Being set in the 1980s, there was bound to be tons of references to the culture at the time. Of course, there tends to be references beyond the time period entirely.
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Campaign
- A very surprising one to Call of Duty: Black Ops III. As Bell recovers from a crash, Adler delivers this line; Arc Words from the aforementioned game's campaign.
- Adler: "Bell! Still with us?"
- The third mission of this game, "Brick in the Wall", strongly resembles the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare mission "Sentinel" in that both involve sneaking in an enemy stronghold, hiding from guards and taking them out if necessary, and also tagging the guards to help see them better.
- Also, the sixth mission of this game, "Desperate Measures", resembles the Call of Duty: WWII mission "Liberation" in that both consist of 2 halves, the first one being disguising yourself as working for the enemy, with the intention of killing a high ranking member in an enemy espionage headquarter (even if killing Charkov is optional), and then the second half consisting of going "loud" after your cover gets blown, as the actual protagonist of the game, and also rescuing the first protagonist of the mission from execution by the enemy.
- In the lab in the mission "Break on Trough", it's possible to see Adler with a violently twitching head. This is obviously a shout out to Jacob's Ladder, which is similar to this game in that the protagonist is a Vietnam War Veteran (even if it was fake memories in Bell's case), and that the works deal with Psychological Horror and Brainwashing
Characters
- Russell Adler's appearance is based largely on Robert Redford, specifically his appearance in Spy Game.
- Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzmin is blatantly based on Bane, from the mask to the pose he makes on this promotional artwork
. - Yirina Portnova bears a loose resemblance to both Scarlett Johansson (i.e., Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow) and Joanna Dark.
- Anton Volkov bears a striking resemblance to Alan Ford in his role as Brick Top in Snatch.. In addition, the mission he appears in is called "A Brick in the Wall".
- Another stealthy character whose callsign is "Wraith"? Where have we seen that before?
- The Perseus and CIA SAD troops seen throughout the campaign bear more than a passing resemblance to the Ocelot Unit and MSF soldiers seen in the Metal Gear series. Compare the units here.
Cosmetics
Russell Adler
- His "Miami" skin is one to "Sonny" Crockett.
- His "Wetlander" multiplayer skin is based on "Crocodile" Dundee.
- His "Razor Wire" skin capitalizes on those prominent facial scars and makes him a dead ringer for Sergeant Barnes.
- His "Red" skin is based on Chuck Norris' attire in a rather fitting film, Invasion U.S.A. (1985).
Helen Park
- Her "Napalm" skin is one to Colonel Kilgore.
- Her "Bounty Hunter" skin is based on Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road.
- Her "Arms Room" calling card is a reference to Nick's Lock-and-Load Montage in Hot Fuzz.
Lawrence Sims
- His "Martial Arts" skin is a shout out to Black Belt Jones and its star, Jim Kelly.
- His "Director" skin is one to Spike Lee.
- His "Warpath" skin makes him look like gender-flipped Caveira.
Jason Hunter
- His "Revenge" skin makes him look like Oh Dae-Su from Oldboy (2003).
John Baker
- His "Breaker" skin resembles "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
- His "Brushfire" skin gives him long brown hair, a clean shave, and a dorky red vest over a denim jacket in a clear reference to Marty McFly.
- His "Financier" skin gives him a blue shirt and tie similar to Michael Douglas' outfit from Wall Street.
Frank Woods
- His "Eliminator" skin is a combination of the title character from The Terminator, and Batou from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
- The description for the above skin is also a reference to They Live!, particularly the line ad-libbed by the late Roddy Piper.
- His "Sand Snake" skin is based on Venom Snake's outfit from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, specifically the "Black Ocelot" costume palette with goggles and covered face.
Jada Powers
- Her "Bayside" skin wears a rather distinctive blue jumpsuit with yellow stripes.
Mendo Garcia
- His "Tourist" skin has Tyler Durden's hairdo and leather jacket.
Ingo Beck
- His "Night Ops" skin, with night vision goggles, black leather jacket and urban camo pants is a rather clear shout-out to Sam Fisher's outfit from the original Splinter Cell.
Yirina Portnova
- Her "Killer Bee" skin is quite obviously inspired by The Bride. The added biker helmet (as well as her red hair) could remind certain players of Celty Sturluson, of whom her voice actress actually played.
- Her "Shadow" skin is heavily inspired by Seraph's appearance in Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
- Her "Moving Target" skin is heavily inspired by Tank Girl.
- Her "Artist" skin gives her Mathilda's ensemble.
Freya Helvig
- Her default ensemble bears a striking resemblance to that of Erin "Battery" Baker, one of the playable Specialists in Black Ops III and Black Ops 4. Her mask and overall personality are also similar to the above-mentioned Seraph from Black Ops III.
Owethu Mabuza
- His "Beast Master" skin is a clear shout-out to Black Panther.
- His "Death Stalker" skin is inspired by G.I. Joe's Destro, with a silver mask, red scarf and black outfit.
Harry Stone
- His "Siege" skin is a reference to the character "Sledge" from Rainbow Six Siege.
- His "Strike Team" makes him resemble Ghost from the Modern Warfare titles, with the "Bone Marrow" variant giving him a skull imprint on his mask.
- His "Stealth" skin give him a black and red suit, making him resemble Deadpool.
Other
- One of the Multiplayer challenges that you can complete in Zombies in Season 2 is called "Hedgehog's Dilemma".
- The "Crank Job" emote is pretty reminiscent of the way Peter Quill flips off Rhomann Dey during the lineup scene.
- The Combat Bow is a pretty obvious one towards Rambo: First Blood Part II down to the model. Becomes Hilarious in Hindsight once Rambo himself became an Operator in Season 3.
- The Cruise Missile scorestreak weapon has "06-UN OW3N.W4S-H-3R" written on the side.
- To the Predator:Unlike the thermal scopes of previous titles, which are in grayscale, the ones in Cold War are in color, specifically, they show the enviroment in shades of blue and green, with players in highlighted in tone of orange and red, exactly the same way the title character sees the world while using his mask.
- Two to The Terminator series:
- In "Desperate Measures" in the vault it is possible to find a large caliber pistol with massive laser sight mounted on top of the barrel, covering the sights, just like the pistol used by the Terminator during the club scene in the first film. The main difference being that the on in game resembles a Desert Eagle, rather than than the M1911 clone used in the film. Season 4 later added it to multiplayer as a Scorestreak.
- The Death Machine returns and bears a close resemblace to the one used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day
