Special Officer Russell Adler is a supporting character and a major antagonist featured in Call of Duty: Mobile. Adler could be unlocked for Call of Duty: Mobile as a playable character by playing the Multiplayer Open Beta of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.[1]
Adler is a major character in the comics, appearing in Season 11: Anniversary. He was later added in the Season 13: Winter War Battle Pass.[2]
Biography[]
Background[]
Russell Adler was born on February 12th, 1937 in San Diego, California. During his education at the high school that he entered, he played American football as a linebacker. At some point, after finishing his educations, Adler enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1955 and qualified for U.S. Army Special Forces in 1957. He was recruited into Central Intelligence Agency in 1959.
Adler later joined the Special Activities Division in 1966 and was assigned to the MACV-SOG in 1967 to investigate Soviet activity in Vietnam. On January 26th, 1968, during Operation Fracture Jaw, Adler found minor intel that hinted towards the existence of legendary KGB agent Perseus.
The Five Knights[]
Ghost, who has met up with the rest of his fellow operators in The Club after an EMP attack launched by the Five Knights, is introduced to Adler by Captain Price after he admits that they have no way to combat the new threat presented by them. Adler says that they do have ways to combat the new threat, and then inducts the operators into the United Anti-Terrorism Coalition. He ends off the statement by saying "Ladies and gentlemen, we're going dark."
Adler and the rest of the team start to plan out their assault on Five Knights locations. When asked on how they would coordinate or even reach those locations, Adler presents the team with Swiss mechanical watches, which are unaffected by EMPs. Price also notes that Adler is not the only Cold War relic in operational state in the bunker, indicating an old helicopter. During all of this, a character named Templar is preparing himself, and he appears to have a personal grudge against the operators of the Coalition. The Coalition begins striking 3 key sites of the Five Knights simultaneously; Price and Soap lead an assault team on the Communication Centre, Mara and her team storm in at the Command Center in Alcatraz, while Ghost and Tank strike a production facility in Hackney Yard.
Joint Operation[]
Later, Price, Ghost and Adler discuss the aftermath of their joint operation; Mace is in a Black Site facing interrogation, Templar and Hidora are in the wind, Soap is injured but will be battle ready within a few weeks. It is further revealed that Mara made it out alive, but was wounded badly and is in a coma. Ghost admits that they won the battle and takes an oath that he will "Win the War."
As Ghost expresses grief for not being able to save Tank and the fact that they don't have enough time and intel, Adler comforts him by saying that they do have intel and mentions that there is a place in Siberia from where Makarov possibly got the Nova Gas from. He then says that it's coming all around the same way like it did during his days, and narrates his story. Some time during the Cold War, Adler led a small team into a Soviet facility in Siberia along with his friend Stansfield. They had found out crucial information about something that the Five Knights could also have gotten their hands on, and eventually carried out. However, when tried to exfil, they were surrounded by a large group of enemies, and Stansfield stayed behind to cover their escape, only to be shot dead, which Adler could do nothing but watch in horror. Back in present day, Adler finishes his story by saying that both Stansfield and Tank knew what they were doing, and so should Ghost. When Ghost questions if the research facility is of any more importance, Adler says that there might be something left in there, although it will be a long shot. Ghost agrees and says that he will take it, to which Adler responds that they will have to wait, and Ghost must not rush for revenge. Ghost in response says that this is not about revenge, and they must get the intel before the Five Knights do. Adler replies that they cannot risk to lose any more men as the Five Knights already hit other bases hard, and tells Ghost that he must be patient. Ghost takes it for an excuse to do nothing and walks away, much to Adler's dismay.
When Price cannot find Ghost, he comes to Soap asking for his whereabouts. Adler comes to them saying that he knows where Ghost is, and he is "doing something stupid". When Price asks what Adler has done, he replies that he told Ghost about the operation in Siberia.
Adler reappears again sometime later, arriving on the Ghosts' ship via helicopter. He suspects that as he hasn't heard from Price's team that has been dispatched to Texas to locate Templar, they may have most likely fallen into a trap. He discusses the matter with Captain Merrick, and then later visits their German Shepherd Riley.
