment.
- Badass Family: If the Price from the earlier Call of Duty games really was his family, then granddaddy Price was pretty awesome too (and possessed the same love of epic mustaches and unduly persistent headwear).
- Bash Brothers:
- With Gaz and Soap, though the latter could be considered more of a father-son bond.
- Eventually forms one with Yuri, after he learns to forgive him for Soap's death. This culminates in the two of them kicking serious ass in the raid on Hotel Oasis, and Yuri sacrificing himself to open up Makarov for Price to finally kill him.
- With Sandman as well.
- Badass Boast: During "Dust To Dust":Yuri:: Makarov's got a small army in there.
Price: It won't help him. - Big "NO!": Does one on two notable occasions.
- Soap dying.
- Leaving the Ultranationalist base without Sandman's team.
- Book Ends: The first mission of the MW trilogy opens with him smoking a cigar. The last mission of the trilogy ends with him smoking a cigar.
- Breakout Character: Captain Price went from a World War II British captain who was killed unceremoniously to co-protagonists with Soap in the Modern Warfare series and manages to survive to the third game. He also returns in the 2019 reboot of the series.
- The Captain: He's the leader of Bravo Six in the first Modern Warfare, and is the rank of Captain.
- Cold Sniper: In 1996, he and Captain MacMillan attempted to assassinate Imran Zakhaev, and he pulled the trigger that fired the sniper shot. During all this time, he said nothing because of Heroic Mime reasons.
- The Comically Serious: He's as straight-laced as they come, with him not even reacting to Gaz's numerous quips except for one moment when he calls Gaz a "cheeky bastard".
- Cool Old Guy: Despite constantly being referred to as “old man” by Soap and their Allie’s, Price is a capable badass who ends up surviving the events of the trilogy.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Before General Sheperd ultimately beats the shit out of him, Price is able to get a few good hits in prior to that.
- Deadpan Snarker: He may be as straight-laced as they come but he can get into snarky territory during the F.N.G training level if you're too slow: "Don't waste our time Soap, the idea is to take less time not more.".
- Disney Death:
- Seemed to have died in the last level in Modern Warfare but he turned out to be alive, if just pissed at the Ultranationalists and Shepherd.
- At the end of MW2, Price lies motionless for an uncomfortable amount of time after Shepherd beats him up, but then gets up on his feet and is fine. In fact, he's in much better shape than you (as Soap) are.
- Dynamic Entry: Does this to Shepherd, just before the latter shoots Soap.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Definitely his reaction in "Loose Ends" when he is attacked by General Shepherd's forces. He tries to defy the trope, stating he never trusted the man in the first place, but his Roaring Rampage of Revenge during the final two levels of MW2 tells a different story.
- A Father to His Men: He is very protective of his troops - he is utterly heartbroken when Soap is killed, and desperately orders his evac chopper to return to rescue Team Metal even as he's being told that if they go back, they'll just die with them.
- Heroic BSoD: Experiences one when Soap dies. Fortunately, it doesn't last long.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In Operation: Kingfish, he stays behind to cover the rest of Task Force 141's and Delta Force's escape. Unfortunately, this leads to his capture and being sent to the Gulag.
- He Who Fights Monsters:
- In Modern Warfare 2, 3 years in a gulag turned Price into a borderline psycho not much different from the bad guys. His first act upon release is hijacking a Russian nuclear submarine, launching a nuclear missile and detonating it above Washington DC to knock out Russian equipment.
- Possibly subverted in Modern Warfare 3, he is shown to be aware of the wider context and not just blindly charging after Makarov. In the end he repeats Makarov's quote "it takes the will of one man to change the world" in a more positive light, in the same way Makarov twisted his quoting of the proverb "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Used on Al-Asad. Though this is the only time in the series the technique doesn't yield information; Price learns what he needs to know when Zakhaev calls his cellphone anyway, so he just executes Al-Asad.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He’s a cranky old bastard, and does some morally questionable things, but he means well and cares about his crew.
- Made of Iron: Several scenes show him coming off relatively unscathed despite being in a situation that should have got him killed.
- Never Bareheaded: Price does not go anywhere without some kind of hat. Even in the gulag, he has a nifty wool hat on, and after he removes his bomb disposal suit at the end of MW3, he's shown wearing his boonie hat underneath. The only time he's seen bareheaded is in the mission "Crew Expendable" in the first Modern Warfare, which reveals that he is balding, and when his hat was knocked off during his fight with Shepherd at the end of Modern Warfare 2 Remastered, where he quickly puts it back on.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
- Gives one to Al-Asad which crosses over with Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique.
