Jonathan Irons

"I am honored to be the first CEO of a private corporation to become a member of the United Nations Security Council. Unfortunately, my appearance today has been clouded by a flurry of speculation that my company is developing a weapon of mass destruction which would be capable of targeting specific ethnic groups. I want to address these allegations head on. Are we developing such a weapon? No we are not. Because we've already developed it. But with all due respect, the United Nations is a relic from a different time when nations were unique in their ability to solve the world's problems. But that just isn't the case anymore. Primarily because you have outsourced the job to me. I have sent people to die in your wars. So I feel uniquely qualified to tell you, your wars don't work! Which is why my priorities have changed; from profits to policy. Because politicians don't know how to solve problems. But I do. So let's be clear. I am here to solve the world's problems. And I believe the world's problems...begin with you."

- Jonathan Irons, in the introductory cutscene for the campaign mission Collapse

Jonathan "Jon" Irons was the founder and president of the private military corporation, Atlas Corporation, in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. He started off as a supporting character for the player, but was then revealed to be the main antagonist throughout the rest of the campaign.

Early life
Little known about his early life, Jonathan Irons once served in the United States Army and trained as a soldier in the West Point Graduate Program. Leaving the Army at some point, Jonathan Irons founded the ATLAS Corporation in 2035 using his connections with the U.S. Military and other powerful organizations. He would later establish ATLAS International in 2043, which would become one of the largest PMCs in the world after the "Night of the Long Knives." Irons would also get married and have a son named Will, who, contrary to Jonathan's pessimistic views about the U.S. government, disappointed his father by joining the United States Marine Corps. Will joked about this by claiming that he enlisted in the Marines in order to stay away from his father.

Events of Advanced Warfare
After having finished a funeral service for his son Private Will Irons, who was killed during an U.S. operation to counter a massive North Korean invasion of Seoul, Jonathan Irons offered Will's close friend Jack Mitchell to join the ATLAS Corporation, the world's most powerful private military contractor, of which Jonathan is CEO. As compensation for his injuries in Seoul, Mitchell is given by Irons an advanced prosthetic arm to replace his severed arm.

Meanwhile, a terrorist organization calling itself the KVA led by a Georgian terrorist codenamed Hades began staging numerous terrorist attacks, with the world having turned to Atlas to stop them. Mitchell, a notorious Atlas member named Gideon and other ATLAS forces rescued the Nigerian Prime Minister and later rescued a technologist in Lagos during a technology summit. However, the KVA forces toughened up after their defeats, as evidenced when Mitchell and his team failed to prevent the planned nuclear reactor meltdown in Seattle by the KVA.

The KVA launched similar attacks against nuclear power plants worldwide, irradiating numerous cities, having killed thousands of people, and having put numerous national governments and military forces in turmoil. ATLAS emerged as the dominant military force in the world, having come to the aid of civilians affected by the attacks, and held back the KVA's rampage.

Four years later in 2059, Mitchell and Gideon searched 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 have tracked Hades down to Santorini, Greece, where KVA leaders were holding a conference. The mission was a success, as Mitchell managed to kill Hades, having finally "ended" the war. Before having succumbed to his death, Hades uttered "Irons knows", having given Mitchell a data chip with his last breath.

After Hades' death, Irons and Atlas received 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 rescued 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 stayed in Irons' side. The mysterious man turns out to be Cormack, who revealed that he is part of the Sentinel Task Force, an international effort to prevent Atlas' rise to power.

In 2060, Mitchell, now a Sentinel, infiltrated Irons' private residence in Bangkok. He and Cormack discovered that Danois is now collaborating with Irons on "Manticore", a biological weapon. They setted up a tracker on the plane carrying the bioweapon bound for Argentina. Sentinel later intercepted the plane, which crashed in Antarctica and killed all Atlas forces after discovering Irons' intentions for the bio-weapon. The team successfully retrieved the WMD, and they were able to take one sample of it. After analyzing the sample, they discovered that Manticore is a weapon designed to attack and infect those who weren't genetically encoded with Atlas' DNA implants, preventing the harm of their own operatives. The Sentinels, now with Gideon, infiltrated and destroyed an Atlas WMD facility in Bulgaria, eliminating much of the Manticore samples.

