Trivia / Call of Duty: Zombies

aka: Nazi Zombies

• Acting for Two: The main cast tends to also play additional supporting and incidental characters, as well as multiple versions of the same character.
  • Fred Tatasciore voices Nikolai, Dr. Maxis, Brock, the High Priest, and Pablo Marinus.
  • Steve Blum voices Dempsey, Dr. Groph, Yuri, and Gary.
  • Tom Kane voices Takeo, Dr. Schuster, and the Warden.
  • Nolan North plays Richtofen, Brutus, Stanley Ferguson, and Gersh.
  • Robert Picardo voices Robert McNamara in "Five" and later plays the Shadow Man in Black Ops III. McNamara makes a surprise appearance in Revelations alongside Picardo's other character.
  • Andrew Morgado voices both Bruno Delacroix in Black Ops 4 and Sergei Ravenov and The Forsaken One in Black Ops Cold War. Zeke Alton voices Dr. William Peck, "Gorev", and Terrell Wolf in the same game.
  • Antony Del Rio voices both Dr. Hugo Barrera and the Operator Jesus "Chuy" Ordaz in MWZ.
• Actor Allusion:
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a character in "Call of the Dead". Now her looks, personality, and fighting style... where has that been seen that before? Oh, right.
  • If she runs out of ammo, she might comment on being a black belt in taekwondo. Which is actually true.
  • Danny Trejo wields... uh... Machetes.
    "YOU JUST FUCKED WITH THE WRONG MEXICAN!"
  • Robert Englund in the trailer.
    "This must be a nightmare!"
  • Michael Rooker is once again directed by George A. Romero.
  • Robert Picardo had previously been involved in zombie soldiers.
  • Robert Englund was once in control of the zombies, but now is fighting them for his life.
• Actor Existence Limbo:
  • The death of George Romero in 2017 negated any chance of him returning as a boss zombie for 2019's Tag der Toten.
  • Many fans have observed that a straight remaster of Mob of the Dead may now be much more difficult due to the passing of Ray Liotta in 2022.
  • Barring a recast, a reappearance from Takeo Masakai after Black Ops IV seems unlikely, as his actor Tom Kane retired after a stroke destroyed his voice in 2020.
• All-Star Cast:
  • Call of the Dead features the voices and likenesses of Robert Englund, Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Michael Rooker.
  • Mob of the Dead features the voices and likenesses of Ray Liotta, Michael Madsen, Joe Pantoliano and Chazz Palminteri.
  • Shadows of Evil features the voices and likeness of Jeff Goldblum, Heather Graham, Neal McDonough and Ron Perlman.
  • Malcolm McDowell plays Doctor Monty in the endgame of Black Ops III.
  • Robert Picardo plays both Robert McNamara in "Five", and later the Shadow Man in both Shadows of Evil and Revelations.
  • Dead of the Night features a cast consisting of Charles Dance, Kiefer Sutherland, Helena Bonham Carter, and BRIAN BLESSED.
• Ascended Fanfic:
  • One of the most popular custom gamemodes in previous multiplayer COD (or just about any other first person shooter) was/is "zombie mode" or some variation of it. So much so that it led Treyarch to simply include it as an on-disc bonus gameplay mode with pretty much no plot or complexity. After that, well... just look at the rest of this page.
  • Some suspect that the interpretation of Richtofen being a Depraved Homosexual in a lot of Nazi Zombies fanfics (particularly with Dempsey) led to Treyarch throwing in a joke in Call Of The Dead where Richtofen is implied to have accidentally yanked on Dempsey's crotch, and another joke where Richthofen is explicitly stated to have puts his finger in Dempsey's ass (although Dempsey quickly proceeds to kick Richtofen's), as well as giving him a LOT more suggestive dialogue:
  "It's a little gun, but it has a long barrel, like my college roommate."

  • His Origins counterpart carries some of the same mannerisms and innuendos, but definitively drops the "Depraved" part.
  • A possible (VERY) spoiler-y example between Black Ops 3 and Black Ops 4: When Doctor Monty was introduced as the Big Good for the endgame in Black Ops III, he was received divisively due to how he had little build-up, and drew a lot of theories that he might actually be just as evil as the Shadow Man, or possibly even the true villain behind everything. Well, come Blood of the Dead and...