- Ends up on the receiving end of one of these, thanks to General Shepherd, and only survives thanks to some timely intervention by Soap.
- Unleashes one on Makarov at the end of Modern Warfare 3.
- Old Soldier: He's been in active duty since at least 1996* , and by that time he was already "just" a Lieutenant, so he's definitely seen more than a few decades of battle.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: His typical demeanor is either stoic professionalism or quiet rage. He only veers into open despair once - when his blood brother Soap is killed in action.
- Porn Stache:
- In Soap's field journal, he frequently mentions it and calls it a "dick tickler".
- A "Captain Price Legend Pack" was DLC available for Call of Duty: Ghosts. It included a reticle for red dot sights shaped like Price's mustache.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: He's a Captain in the SAS which is the minimum rank required to lead your own squad in the Service and his skills as a soldier speak for themselves. He ultimately ends up being the one to stop World War III when he and Team Metal end up saving President Vorchevsky and his daughter as well as being the one to kill Makarov at the end of the trilogy.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
- In Modern Warfare 2's ending he and Soap storm Shepherd's base in revenge for his murder of most of Task Force 141.
- Also, the end of Modern Warfare 3 has him and Yuri storming the place where Makarov is staying at, in a Juggernaut suit, no less. He seems to have a tendency for these...
- Smoking Is Cool: Price has a thing for cigars; according to Soap's journal, they're Villa Claras, and Soap takes a liking to them after the first game.
- Suddenly Voiced: Notably, when the player controls him in Modern Warfare 3's final mission, he doesn't become a Silent Protagonist like Soap does, or his earlier stint as a controllable character back in Pripyat missions from 1. He remains the only character to be fully voiced under the player's control in the entire original Modern Warfare trilogy.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: From the Captain Price in Call of Duty 1 and 2. Popular Fanon makes him the original Price's son or grandson. Word of Dante/Word of Saint Paul makes him officially Price's grandson.
- The devs had a rather sneaky reference to this near the end of Modern Warfare 2, where it's made apparent in the cutscene before "Just Like Old Times" that Price still has the old CoD1 dedicated pistol slot for his M1911, the very same pistol that Soap used to kill Zakhaev.
- Supporting Protagonist: Despite being the main character, Price is only playable in 3 missions in the entire series, 2 in the first game and the last one in the third game.
- Tranquil Fury:
- His speech before the final mission in Modern Warfare 2 is dripping with this, where he keeps an even voice even while stating his intention to get revenge on General Shephard.
- Also does this again while on his Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Makarov, not raising his voice throughout the entire deal unless he has to and keeping his head almost completely, but you can tell he is furious over Soap's death at Makarov's hands.
- Unstoppable Rage: Price didn't take Soap's death well, to put it bluntly, and although he is completely focused and relatively composed in "Dust to Dust", you can tell that he's not leaving the hotel until Makarov is in a body bag. It really shows when Price finally catches him and beats him to a barely living paste first before hanging him with a metal cord.
- Unexplained Recovery: In Modern Warfare 2 he shows up in a gulag despite last being seen getting medical attention after getting injured on the bridge in the original. Operation Kingfish reveals he was captured during an attempt to capture Makarov gone awry.
- Warrior Poet: His impossibly awesome intro to Just Like Old Times.
- You Owe Me: Price uses it on a reluctant MacMillan in order to twist his arm into helping him in MW3.
Soap
Sergeant, later Captain John "Soap" MacTavish
"Break's over, Roach. Let's go."
Voiced by: Kevin McKidd (English/Modern Warfare, 2, and 3), Fraser Jardine (Operation Kingfish)note
Live Actor: Jon Morgan (Operation Kingfish)
One of the player characters from the first Modern Warfare, callsign Hotel Six, and general protagonist of the Modern Warfare series.
At the start of the series, Sgt. MacTavish is a newly recruited SAS trooper under the command of Captain Price. After surviving the events of the first game, he is promoted to Captain and placed in command of Task Force 141, and becomes a key player in hunting down Vladimir Makarov.
- Bash Brothers: With Price, tearing through many a terrorist, criminal, and mercenaries together. Best seen in their wanted posters in MW2, in which the two were displayed side-by-side as war criminals.
- Breakout Character: To tell that he went from a Heroic Mime to one who kills the Big Bad twice, to a video game character whose death still remains widely mourned by worldwide gamers, he is definitely among the most popular CoD characters.
- Brave Scot: Has a Scottish accent and is a seasoned SAS veteran.
- The Captain: In the second game.
