This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for every mainlineCall of Duty: Black Opsgame, includingCall of Duty: Black Ops 6.
TheCall of Duty: Black Opsseries' campaigns have been home to some of the most memorable missions and moments in franchise history, fromBlack Ops 1’s gunship escape in Vietnam toBlack Ops 2’s climactic confrontation with Raul Menendez.Call of Duty: Black Ops 6continues this exciting pattern for the franchise, delivering mind-bendingmissions like ‘Separation Anxiety’ and ‘Emergence’that are sure to be remembered for years to come.
TheCall of Duty: Black Ops 6’s successor is really going to have to go above and beyond to surpass what came before it, and that might have to come sooner than fans think. According to recently leaked images originally posted to Twitter by user @FumoLeaks, 2025’sCall of Dutyentry could be a sequel toCall of Duty: Black Ops 2, set in the 2030s. But regardless of when it’s set or even when it hits store shelves, the nextCall of Duty: Black Opscampaign will likely feature one staple of the series, and that’s a twist concerning the protagonist’s identity.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Has a Long History of Protagonist-Related Twists
Every mainlineCall of Duty: Black Opscampaign features a twist regarding the game’s protagonist, and the first entry’s twist is arguably the most famous. 2010’sCall of Duty: Black Opssees players take control of Alex Mason, a former US Marine and current CIA operative who begins the game tied to a chair in a dark room. Mason is asked to recount some major events of the last few years, including all the times hisRussian cellmate Viktor Reznovassisted him on mission. Of course, it’s eventually revealed that Reznov was never on these missions with Mason, and that it was Mason himself carrying out acts like killing the ex-Nazi scientist Steiner.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2didn’t imitate its predecessor directly, but it contained a protagonist-related twist of its own. Players control Alex Mason again for most ofthe campaign’s 1980s flashback missions, but that comes to an abrupt end with the mission ‘Suffer With Me.’ In this mission, players take control of Frank Woods as he’s tasked with executing a restrained target he believes is antagonist Raul Menendez. Unfortunately, Woods is deceived, and the target he kills is none other than Alex Mason.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3’s campaign twistis much more subtle than the ones that precede it, and also far more confusing. Without getting into the weeds too much,Black Ops 3’s campaign is essentially two stories in one, with the player actually controlling a character whose physical body has died, and whose consciousness lives on in a teammate’s high-tech neural interface.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warpulled back from the complexity ofBlack Ops 3’s twist, but still carried forward some similar mind-bending, identity-shattering themes. InCold War, players control a CIA operative named “Bell” who’s been hired by Russell Adler to hunt down arogue Soviet spy known as Perseus. At the end of the game, it’s revealed that Bell was actually working for Perseus at the start of the campaign, and that the CIA had brainwashed him into thinking he was one of them in an attempt to find Perseus’ hidden base.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Continues The Series' Protagonist Trend
Taking a page out ofCold War’s playbook,Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s campaign twistalso revolves around the protagonist’s identity and backstory. During the mission ‘Emergence,’ it’s revealed that player-character “Case” was the first and only human test subject for a powerful super-soldier substance called The Cradle. Due to the severe side effects, Case was essentially brainwashed into forgetting he ever took part in the experiment.
How Call of Duty 2025 Could Put a Unique Spin on the Protagonist Twist
As evidenced above, protagonist twists have been a staple ofevery mainlineCall of Duty: Black Opsgamesince the very beginning, and they’ve remained a surprising and exciting part of the experience. But if recent rumors are true andCall of Duty2025 is indeed anotherBlack Opsentry, it might feel a little repetitive to get another protagonist-related twist so soon.
But there are some ways the nextBlack Opsentry can avoid this potential issue. WhileBlack Opshas explored secret identities, sudden deaths, and subconscious stories within stories, it hasn’t brought a playable protagonist back from the dead before (Woods doesn’t count as he wasn’t playable inBlack Ops 1).Call of Duty2025could work with its close release proximity toBlack Ops 6, and bring Case back.
Presumed dead atthe end ofBlack Ops 6’s campaign, Case could return inCall of Duty2025, perhaps appearing at the halfway point of the campaign and taking over from a new playable character. That way, the nextBlack Opswould still have its trademark protagonist twist while avoiding the pitfall of repeating itself too early.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
WHERE TO PLAY
Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
