Jonathan Irons

"Democracy? Democracy? Democracy is not what these people need – hell, it's not even what they want. America has been running around the globe trying to install democracies in nation after nation, for a century, and it hasn't worked one time. Now why do you think that is? Because these countries don't have the most basic building blocks necessary to support a democracy. Little things like we ought to be tolerant of those who disagree with us or we ought to be tolerant of those who worship a different god than us or that a journalist ought to be able to disagree with the f**king President! And you think you could walk into these countries based on some fundamentalist religious principles, drop a couple of bombs, topple a dictator, and start a democracy?! Heh. Give me a break. People don't want freedom. They want boundaries, rules, protections. From invaders and from themselves. People need a leader who could both provide the constraint and the support to keep chaos at bay. And you give them that, and they'll follow. And that's where I come in."

- Jonathan Irons' speech on his plan.

Jonathan Irons is the main antagonist of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Irons is the CEO of a private military corporation named Atlas Corporation, and begins a conflict with the United States Government for failing to install democracies in other countries for over a century. Since his son Will's death, he has gone insane and threatens to bring global domination to thousands, using MANTICORE.

He was portrayed/voiced by Kevin Spacey, who also planted Frank Underwood in House of Cards, Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects, John Doe in Se7en, Lex Luthor in Superman Returns, Rufus Buckley in A Time To Kill, Dave Harken in Horrible Bosses, Clyde Northcutt in Fred Claus, Dr. Nerse in The Cleveland Show, Hopper in Disney/Pixar's A Bug's Life, Buddy Ackerman in Swimming With Sharks and Micky Rosa in 21.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
After finishing a funeral service for his son, Private William Robert Irons, who was killed during an U.S. operation to counter a massive North Korean raid on Seoul, Jonathan Irons offers Will's best friend Jack Mitchell to join the Atlas Corporation, the world's most powerful private military contractor, of which Jonathan is the CEO. As compensation for his injuries in Seoul, Mitchell is given by Irons an highly advanced prosthetic arm to replace his severed arm.

Meanwhile, a terrorist group calling itself the KVA led by a Luddite terrorist named Joseph "Hades" Chkheidze is staging numerous terrorist attacks, with the world turning to Atlas to stop them. Mitchell, a notorious Atlas member named Gideon and other Atlas soldiers rescue the Nigerian Prime Minister and later capture a KVA technologist in Lagos during a summit. However, the KVA's attacks soon become more sophisticated, and Mitchell and his team failed to prevent the KVA from triggering a nuclear meltdown in Seattle.

The KVA launched similar attacks against nuclear power plants worldwide, irradiating numerous cities, killing thousands of people, and putting national governments and militaries in turmoil. Atlas emerges as the dominant military force in the world, aiding civilians affected by the attacks, and holding back the KVA's rampage.

4 years later in 2059, Mitchell and Gideon search downtown in Detroit to find Dr. Pierre Danois, the KVA's second in command. After having the doctor interrogated by Ilona, an ex-Spetsnaz turned Atlas, they are able to track Hades down to Santorini, Greece, where KVA leaders are having a conference. The mission is a success as Mitchell manages to kill Hades, finally "ending" the war. Before succumbing to his death, Hades utters "Irons knows", giving Mitchell a data chip with his last breath.

After Hades' death, Irons and Atlas receive international recognition and respect, with many even questioning if Irons would become a politician.

However, Ilona analyzes the data chip given by Hades, only to find the technologist they captured in Nigeria was killed by Irons after the latter learned of the KVA global attack, proving that Irons deliberately allowed the attacks to occur to improve Atlas' reputation. Irons attempts to have Mitchell and Ilona arrested, but they escaped Atlas headquarters in New Baghdad, guided by a mysterious man, while Gideon reluctantly stays by Irons' side. The mysterious man turns out is Cormack, who reveals that he is part of the Sentinel Task Force, an international effort to prevent Atlas' rise to power.

1 year later in 2060, Mitchell, now a Sentinel operative, infiltrates Irons' private estate in Bangkok. He and Cormack discovered that Danois is now collaborating with Irons on "Manticore", a biological weapon. They set up a tracker on the plane carrying the bioweapon bound for Argentina. Sentinel later intercepts the plane, which crashes in Antarctica and defeat the Atlas soldiers after discovering Irons' intentions for the bioweapon. The team successfully retrieves the WMD, and they are able to take one sample of it. After analyzing the sample, they discover that Manticore is a weapon designed to attack and infect those who are not genetically encoded with Atlas' DNA implants, preventing the harm of their own operatives. The Sentinels, now with Gideon, infiltrate and destroy an Atlas' bioweapons factory in Bulgaria, eliminating much of the Manticore samples.