• The Cast Showoff: Julie Nathanson gets to show off her singing in Firebase Z's Easter egg song, "Lost".
• The Character Died with Him: Odd example. George Romero died two years before Tag der Toten, a remake/reimagining of "Call of the Dead" was released. Victis visits the map at a time period before 2011's Call, but the players can find Romero's glasses on a table, with the cast paying tribute to him. It's basically a breaking of the fourth wall to pay tribute to the grandfather of zombies.
• The Danza: Robert Picardo as Robert McNamara.
• Defictionalization:
  • It's not uncommon for some of the more creative fans to make their own real-life Perk-a-Cola bottles. Here are some examples.
  • There's an actual Shadows of Evil-themed ride at Six Flags' Fright Fest in Los Angeles.
  • On the topic of Black Ops III, Treyarch released a miniature Juggernog machine (that is an actual functioning mini-fridge) as part of the game's Collector's Edition alongside some Perk-a-Cola coasters.
• Descended Creator:
  • In a sense. Elena Siegman, who has performed most of the Easter egg songs in Zombies (e.g., all of the songs barring "Undone" from World at War and Black Ops) also performs the jingle for Elemental Pop in Cold War.
  • Craig Houston, lead writer at Treyarch, wrote all 4 original perk jingles in World at War and sung lyrics for all but Juggernog (there is a cut Juggernog jingle with his vocals). He also provided vocals for the Deadshot Daiquiri jingle in Black Ops.
• Dummied Out:
  • In World at War, there is an alternate Dog Round Start stinger that incorporates wolf howls. It was cut from the Xbox 360 and PC versions, but was accidentally left in the PS3 version.
  • There was also music for Dog Rounds that went unused.
  • The "World at War" files also contain an alternate Juggernog jingle sung by Craig Houston, Treyarch's lead writer and singer of the other 3 perk jingles in the game.
  • AK-47 can be obtained through console commands in Black Ops, yet its damage output is pitiful and it has a quieter firing sound. Its Pack-a-Punch version was also supposed to have an underbarrel flamethrower.
  • The M27 assault rifle from Black Ops II can be obtained through the console in Black Ops 3, where it functions exactly like in the second game and retains its Pack-a-Punch version, but the trick can only be done in Gorod Krovi.
• Fake Nationality: Apart from Dempsey (who is voiced by the equally American Steve Blum), Victis, and most of the Celebrity Voice Actors mentioned above in All-Star Cast, most of the non-American characters have American voice actors. Nolan North voicing the German Richtofen, Fred Tatasciore as the Russian Nikolai, and German Dr. Maxis, Tom Kane being the Japanese Takeo (with surprisingly good Japanese here and there, mind you), and Julie Nathanson as the German Samantha Maxis.
• Fandom Nod: Black Ops IV, as the last season of the flagship Aether Story Arc, gives quite a few nods to the fandom and it's many memes.
  • At the end of Blood of the Dead, Primis Dempsey quotes Sal's "ain't that swell", a line from Mob of the Dead that became a meme in the lead-up to Blood.
  • In Classified, Ultimis Takeo quotes the "revive me I have Ray Gun" meme almost verbatim when he gets the Ray Gun from the Mystery Box.
  • In Tag der Toten, the "Secret" achievement involves the player traveling to a secret location far away from the main map area. It takes you to a mysterious shore where you see the planet Mars up close, as the loading screen from Shangri-La, "Paraphony" plays. This is a reference to the ages-old fan theory that Shangri-La actually takes place on Mars, since data-mining revealed a file used to make the mountain range in the background of the map used textures from pictures taken on Mars.
  • Also in Tag, Misty says that her father was a Marine, and says "oo-rah". This is a cheeky nod to the fan theory that Misty was actually Ultimis Dempsey's daughter, which later turned out to be impossible since Misty was a young woman in 2035 whereas Ultimis Dempsey was around during World War II.
• Meme Acknowledgement: Somewhat overlaps with the Fandom Nods mentioned above.
  • Kevin Sherwood (a veteran sound designer and composer at Treyarch and the man behind the series' Easter egg songs) is quite familiar with the Last-Gen Richtofen meme if the thumbnail for "Shockwave" is any indication.