Later, Adler is shown to have arrived in Texas, greeting Gabriel Rorke just as he was attempting to get his location out of Price. Rorke mocks Adler for coming to him so soon, to which Adler replies that he's brought backup, which Rorke scoffs at. Adler then says that he's brought an "old friend"--a statement that leaves Templar in denial, as he says "Impossible". The "old friend" is revealed to be Ghost, apparently alive and accompanied by Riley, who shocks everyone with his arrival as he says his famous line, "You can't kill a Ghost".
Adler attempts to prevent Rorke from escaping afterwards when he heads to an underground bunker to exfil via helicopter. He manages to graze him on the ear but fails to stop him from leaving as Dame thwarts him. Later on, when Adler leads the rest of his group outside, they stumble upon the dead body of Mara, leaving them all devastated.
Later on, Adler rendezvouses with Shepherd on his ship with Soap and Alex Keller. Rorke manages to escape despite his ship sustaining significant damage as he drops naval mines in the UAC’s path to delay their pursuit. Adler however, isn’t concerned about his getaway as he had apparently reached out to his contacts in South America, noting that there’s only one place where he could be headed.
Adler's True Colors[]
Adler doesn’t appear for a period of time until the UAC’s mission into Blackout. Although it’s stated by Shepherd that Adler is coordinating their attacks from another location, he is ultimately revealed to be the 5th Knight, as Ghost encounters him in a surveillance room behind a bookshelf, via a key card that Templar had given him earlier. Ghost is enraged upon learning that Adler had apparently betrayed them, but he insists that everything he’s done was for the sake of his country. He goes on to state that the whole thing is a “false flag”; a scenario where a country launches an attack on itself disguised as an enemy to start a war.
Ghost asks if Adler wanted a war, to which he replies that a war was coming whether he wanted it or not, and that he created one that could be managed before the one that could tear down the US could start. He tells Ghost that the Soviets are still around; 14 months ago in the Texas black-site, the nuclear missile launches were actually an attempt to frame Makarov, that they could've gotten to him, his inner circle, the Russian extremist group, the hidden S.S.R. Ghost is appalled that Adler has killed thousands of his friends and sent civilization reeling, but he justifies it as it was so that they could build back better, quoting Thomas Jefferson's "the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
His attempt to frame Makarov worked as he took the blame, and later sent Mace to assassinate him. Although Mace succeeded in his mission, Makarov used a double and tricked them. Seeing it as an opportunity to get rid of multiple birds with one stone, he gathered extensive funds during his time in the C.I.A., millions of dollars of missing C.I.A. funds, as a gift from his friend Hudson. He had a new operation on his hand, and 4 more evils had to die: Rorke, Hidora, Menendez, Makarov.
Adler iterates that Mace was just a puppet, but a useful one, and had his fair share of war crimes stacked up against him; Rorke was an old C.I.A. asset who went rogue in South America and he had been trying to get rid of him for years; Menendez had been trying to start his revolution for years, and was a real threat to their democracy; Hidora had been moving billions of dollars for Makarov and the Soviets, with his death the Soviet funds would suffer in the long run; Makarov is the real threat to the world, and he tells Ghost that if they don't stop him, he will cause WW3 to occur.
As for Templar, Adler had promised to reunite him with his daughter. He also adds that when Ghost was sent to Siberia, he was supposed to kill Makarov. Had he failed, Templar would finish the job. But instead, Ghost and Templar ended up fighting each other.
Adler tells Ghost that it looks like it's the end, but it's in fact just the beginning. Ghost declares that there's no place left for Adler to run, and that he's taking him in. Adler states that he is too old to be put behind bars, but Ghost says he can't let him go, Adler does not expect anything less. Overlooking the island, he remarks that 30,000 men there are all heroes, and that Ghost himself is one too. He starts to take out something from his jacket, but Ghost shoots him before he can do so completely, revealing that he pulled out a lighter.
As Adler falls off the cliff, Ghost receives transmissions from Cpt Price, revealing that a nuke has been launched. Before Ghost can make sense of the situation, the surrounding island explodes into a mushroom cloud, horrifying Ghost. While he watches, Adler mutters the words "I won, Perseus..." in his final moments before dying. The resulting explosion kills all 30,000 men on the island, horrifying Shepherd as well.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Adler's blood type is AB-.
- In the comics, Adler tells Ghost "You're a goddamn hero kid." This echoes his Black Ops Cold War counterpart's monologue to Bell in the ending of The Final Countdown from Black Ops Cold War.
References[]
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