Since the original Call of Duty: Black Ops released on November 9, 2010; The Black Ops franchise has been a staple in the Call of Duty series. It is beloved for its memorable and exciting campaigns, engaging multiplayer, and much-beloved zombies game mode. Now with a franchise reboot, here’s all that needs to be known about the storyline of Call of Duty: Black Ops.
WWII and Cold War Era
Call of Duty: World at War
With the rebooted franchise, Black Ops 3 and 4 are no longer canon to the Black Ops franchise, but Black Ops Cold War and Black Ops 6 will still follow events from World at War, Black Ops 1, and Black Ops 2. That being said, the story begins in Stalingrad, after Nazi Germany betrayed the Soviet Union with the invasion of Stalingrad in 1942. The player follows the narrative of Private Dimitri Petrenko, after awakening from a lost battle, he meets up with Sergeant Victor Reznov, who was hunting down General Amsel when he got caught in the same firefight as Dimitri. They make their way through the ruins of Stalingrad in the hunt for the general. Dodging many close calls and gathering allies for their mission, they eventually make their way towards the German command post in the city, where the General resides, after flushing him out of hiding, they successfully eliminate the general, barely escaping with their lives from a German Tank.
They joined the main force of the Russian Army as they pushed back the German forces and made their way towards Germany. After many battles and bloodshed, The Russian army made it to Berlin, and they storm the final stronghold of Nazi Germany, after dealing with the last of the German forces and surviving a near-death experience Dimitri and Reznov fly the soviet flag on the stronghold, signaling the victory for Soviet Russia. The Soviets launched one last operation in the final days of the war called Operation Olympus, led by Dragovich and Kravchenko. Reznov has a bitter history with them as they left Reznov and his men outnumbered and refused to give them reinforcements which resulted in the massacre in the battle of Stalingrad. This operation has the Russian forces attack a Nazi outpost in the Arctic Circle, in search of an officer: Dr. Friedrich Steiner.
After locating him, Dragovich, Kravchenko, and Steiner locate the wreckage of a Nazi ship containing valuable items for the Soviet Union. After some investigating, they come across a chemical weapon: Nova-6, designed for fast lethality, which Steiner helped create. Dragovich then betrayed Reznov and had him and his men locked in test chambers to be exposed to Nova-6 so Dragovich could witness the effects of the weapon firsthand. Dimitri was the first to be tested, and he died a gruesome death, Reznov could only watch as he watched his closest ally and only friend die. British soldiers also attacked the Russian forces for control over the weapon, Reznov, and what was left of his team managed to escape and destroy the payload. However, they were intercepted by Russian forces and imprisoned in a gulag prison called Vorkuta.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Mason’s Story
Many years after the war, the player follows the story of Operative Alex Mason, along with his fellow soldiers, Frank Woods and Joseph Bowman. They are on a mission to kill Fidel Castro by using the Bay of Pigs invasion as a distraction while they sneak behind enemy lines and assassinate the dictator. They “successfully” manage to do so and attempt to escape to the nearby airfield, Mason stays behind to allow his friends to escape. He is quickly captured after that, and being held prisoner, Mason discovers that they didn’t kill the real Castro but a body double, Castro knew about the plan with the help of Dragovich and Kravchenko. Castro hands off Mason to Dragovich as a gift, and Dragovich takes Mason and imprisons him in Vorkuta, Mason meets Reznoc who bond over their shared experiences as soldiers and their hatred for Dragovich and Kravchenko. Dragovich, Kravchenko, and Steiner then used a brainwashing program, which is derived from MK Ultra but utilizes number sequences to program sleeper agents.
They put Mason through the same programming to kill Kennedy, however, unbeknownst to them, Reznov secretly sabotaged Mason’s programming. Making him unpredictable to respond to the programming and also adding the trio of villains to the kill list. Dragovich deemed Mason a failure and left him to rot in Vorkuta. Reznov and Mason plan and execute a prison break from Vorkuta, unfortunately, only Mason manages to successfully escape from it, and Reznov stays behind to be recaptured by the Soviets. Mason is brought back to the States to be debriefed by President Kennedy, Kennedy then orders Mason to kill Dragovich. Jason Hudson becomes Mason’s handler and assists them in the hunt for Dragovich and Nova-6. After many missions of hunting down Dragovich and taking down his operation, Masos meets back up with Reznov to take down Dragovich. It all comes ahead when the team investigates a crashed cargo plane seemingly carrying vast amounts of Nova-6, however, it was empty, the team was then ambushed by Soviet forces and captured by Dragovich and Kravchenko.