  • Treyarch themselves are also very familiar with the above-mentioned meme since they put Last-Gen Richtofen as a jumpscare in Classified.
• Milestone Celebration: To commemorate the series' tenth anniversary, Black Ops IV includes three on-disc maps (Voyage of Despair, IX, and Blood of the Dead) as well as pre-order bonus Classified.
• The Original Darrin: Samantha was voiced by Julie Nathanson from World at War to Black Ops until she was replaced by Grace Kaufman in Origins. Nathanson would return to the role by Black Ops 4.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Nolan North, known for playing generally affable good guys, voices an insane evil Nazi scientist. In Mob of the Dead, he plays Brutus, a scary, powerful and not really nice prison guard, that constantly wants to hurt the mobsters. And in TranZit, he's T.E.D.D, the Servile Snarker bus driver that will either take you to your destination as planned or throw abrasive insults at you if you piss him off.
  • More like a case of Playing with Character Type, but when you think Julie Nathanson, you'll likely be thinking about Robin or perhaps Belle. Sam on the other hand, while somewhat similar to a couple of those roles, isn't exactly what you'd call "stable". Especially with everything that she goes through in the Aether story (e.g., Black Ops 4). Played straight as of Cold War, however, where Sam is now more of a bonafide Action Girl.
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar historically Doesn't Like Guns, as her husband's father killed himself with one, and most all of her works are anti-gun. Here though she is rather enthused about them, even being quite overjoyed whenever she gets a submachine gun because they (rather amusingly) share her initials.
• Post-Script Season: The maps set in the Aether Story Arc following Revelations, despite some initial doubt caused by Blood of the Dead, are ultimately this. The Aether maps are mostly a checklist of maps that weren't remastered for Zombies Chronicles, and the storyline itself is more of a alternate ending that a fan could easily ignore and accept Revelations as the true ending. The story is of Ultimis and Primis inadvertently breaking the cycle of the series, and ultimately destroying the entire universe to prevent it from ever happening again, via a series of treasure hunts. Much of Black Ops IV also dedicates itself to filling in gaps in the story not filled by the timeline and developing backstory for obscure characters and groups such as Peter McCain, Broken Arrow, the Ascension group and much more from the already doomed Ultimis timeline.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: One of the reasons Dead of the Night, a prequel to the on-disc Chaos maps of Black Ops IV, was released after the other two, was due to Treyarch having to accommodate its' celebrity cast's busy schedules.
• Refitted for Sequel:
  • In World at War, the Hellhounds were going to get their own theme tune whenever they spawned in Der Riese. Come Black Ops: Cold War and the Plaguehounds now have a leitmotif of their own whenever they spawn in Die Maschine.
  • Kino der Toten was originally going to be the final DLC map for the World at War season, but by that point, Modern Warfare 2 was already in full swing. Treyarch instead decided to save the map for on-disc content in Black Ops.
• Role Reprise:
  • Black Ops III sees numerous characters return after years of absence, and they are reprised by the main cast of voice actors who already voiced them on the side.
    • Steve Blum voices Dr. Groph in 2016’s “Der Eisendrache” after playing him in 2011’s “Moon”.
    • Robert Picardo returns as Robert McNamara in 2016’s “Revelations”, after having last played the character in 2011’s “Five”.
    • “Gorod Krovi” has Nolan North voice Gersh again, reprising his role from 2011’s “Ascension”.
  • Black Ops IV examples:
    • In “Blood of the Dead”, Nolan North (already in the main cast as Richtofen) reprises his roles as Brutus and Stanley Ferguson, having last voiced them in 2013’s “Mob of the Dead”. He later voices Gersh again in 2019’s “Tag Der Töten”.
    • Tom Kane voices Dr. Schuster again in 2018’s “Classified”, following his last appearance in 2011’s “Moon”.
    • Blum voices Yuri Zavoyski/the Pentagon Thief again in 2019’s “Alpha Omega”, eight years after his last appearance in 2011’s “Ascension”.
    • The Victis crew has all of their voice actors - Scott Menville (Marlton), Stephanie Lemelin (Misty), Dave Boat (Stuhlinger), and Keith Szarabajka (Russman) - return for their various reappearances in Black Ops IV (including Blackout) for the first time since Buried, back in 2013.