With his plot revealed, Irons releases his ultimatum to remove all politicians, whom he thinks are the problem of the world, at the United Nations assembly and Irons declares war on the world. The Sentinels discovered that Irons is planning a preemptive strike on the United States and try to stop Atlas' attack on San Francisco. Atlas destroys the Golden Gate Bridge, trapping the U.S. Third Fleet in the Bay area, and attempt to destroy the fleet in a single strike. The Sentinels used a railgun aboard an aircraft carrier to destroy the Atlas cargo ships that were attacking them. With the ultimatum and the attack on U.S. soil, the world declares war against Atlas and Irons retreats to his headquarters in New Baghdad, Iraq.

7 months later, the Sentinel and the U.S. military launch a attack on New Baghdad to stop Irons and bring him to justice. However, Atlas releases Manticore, killing most of the attacking troops except for Mitchell, Ilona and Gideon, who were inoculated, as well as Cormack, who was outside the blast radius. The four are brought to an Atlas prison camp, which also runs Manticore experiments on its inmates. The Sentinels escaped, but Cormack succumbs to a vast blood loss caused by a gunshot by Irons, who also disables Mitchell's prosthetic left arm as revenge, rendering it useless. As they escaped the facility, they discovered that Irons already has enough Manticore to attack every military base in the world, and will be launching a missile shortly.

Death
With the fate of the world at stake, the Sentinels launch a final attack on Atlas HQ. Mitchell and Gideon successfully destroyed the missile. They find Irons as the other Sentinels prepare to bombard the building. Irons disables their exo-skeletal armor, forcing Mitchell to release the exoskeleton to chase Irons. An explosion throws Irons off the building, hanging on Mitchell's left prosthetic arm. Despite begging Mitchell to save him, reminding him that he gave him his prosthetic arm and a second chance, Mitchell ignores him and severs his prosthetic arm with his knife, causing Irons to fall to his death as he screams Mitchell's name.

Personality
Irons is a strict man of principle, believing that his way of fighting wars is the only way to achieve peace in this lifetime. In pursuit of this goal, he is willing to use whatever means he has at his disposal, no matter the cost. As the President and CEO of the Atlas Corporation, Irons doesn't see it as just a military force for hire; he sees it as a super power capable of changing the world, and has spent the majority of his adult life strengthening it.

After the death of his son Will, Irons gained an obsession with absolute power, soon hoping to enact his vengeance against those he blamed or stood in his way, including the very governments that hired his company. Irons' menacing nature is further seen when Mitchell and Gideon discover the POWs who died of medical experimentation with Manticore at an Atlas prison camp. The event that effectively caused him to snap was Hades plot to force nuclear reactors around the world into a meltdown, using the Technologist Mitchell rescued from Nigeria in the pursuit of global harm. Rather then warn the people of the world, Irons murdered the specialist, letting thousands of innocents die for personal gain in order to improve Atlas' public image. He justified these acts by stating that the casualties were a "necessary sacrifice". Even in his last moments, Irons felt no remorse for his actions, dying a power-hungry madman who believed he could save mankind from inevitable destruction.

Irons also enjoys a cult of personality as he held New Baghdad as his personal haven and an exempla of his philosophy. Propaganda posters of his image are plastered across the city, and after the defeat of the Sentinel Task Force during the invasion, he broadcasts a victory speech proclaiming the perseverance and victorious nature of Atlas and New Baghdad itself.

Before Mitchell's betrayal of Atlas, he seemed to hold Mitchell in high esteem and often referred to him affectionately, calling him "my boy" and remarking the similarities between Mitchell and his deceased son, Will Irons. Furthermore, when Mitchell's prosthetic arm malfunctioned during a simulation, he remarks that his arm "is worth more to me than this entire facility." In this way, he seemed to treat Mitchell as his own kin. It was due to this sentiment that he was left deeply insulted and angry at Mitchell's defection to the Sentinel Task Force.

Victims

 * Technologist
 * Over 50,000 innocent people (Caused)
 * Numerous unnamed Sentinel soldiers (Caused)
 * Knox (Caused)
 * Cormack
 * Numerous unnamed people (Caused and Direct)

Trivia

 * Jonathan Irons had a collection of antique guns that can be seen during "Sentinel".
 * The collectible intel unveil recordings personally made by Irons, detailing his commentary, beliefs, and his descent into madness.
 * Irons is similar to David from Allegiant:
 * Both are charismatic CEOs of the antagonistic corporations.
 * Both commited crimes they sees as good and necessary.
 * Both confronted the protagonists who learned the fact of the corporations from now in the middle of the stories.
 * Both sent gases on cities.