With his plot revealed, Irons released his ultimatum to remove all politicians, whom he thought are the problem of the world, at the United Nations assembly and Irons declared war on the world. The Sentinels discovered that Irons was planning a pre-emptive strike on the United States and proceed to try and stop ATLAS' attack on San Francisco. ATLAS destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge, trapping the U.S. Third Fleet in the Bay area, and attempted to destroy the fleet in a single strike. The Sentinels used a railgun aboard USS Arrowhead to destroy the Atlas cargo ships that were attacking them. With the ultimatum and the attack on U.S. soil, the world declared war against Atlas and Irons retreats to his headquarters in New Baghdad, Iraq.

Seven months later, the Sentinels and the US military launched an attack on New Baghdad to stop Irons and bring him to justice. However, ATLAS released Manticore, killing most of the invasion force except Mitchell, Ilona and Gideon, as well as Cormack, who was outside the blast radius. The four were brought to an ATLAS prison camp, which also ran Manticore experiments on its inmates. The Sentinels escaped, but Cormack succumbed to a gunshot wound caused by Irons, who also damaged Mitchell's prosthetic left arm as revenge, rendering it useless. As they escaped the facility, they discovered that Irons already had 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 launched a final assault on Atlas' HQ. Mitchell and Gideon successfully destroyed the missile. They found Irons as the other Sentinels prepared to bombard the building. Irons disabled their exoskeleton, forcing Mitchell to release his exoskeleton to chase Irons. An explosion threw Irons off the building, hanging on Mitchell's left prosthetic arm. Despite begging Mitchell to save him, reminding him that he gave him his arm and a second chance, Mitchell severed his prosthetic arm with his knife, causing Irons to fall to his death as he screamed Mitchell's name.

Exo Zombies
In the Exo Zombies map Infection, Lilith Swann at one point may say "Irons knows. He knows!... I don't know why I said that." This is a reference to Hades' dying words in the level Manhunt. It is, however, unknown whether the quote can be taken seriously, so it is uncertain whether Jonathan Irons is even alive, let alone the CEO of Atlas Corporation in the Exo Zombies storyline.

Personality
Jonathon Irons is a strict man of principle, believing that his way of fighting wars is the only way to achieve peace in this life time, and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this goal 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 making it stronger.

After the death of his son Will, Jonathan Irons had become obsessed with power and vengeance against anyone who he blamed or anyone who stood in his way, including the governments that hired his company. Irons' menacing nature is further seen when Mitchell and Gideon discovered the POWs who died of medical experimentation of Manticore at an ATLAS prison camp. What changed him was when he had discovered Hades plot to cause nuclear reactors around the world to critical from the Tech Specialist Mitchell had rescued from Nigeria, but rather than warn the people pf the world, he murdered the specialist and let thousands of people to die for personal gain in order to improve ATLAS' public image. He defended these acts by stating that he sacrificed those innocent people. Even in his last moments, Irons felt no remorse for the innocent deaths and died a power-hungry madman who believed he could solve the world's problems, and that 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 exampular of his philosophy. Propaganda posters of his image are plastered all across New Baghdad and after the defeat of Sentinel Task Force during the invasion, he broadcasts a victory speech proclaiming the perseverance and victorious nature of ATLAS and the city.

Before Mitchell's betrayal of Atlas, he seemed to hold Mitchell in high esteem and refered 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 son. It was due to this that left him deeply insulted and angry when Mitchell defected to Sentinel Task Force.

Quotes
"Ideas don't determine who's right. Power determines who's right. And I have the power. So I'm right."

- In the Campaign Story Trailer.

"ATLAS is an internationally registered private company. We don't need Congress."

- Irons replying to Kingpin's objection.

"ON MY AUTHORITY!"

- Irons upon rejecting Kingpin's reasoning.

"Politicians don't know how to solve problems. But I do."

- In the Gameplay Launch trailer.

"What you're seeing is Advanced Warfare. ATLAS has the single largest standing military in the world but we answer to no country."

- Jonathan showing the Atlas HQ to Jack Mitchell.IronsATLAS.ogg

"Unlike the government we don't keep secrets of our capabilities. We don't sell policy, we sell power. We are a super power for hire!"

- Jonathan IronsIronsPowerforHire.ogg

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.

Джонатан Айронс Jonathan Irons