• Stillborn Franchise: Black Ops IV's Chaos Storyline seems to have met this fate, being passed on in favor of a Soft Reboot to the Aether Story for Cold War. Its mixed reception was a likely contributor. Unless they revisit it in a future game, it seems doomed to end on an unresolved Cliffhanger.
• Trolling Creator: Die Rise is a map infamous for its Platform Hell. What would be the perfect perk to take advantage of this mechanic? PhD Flopper! Is it on the map? Yes! ..on a Freeze-Frame Bonus inaccessible floor and not even earnable through the easter egg which gives every single perk on the map.
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to this article, the mode itself was originally supposed to have been canceled due to development delays for Call of Duty: World at War, but the Treyarch president chose to make it an unlockable level instead at the last minute.
  • In Der Riese, there was originally going to be a theme tune for the Hellhounds that was Dummied Out.
  • Unused files also indicate that the Hellhounds were originally developed for "Verrückt", but were delayed until "Shi No Numa".
  • More unused files showed that the Springfield and Mosin Nagant would be present in Der Riese, complete with unfinished Pack-a-Punch models which give them sniper scopes.
  • As far back as Der Riese, a map set in Paris was teased in the background of maps. The original concept would've incorporated the Eiffel Tower, the underground catacombs, and a No Man's Land with limited resources available. It was originally set to be the final map of Black Ops, but it was eventually reworked into Moon (No Man's Land, story relevance), Die Rise (the element of verticality), and Buried and Origins (the underground settings, with the latter also taking place in France).
  • There were originally supposed to be a lot more weapons to be Pack-a-Punched in the first Black Ops, such as Enfield assault rifle, MAC-11, Kiparis, Skorpion, M60 and many more.
  • "Five" was originally intended to be a novelty, one-off map with no real connection to the rest of the storyline. As Jason Blundell's more lore-intensive regime began, however, eventually "Five" was revealed to have more explicit ties to the mythos.
  • Later averted, actually. Kino der Toten was the final World At War Zombies map, but by that time, Modern Warfare 2 was very close to release. Kino was thus put off to become the on-disc content of Black Ops. It was also intended to have a boss zombie referred to in files as "The Engineer", but he was deleted by the time Black Ops came out, and appears to have been reworked into George Romero for Call of the Dead (which also was in the works during World at War under the name "Coast").
  • New game modes cut from Black Ops II included a "race" where each player had to clear out their zombies to advance through a map to win; and another mode where players threw a piece of rotten meat around. A survival map at the Diner in TranZit was also cut.
  • A cut conversation from Buried depicted Misty, Marlton, and Russman all spitefully rebuking Samuel's attempt to get them to follow Richtofen's orders. As it pretty much spells out that the Maxis endgame was canon (which wasn't confirmed until several years later), it's possible that it was removed to keep it ambiguous whose Easter egg ending was canon.
  • Quotes from both Monty and the Shadowman were unearthed in the files of Revelations indicating one or the other would've become the Demonic Announcer.
• Word of God:
  • Actually pretty averted. The creators usually don't have a lot to say if anything at all on the story.
  • Kevin Sherwood once implied that a fan analysis of We All Fall Down, the Easter egg song of Die Rise, was pretty spot-on; meaning the song was in fact from Maxis' perspective, retelling his conflict with Richtofen and his suspicions about a hidden evil behind the scenes of it all.
  • After the conclusion of the main story arc, in 2017, Treyarch gave us the complete timeline of the series, blowing pretty much everything away. The synopsis fans had put together (seen on the Recap page) was for the most part accurate, with some key details being clarified. Most notably, the Maxis endgame of the Easter eggs of TranZit, Die Rise, and Buried was confirmed by the timeline as canon.
  • Jason Blundell explained in a Q&A that the reason Dead of the Night, a prequel to the previous Chaos maps, was released after its predecessors was due to needing to accommodate the schedules of its celebrity cast and the desire to introduce Chaos gameplay mechanics in the more accessible first two maps beforehand.
  • Monty does not speak in Black Ops IV and has very fleeting physical appearances, confusing fans who wondered why he never spoke again; Malcolm McDowell has said that he was never approached again for the role (Admitting that he was surprised by this).

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