- Character Death: It took three games to do it, but in the Modern Warfare 3 mission "Blood Brothers" Soap kicks the bucket. We all knew Anyone Can Die was played straight in this series, but it's still a surprise when Soap dies. Needless to say, Price is not amused.
- Cold Sniper: Sometimes. As seen in the picture above, he's holding a Remington Semi-Automatic.
- Determinator: Fell down from an exploding building & dying from massive blood loss?? Doesn't stop him from gunning down any enemy that gets too close with his pistol.Price: Nice shot, son.
Soap: I can still teach you a thing or two, old man. - Deadpan Snarker: On spec ops missions he gives Macmillan a run for his money with his snark if you blow your cover:Soap: There is a reason we brought silencers.
- Dynamic Entry: Does this to Rojas in the favela.
- Dented Iron: Despite taking an absurd amount of punishment in all three games, the knife wound caused by Shepherd opens up again in 3 after he takes the blast of a bomb and he bleeds to death.
- Deuteragonist: Soap may be an important character that the player plays a lot, but Price is ultimately the most important character to the central conflict of Modern Warfare.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Unlike Price, who never trusted Shepherd, he definitely felt this way when the American General betrayed them.
- Heroic Mime: He's silent throughout the first game and the final three levels of the second game. It's subverted in the Remastered versions; he doesn't have a voice actor in the first game and doesn't talk in the last levels of the second game, but the devs added more voice sounds to him whenever he's controlled.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He could have made it out of the blast radius in time, but pushed Yuri out first. Made even better by the fact that he'd just learned Yuri might not be trustworthy.
- Hidden Depths: According to his journal, he actually took a course on the Cryllic alphabet, which is why Price had him enter the codes in the Russian nuclear silo.
- Implacable Man: Soap can take a ridiculous amount of punishment and just keep on coming.
- Irony: He killed Zakhaev in a feint attack in the finale of MW. Zakhaev's protege, Makarov builds the foundation of World War III in his name, and also manages to kill Soap in an elaborate Batman Gambit and a feint attack.
- Lodged-Blade Recycling: Does being stabbed in the chest with a knife the size of his forearm stop Soap from killing the bad guy? Hell no.
- Made of Iron: He gets shot a bajillion times, is blown up by an oil tanker, falls off a waterfall, gets stabbed in the chest, is facestomped five seconds later, pulls out said knife, and throws it into the eye of the guy who put it in him.
- My Greatest Failure: He considers Gaz and Griggs' deaths and Price's apparent death to be these, according to his journal.
- Nice Guy: Is more laid back to work with than Captain Price, especially shown when you shoot an enemy before he does and his reaction is to go, "never mind".
- Perma-Stubble: In 2 and 3, he sports a shaved beard.
- Rank Up: An especially notable one, as he goes from a non-commissioned Sergeant to a commissioned Captain between the first and second games, something that is extremely rare in the real life British Army. To give you an idea, for most units of the British Army, there is less than a ten percent chance of a member of the Other Ranks being commissionednote , with members of the combat arms usually having around a one percent chance. It shows just how skilled Soap is that he managed to do this.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In Modern Warfare 2's ending, alongside Price against General Shepherd and the Shadow Company.
- Suddenly Voiced: Comes after his Silent Protagonist stint in the first game, but reverts back to being silent for unknown reasons when he returns to the player's control at the end of Modern Warfare 2. In both remasters, the devs added more voice sounds to him.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- Takes one between "F.N.G." and "Game Over!", then takes about 30 in the 5 year gap between the original and Modern Warfare 2. From the first moments of your time as Roach he makes this obvious.
- In MW3, the loading screen of "Stronghold" briefly shows a partial list of Soap's decorations. Among them is a Victoria Cross (pretty much the equivalent of the American military's Medal of Honor).
- Undying Loyalty: Potentially verging on My Master, Right or Wrong by the end of the second game. Needless to say, he will follow Price to the ends of the Earth and beyond.
- Violent Glaswegian: Well, he's at least capable of being stealthy before violent, unlike what one would expect.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
- Soap hates dogs (probably due to being repeatedly attacked by guard dogs in the first game), and mentions it during the Modern Warfare 2 mission "Contingency."Price: Five men, automatic rifles, frag grenades, one German Shepherd.
Soap: Dogs. I hate dogs.
Price: These Russian dogs are like pussycats compared to the ones in Pripyat.
Soap: It's good to have you back, old man. - His journal goes into more detail. He really hates dogs."Consider me a cat man now. We overcame Ultranationalists, chopper crashes, danger close with gunships but a goddamn dog is what'll get me into an infirmary? Rabies, ridiculous."
- Another from his journal; a picture of a dog (addendum: problem), a dog with a muzzle (solution) and a dog with a broken neck (better solution).
