If you’re a veteran of the Call of Duty franchise, you might notice something a little strange about the latest Call of Duty Warzone trailer – which offers us an insight into what we can expect when the Warzone Season 5 release date rolls around. Dubbed ‘Last Stand’, this major content update for one of the best battle royale games out there is going to introduce new weapons, operators, and balancing updates for players to enjoy. However, it looks like it’s going to introduce another major time jump for the game’s loose narrative – well, that or some brand new canon.
Why do we think we’re going back to the future in Warzone Season 5? Well, it’s all because of one, one-eyed man: Raul Menendez. Yeah, that guy.
If you’ve played through the campaign of Call of Duty Black Ops II, Call of Duty Black Ops III, or even jumped into Blackout in Call of Duty Black Ops 4, you’re going to know who this guy is. He’s a Nicaraguan drug lord and revolutionary that serves as the antagonist in the 2012 FPS title and, as you might well know, Frank Woods’ nemesis. With an iconic scar and burn marks around his eye, he’s a pretty recognisable character. So… What’s he doing in the latest Warzone update?
Well, that is just the question that nobody knows the answer to just yet. Canonically, he was born in 1963 – so, that’s certainly a little bit later than Call of Duty Vanguard’s supposed post-war setting. We understand that Warzone Season 5’s theme seems to be built around legendary villains and an apparent showdown between good and evil, but this just doesn’t make much sense.
That’s why we’re starting to believe that there’s a major time skip coming – or, a significant alteration to the established canon. The latter wouldn’t make too much sense given the fact that Black Ops Cold War’s inclusion of Hudson, Mason, and Woods seems to reference the original Black Ops title. However, anything is possible after Godzilla and King Kong graced us in Operation Monarch.
If you’re not a fan of all this and think we’re making it up, we have some bad news. To make matters worse, as spotted by eagle-eyed fans and shared by CharlieIntel on Twitter, it looks like he’s holding an EM1 in the aforementioned trailer. Yes, we know – an EM1 of all things.
This is a light machine gun from Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, a game set in 2054 – roughly one hundred years in the future. We know it was a bit naff in AW, but maybe all of this is Raven Software’s way of giving the EM1 the respect it deserves. Who knows, it might be one of the best Warzone guns going forwards – if it does indeed get added.
It also looks like a F2000 from the original Modern Warfare 2 is hidden in there, too, according to CharlieIntel. We don’t know what this all means, but it could hint that we’re getting a mash-up of all the major Call of Duty sub-series as a blow-out of sorts before the Warzone 2 release date.
To top it all off, there’s also a bit of lava in there which would suggest that Caldera is coming to an end. Although, that doesn’t explain how Butcher gets into that basement in Verdansk as he appears to be very-much in the Calderan jungles when it all kicks off.
For now, though, we just don’t know for sure and we’re going to have to wait a little bit to find out. You can keep up to date on the Warzone meta and the best Warzone loadouts here ahead of any time-bending updates next week.