The Call of Duty franchise has always had pretty definitive campaign endings, even when they're part of an ongoing series. The Modern Warfare series, however, has never really stuck to this tradition, with the original Modern Warfare 2 ending on a cliffhanger and the 2019 Modern Warfare reboot teasing the formation of Task Force 141. The recently released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 follows this unconventional pattern with a campaign that ends a little abruptly but tees up a lot for the series' next installment.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's campaign offers yet another thrilling globetrotting adventure with Captain Price and the crew, who are this time on the hunt for another Al-Qatala leader, Hassan. Along the way there are plenty of friendships, betrayals, cover-ups, and explosions, all culminating in an ending that teases the return of a fan-favorite villain, and a post-credits scene that hearkens back to one of the darkest moments in Call of Duty history, both of which lead in perfectly to a potential Modern Warfare 3.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Ending and How it Sets up Modern Warfare 3
The campaign mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sees Task Force 141 try to apprehend Hassan Zyani, an Iran major that's working alongside Al-Qatala to terrorize the United States with some stolen missiles. It's revealed that these stolen missiles actually came from a botched illegal trade between that General Shepherd had orchestrated. After escaping capture multiple times, with the Las Almas Cartel aiding him, Hassan is finally apprehended and killed at the end of the campaign, with Soap disarming the missile before it hits Washington D.C.
The final scene of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's campaign sees Kate Laswell debriefing the team over a drink at a local bar. Laswell tells Captain Price that General Shepherd is still at large, with his private military company, Shadow Company, likely protecting him. Upon hearing that Price intends to hunt after him, Laswell says that they have much bigger fish to fry, showing the captain a picture of a "new threat." Upon seeing the photo, Captain Price exclaims that this man isn't a new threat, and after handing the picture to the rest of his teammates, Price whispers the man's name: Makarov.
After the credits roll, another scene takes place. Sitting on an airplane, an unknown figure begins taking out various mechanical components from different parts of his clothing and seatbelt. While doing this, their food arrives, with the dish lid having a magazine of ammunition taped to it. The figure puts the components together to create a gun, and he uses his phone to text "ready" to a contact simply known as "M." Right as the figure puts the phone in some liquid to fry the battery, the words "No Russian" can be seen on the phone's screen. The figure then gets up, and along with a handful of other people, cocks their weapon as the screen cuts to black.
For any long-time fans of Call of Duty, and particularly the Modern Warfare series, there's a lot of familiar beats here. For starters, Makarov is the main antagonist of both the original Modern Warfare 2 and 3. The Russian Ultranationalist leader, Makarov uses terrorism to spark a war between the US and Russia, so that he can rise to power. It seems like the same thing might happen in the reboot series, with "No Russian" being a direct reference to the extremely controversial mission of the same name in which players participated in an airport massacre with Makarov, which became the inciting incident for the war between Russia and the US in the original Modern Warfare 2. On top of this, General Shepherd is still out there with his Shadow Company, and El Sin Nombre and the Las Almas Cartel might end up taking revenge on Task Force 141. It seems as though Captain Price and his team will have plenty of threats to overcome in their next adventure.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.