CoD fans reveal which campaign villain is the 'greatest' of all-time

CoD fans reveal which campaign villain is the 'greatest' of all-time
Images via Activision

Written by 

Alex Garton

Published 

1st Mar 2024 16:10

While iconic characters like Captain Price, Soap, and Ghost are beloved parts of the Call of Duty franchise, no campaign can function without a villain.

The motivations, personality, and intelligence of these bad actors can make or break a CoD storyline, and nothing feels better than getting a chance to take them down.

Over the years, villains have had their fair share of ups and downs, with some like Graves even blurring the lines between ally and foe.

Well, the Call of Duty community has come together to reveal who they think is the "greatest" villain in the history of the series.

Who is the greatest Call of Duty villain of all time?

Taking to the Call of Duty subreddit, the community has come together to reveal who they think is the best villain in the franchise. While there were plenty of suggestions that got a lot of attention, one character stood well above the rest.

By a mile, General Shepherd from Modern Warfare 2 (2009) took the crown, and it's no surprise, given the scene with Ghost back in the day. Hearing "That's one less loose end" is enough to get a reaction from any longtime CoD player, as no one saw that backstabbing coming on their first playthrough.

"General Shepherd was, and still is the greatest twist of a villain in a Call of Duty game," said one user, with another arguing, "They’re all pretty good but I don’t think I hated any of them as much as I hated Shepherd."

MW2's storyline was a rollercoaster ride, and Shepherd deserves credit for being such a formidable villain. Despite this, there are still plenty of other bad guys that warrant a shoutout.

CoD community give out some honourable mentions to villains

Raul Menendez villain
Click to enlarge

Shepherd may be the winner, but there are countless other villains whom fans adore, with Black Ops II's Raul Menendez getting a huge amount of support.

Old-school Vladimir Makarov from MW2 was mentioned a lot as well, mainly due to the 'No Russian' mission, which completely dominated the headlines back in 2009 due to its sheer brutality.

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Finally, CoD 4's Zakhaev was noted by a few as an underrated option but came nowhere near the popularity of Shepherd and Menendez.

One thing is clear: the modern villains need to step up their game, as barely any of them got highlighted by the community. For now, the OGs take the crown, with Shepherd sitting above the rest as CoD's ultimate bad guy.

Alex Garton
About the author
Alex Garton
Alex is a Senior Writer at GGRecon. With a BA (Hons) in English, he has previously written for Dexerto & Gfinity. Specialising in Call of Duty & Apex Legends, he loves (attempting) to improve his aim in competitive shooters and will always make time for a single-player RPG.
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