They were tortured, and Bowman was killed, Mason and Woods managed to kill the perpetrator and escape the compound, they then used a helicopter to go to another nearby compound where Reznov and other US soldier captives were being held. After some fighting, they manage to find Kravchenko, and Woods sacrifices himself to kill him. Reznov and Mason then go AWOL to hunt down Steiner and Dragovich, eventually leading them to Rebirth Island where Steiner resides, they infiltrate the facility and Reznov kills Steiner, or so it seemed.
Hudson’s Story
Hudson had begun a hunt of his starting with Dr. Clarke who assisted in creating Nova-6, they captured him and he revealed Dragovich’s plans to use Nova-6 on a massive attack on the US. However, Clarke dies before he can reveal how Dragovich will carry out the plan using the number sequences. Hudson and Weaver then make their way towards Mount Yamantau to find another base of operations for Dragovich which is also where Steiner can be found, they manage to reach the base only to find the place rigged to blow, and Dragovich and Steiner are gone. However, Dragovich is tying up loose ends which include Steiner, Steiner offers his assistance in stopping the attack and reveals his location to be on Rebirth Island. Hudson and Weaver make their way towards Rebirth Island, however, as they make their way towards Steiner’s lab, they discover that Mason is also there. As they reach Steiner, they witness Mason speaking incoherently and posing as Reznov, revealing that this whole time, Reznov was never here and Mason was being brainwashed.
They tried to stop Mason from killing Steiner but to no avail. They knock him out and bring him to a CIA interrogation room to hopefully see where the number station is and stop the attack. After hours of interrogation, they ultimately fail and try one last hand in helping Mason remember. Mason then goes on massive hallucination, remembering everything done to him. Hudson then reveals to Mason that Reznov didn’t survive his escape from Vorkuta and that this entire time, Mason was talking to no one. Hudson tries another number sequence one last time to help Mason remember, which is from a ship that Mason saw in Cuba when he was first caught after the Bay of Pigs invasion. Hudson, Mason, and Weaver lead an attack on the ship, marking it for destruction to stop the number broadcast. Mason wants to kill Dragovich so he and Hudson head down to the underwater facility to make that happen.
They make it and after making their way through the facility, they finally kill Dragovich. They barely manage to escape the facility with their lives.
The 80s
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Only a handful of missions in Black Ops 2 remain canon, at least partially, to the reboot universe. Years after the events of Black Ops 1, Mason and Hudson are called back to duty to rescue Woods, who survived his encounter with Kravchenko and was imprisoned for years. During this mission, Mason encounters a young Raul Menendez who is presumably killed during their encounter. After his rescue, Wood joins Mason and Hudson in the CIA to investigate a returning threat: Perseus. With the help of newcomers, Russell Adler and his allies, investigate this new threat to the world.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
The team investigates the matter and makes moves to stop Perseus, recruiting an operator named Bell onto the team. It all comes to a head when the team learns that Perseus stole the access codes to bombs hidden around Europe for Operation Greenlight, and plans on detonating them and having the US take the fall for it. The team tried to use Bell as a sleeper agent to get the location of where the broadcast center for the codes would be. Revealing that they used the same number programming used on Mason to program Bell to believe they were someone else so they would willingly give up the locations and plans for it. Regardless, the team ultimately stops Perseus from using the nukes. Adler then kills Bell to tie up loose ends, but it isn’t over for them. Adler is captured by an enemy named Stitch, who then brainwashes Adler using the number sequences to force Adler to do his bidding. The team then finds out and cleans the brainwashing from Adler’s brain, which ultimately stops Stitch from causing any further damage.
Black Ops 2 continued.
Mason and Woods continue their hunt for Menendez after learning that he’s still alive, they raid his safehouse in Pandama, which resulted in the death of Menendez’s sister and presumably Menendez’s death as well. After many years, Mason and Woods go after Manuel Noriega, trying to ruin his reputation, however, he was a hand-off for a priority nexus target. This surprised the both of them, after fighting through the invasion and handing him off, Woods was told that the priority target is Raul Menendez, which angers Woods considering this is information that should’ve been shared earlier. After Menendez is brought out, he is killed by Woods, after he goes to retrieve the body, however, Woods discovers that he killed Mason instead. Woods was shot in the knees by Menendez who set this whole trap up, effectively paralyzing him. Menendez then takes him to an unknown location which reveals that he had captured Hudson as well, which explains his unusual behavior. Mason and his son, David Mason are also there to serve as a reminder of Woods’s failings.
Menendez then demanded that one more must die, if they can’t decide then all of them would die. Hudson then sacrificed himself so Woods and David could live. Events after this, well, the community will find out when Black Ops 6 releases in October.
Departing Thoughts
The Black Ops Timeline has seen its changes throughout the years, for better and for worse. But with the rebooted timeline, and all the new Call of Duty being interconnected, who knows what will come next in the story? Black Ops 6 is looking to further expand the story to greater heights. Will the community see returning villains? Or will a new threat loom over the horizon? The community will wait and see.
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