The Uncovered Secret Ending of Modern Warfare 3
Just when you believe a game has been completely datamined and studied, another secret is revealed. That happened with the original Modern Warfare 3, as players discovered a cut ending in which a weird Shadow Man appears to Captain Price following the battle with Makarov.
The Mysterious Encounter
In this cut cutscene, uploaded to YouTube by Vlad Lokitonov on May 17, as Captain Price sits down to smoke a cigar and watch Makarov hang from the ceiling of a Dubai hotel, a strange figure appears in the distance with eerie, echoing footsteps. His face is concealed, and he just looks at the two men briefly before turning away to depart. Price subsequently drops his cigar and looks to have died or fainted during the meeting. This is slightly different from what actually happens in Modern Warfare 3 where the screen fades to black as Price smokes his cigar, ending the series on a cliffhanger (no pun intended).
Theories and speculations
The game’s data mentioned both the echoing footsteps and the weird figure, but no one knew what their purpose was. After 13 years, fans finally know the solution, and it is as weird as the files. The identity of the Shadowman, as well as his connection to Price or Makarov, is yet unclear. Theories are already circulating, and some fans have speculated that it could be Zakhaev’s spirit welcoming Makarov and Price into the world of death or hell.
This Shadowman uses the same model as the President’s security detail in one of the Spec Ops missions. It was most likely utilized as a placeholder, and the Shadowman did not receive his own model since Infinity Ward chose not to pursue this conclusion and instead focused on something more open-ended.
Potential Future Impact
If Modern Warfare 4 was to be released (perhaps we’ll get one in the rebooted series), then the Shadowman may have played a role in that game. However, as we all know, Infinity Ward went on to create Call of Duty: Ghosts while abandoning the Modern Warfare IP for several years.