- Soap hates dogs (probably due to being repeatedly attacked by guard dogs in the first game), and mentions it during the Modern Warfare 2 mission "Contingency."
Gaz
Gaz
"Good news first: the world's in great shape. We've got a civil war in Russia, government loyalists against Ultranationalist rebels, and 15000 nukes at stake."
Voiced by: Craig Fairbrass (English)note
Captain Price's right hand man. Known for his sense of humour. His real name is never stated.
- The Ace: Captain Price said in F.N.G that Gaz holds the current C.Q.B test record and Gaz is generally Captain Price's star player when Soap isn't around.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: A small case. In the original version of the level Blackout, Gaz outright threatens to throw Kamarov off the ledge unless he tells them the informant's location. In the remastered version, this is changed to having Gaz simply pinning Kamarov on the ledge but not outright threatening to throw him off.
- Catchphrase: "Let's do this." This is most often heard when starting up multiplayer matches for the SAS. His "successors" Ghost and Wallcroft retain this in later games for Task Force 141 and the SAS again, respectively.
- Deadpan Snarker: He has a notable sarcastic streak, such as when he asks Price if he wants to hold onto the slow opening doors to make himself feel more comfortable.
- Decomposite Character: Like Fairbrass' two other characters in the trilogy, he's a Good Counterpart Foil to his voice actor's role as Delmar from Cliffhanger: both characters are distinguishable by their brown vests, and Gaz's black SAS attire in "Crew Expendable" resembles Delmar's black jumpsuit and masks (both balaclava and gas masks, though the latter was completely different from what Gaz wore) he briefly wore, while being Out of Focus at the beginning of the film. In addition, in the same aforementioned level, Gaz carried a shotgun as a secondary weapon aside from his submachine gun, much like Delmar, and while his line "I like to keep this for close encounters" was meant to be a Shout-Out to Aliens (which featured Lance Henriksen, who would later voice General Shepherd in the next game in the trilogy), it was also a liner Shout-Out to Delmar's death scene in Cliffhanger in which he's killed by his own shotgun by close encounter.
- The Lancer: He's Number Two and a Foil for Captain Price being more friendly, approachable but also hot headed and snarky when the situation calls for it.
- Number Two: Price's second in command in the first game.
- Pink Mist: It appears that Zakhaev performs a Coup de Grâce on his head from point blank with a Desert Eagle. In reality, the shot goes into his back; the angle just makes it look like a headshot.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: He's more foul mouthed than the other characters, especially when he's pissed off about air support taking forever to rescue his squad.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: His hat has a UK flag on it, for a literal interpretation.
MacMillan
Captain MacMillan
"Follow me, and keep low."
Voiced by: Zach Hanks (MW1), Tony Curran (MW3) (English)note
Price's former superior. He accompanied Price in the assassination attempt on Zakhaev in Pripyat, Ukraine in 1996, callsign Alpha Six.
As of Modern Warfare 3, he has become the commander of British special forces, callsign "Baseplate".
- Actually Pretty Funny: His line if the player goes out of their way to shoot down the helicopter patrolling the church in All Ghillied Up has a dryly amused tone."Alright, now you're just showing off. Let's go."
- Back for the Finale: He appears in 3 as the head of the entire SAS.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's very supportive and friendly to his troops, but make stupid mistakes during All Ghillied Up and you’ll learn his Tranquil Fury is chilling
- Big Good: By Modern Warfare 3 he's become head of the SAS, and is by extension the highest ranked character on the forces of good.
- Brave Scot: A veteran SAS operative and a Scotsman, skilled enough that he was chosen to lead the team responsible for the first assassination the British government authorized since the Second World War, brave enough to face down an attack helicopter with a rifle (and win), tough enough to keep fighting even after breaking both of his legs, and eventually rose to become commander of the SAS.
- The Bus Came Back: He makes his first appearance outside of a flashback in Modern Warfare 3.
- Cool Old Guy: Is even older than Price, and he’s a badass sniper who continues to fight even after having a helicopter crush his legs.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's a Nice Guy but if you blow your cover in the "All Ghillied Up" mission when the Russians are killing those they couldn't pay off he has this to say:MacMillan: The word stealth doesn't mean anything to you, does it? Move up.
- The Faceless: Due to wearing a ghillie suit in MW1 and being a Voice with an Internet Connection in MW3, we never see what his face looks like.
- A Father to His Men: MacMillan is a friendly, supportive father figure to his troops.
