Who are SpecGru in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0?

Are they really the good guys?

Image via Activision

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During the long history of the Call of Duty gaming franchise, there have been many factions with operators coming from all over the world. Counting members from organizations that would be known to modern military enthusiasts, such as the Marines, MI-6, Spetsnaz, and others, to more esoteric creations in the form of multinational task forces like Demon Dogs, Shadow Company, TaskForce 141, Farah, etc. With the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0, these organizations merged into rival private military contractor entities known as SpecGru and KorTac. For lore buffs, here’s everything we know about SpecGru in Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0.

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SpecGru in Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0, explained

Following the events of Modern Warfare, two new factions arose from the ashes of Verdansk and the battle against Zakhaev. To recapitulate, the Coalition and the Allegiance have agreed upon an armistice to face the threat of Zakhaev. However, the ceasefire didn’t last, and the two factions kept on fighting, as seen through the multiplayer component of the 2019 Modern Warfare game.

Years later, there were no longer groups like the Coalition, Allegiance, TF141, Demon Dogs, and others. They were now private military contractors working for SpecGru and KorTac, sometimes even interchangeably.

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SpecGru represents the more “western” of the two, speculatively named by combining the names of UK Special Forces and US Devgru. They employ mercenaries who formerly served with other groups, having them wear masks for plausible deniability. In the game, they use the default “American” skin.

Currently, there are several named operators that we know to be a part of SpecGru:

  • Enzo Reyes
  • Farah Karim
  • Gustavo “Gus” Rodriguez
  • Jesus “Chuy” Ordaz
  • John Price
  • Johnny “Soap” MacTavish
  • Kleopatros “Kleo” Gavras
  • Kyle “Gaz” Garrick
  • Nila “Nova” Brown
  • Simon “Ghost” Riley
  • Sobieslaw “Gromsko” Kosciuszko
  • Tse “Luna” Mingzhu
  • Zhiqiang “Zimo” Wong

This list is not counting Paul Pogba and Lionel Messi, the football players, as part of SpecGru. They were part of the special World Cup promotion in Call of Duty and are not canon operators, despite having “joined” the organization.