Pre-release theories
This game will make the Ghosts and/or the Federation undergo some Canon Immigration.
Based on Task Force 141's appearances in the Multiplayer beta (though I know they are the pre-order bonus skins; not sure if they will have normal outfits), they're all donning skull masks similar to Ghost. Considering this game is mostly based in South America, we could see the rise of the Federation at some point. Ever since Black Ops Cold War, every CoD game has been tying into a Shared Universe, and many fans years later express an interest in seeing a follow-up to Ghosts (not to mention that Rorke's return in both Mobile and Vanguard have been well-received), so it wouldn't be farfetched to assume that while it'd be impossible to make Ghosts canon to the CoD universe as it stands, they could make the factions themselves canon with a new story.- Confirmed. 141 and the Mexican special forces temporarily form a "Ghost team" to take back the latter's headquarters from Shadow Company, donning the iconic skull balaclavas for the mission.
Raul Menendez will play a part in the story.
With Black Ops being canonically welded to the Modern Warfare reboot universe and the South American setting, there's a real chance we could see our favorite Nicaraguan drug lord again. Since the 2025 setting of Black Ops II has a very low chance of being canon with all of its hi-tech, we could see a bit of a backstory change for him where Cordis Die only starts taking off during the events of this game. