Vladimir Makarov is a fan-favourite Call of Duty villain who has not appeared in the campaign since Modern Warfare 3. Fitting then that he's set to return in the rebooted MW3 launching on November 10, with Activision even dropping a dedicated trailer to him.
In the teaser, we see a brief clip of what looks like the infamous No Russian attack by Makarov's terrorist cell, Ultranationalist, as civilians are seen running away in terror. This iconic Modern Warfare 2 mission saw Makarov utter the equally as iconic line, "No Russian" (hence the name), before gunning down civilians at Zakheav International Airport. In the new rebooted timeline's version, it looks like it might take place at the Verdansk stadium instead.
Makarov took over the Ultranationalists after Imran Zakhaev's death in both timelines, but he has yet to appear in the polygon flesh. Laswell showed a picture of him at the end of 2022's Modern Warfare 2, though it recycled a model from the Survivor mode. It was also revealed that Makarov planned the hijacking of a Russian airline, ordering the same "No Russian" line. Going further back, fans have long theorised that he had an instrumental behind-the-scenes role in the 2019 Modern Warfare. Maybe this will finally be confirmed in the new game.
It was clear Makarov was going to appear in the sequel given that the post-credits scene for Modern Warfare 2 hinted at his return. This final cinematic saw a man on an aeroplane pulling out pieces of a gun that he had hidden on his person to reconstruct a 3D-printed pistol, before pulling out his phone to tell a mysterious contact called 'M' that he was ready. 'M' is obviously Makarov, made even clearer by his reply, "No Russian". He then puts his phone in a glass of whiskey before he and several other men begin walking down the aisles, starting the hijack.
In the original timeline, two Kreigler Airliners were hijacked at Makarov's command, leaving 387 dead or wounded, in 2003. After this, Makarov robbed a bank in Turkey, abducted Russian college students, bombed two embassies in Africa, stole three million rubles in Moscow, hijacked a cruise ship in the Baltic Sea, assassinated a Pakistani politician, bombed a Russian-Germany gas pipeline, and eventually, committed the terrorist attack on the airport.
A global premiere will take place on August 17, giving us a better look at Modern Warfare 3 and Makarov. Evidently, he'll be the antagonist of the third game, finally taking centre stage as he had done in two-thirds of the original trilogy. We just have to wait and see who'll be the one to pull the trigger this time on killing him.