- Four-Star Badass: In Modern Warfare 3, MacMillan is the head of the entire SAS. Every SAS head (formally titled Director Special Forces) since 2008 has held the rank of Major-General, so it can be assumed that MacMillan holds that rank as well.
- Friendly Sniper: He is personally nice to you, aside from when you decide to be a cocky dumbass, then any Jerkass behavior from him is rather justified.
- Oh, Crap!: Has four lines that convey this if you blow your cover in his first mission. "We're spotted! Take Cover; They're onto us! Open fire; Bugger! Our cover's blown; We've been spotted! Take them out!". Then there's when the helicopter he and Price shot down starts heading towards them...
- Improbable Aiming Skills: He never, ever misses. Not even after his legs are broken by a falling helicopter gunship.
- Handicapped Badass: Silly little things like having his feet/legs broken by a falling Mi-28 helicopter gunship won't stop him from providing fire support without ever missing a single shot.
- Meaningful Name: He's introduced the game's sniper level and his name is a letter off from the McMillan TAC-50, a sniper rifle that was used in the shot that held the record for longest recorded sniper kill at the time MW1 was released.
- Nice Guy: Quite possibly the nicest in the whole trilogy, always quick to give a compliment on a good shot. That said, it's best not to piss him off.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite Price being officially a wanted terrorist, MacMillan is willing to listen to him and help, even supplying him with intel and equipment while making use of Price's own intel as well.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Helps Price, even though he's a wanted terrorist. Considering their close relationship, though, it's likely he never believed his protege could turn evil.
- Shown Their Work: Refers to Price as "Leftenant", which is how the word "Lieutenant" is pronounced in the UK military, as opposed to "Lootenant" in other parts of the English speaking world. Price even calls himself "just a Leftennant" in the mission briefing.
- Touché: If you accomplish feats such as destroying the first enemy helicopter or stealing a laptop from the Ultranationalists he'll say, "All right now you're just showing off.", and "I'll tell you, one thing. You've certainly got the minerals".
- Tranquil Fury: The Suppressed Rage when you blow your cover is palpable when we have lines such as, "What the bloody hell was that, you trying to get us killed!? Move up and don't do that again!", not to mention the Deadpan Snarker entry.
- Unflinching Walk: Subverted. After shooting down a helicopter, he walks away saying "Good night ye bastard...". Then the helicopter crashes and very nearly crushes him.
Burns
Sergeant Marcus Burns
An SAS commando who accompanies Wallcroft, Griffin and others in a mission to intercept a suspicious shipment near Canary Wharf in London in Modern Warfare 3 in "Mind the Gap."
- The Faceless: We never get a glimpse of his face, due to him wearing a gas mask, as well as the fact that the UAV camera at the start of his only mission never focuses on him up close.
- Heroic Mime: He doesn't talk for the whole mission.
- Made of Iron: Is involved in a crash between two trucks and a tube train inside the London underground, while being on the outside of the truck (for comparison, the driver of said truck dies in the crash), but then gets up and carries on fighting after blacking out for several minutes. Also survives the chemical attack, unless the player opts to skip "Davis Family Vacation".
- Player Character: For the one British mission of Modern Warfare 3.
Wallcroft
Sgt. Wallcroft
"Come on mate! Let's give these bastards a proper British welcome!"
Voiced by: Craig Fairbrass (English)note
SAS operator in MW and MW3. He appears first in "Crew Expendable" as a guy assigned to rear guard, and reappears in 3 as PC Marcus Burns's commanding CO.
- Ascended Extra: He appears in the first Modern Warfare in one level, Crew Expendable, and has maybe 3 lines. He returns, having Took a Level in Badass.
- Cool Mask: He wears a gas mask and it definitely makes him look like an intimidating spec ops operative. Said gas mask ends up saving his life when Makarov's chemical attack occurs during Modern Warfare 3.
- Decomposite Character: Like Fairbrass' prior two characters Gaz and Ghost, he's a Good Counterpart Foil to his MW3 voice actor's role as Delmar from Cliffhanger, perhaps closer in terms of appearances as both characters wore black jumpsuits and masks (both balaclava and gas masks, though Delmar in film only wore them briefly and was Out of Focus during the plane heist scene) and carried a fitted-stock MP5 with attachments.
- The Faceless: He's never seen without a balaclava and a pair of goggles or a gas mask.
- Rule of Three: Third character to be voiced by Craig Fairbrass. Subverted in that he's the only one not to die horribly with his gas mask saving his life from Makarov's chemical gas.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Gaz and Ghost— it comes with the territory when you're voiced by Craig Fairbrass in a Modern Warfare game. Gets kinda weird when you realize that he actually knew and worked with the man he's now a substitute of, though.
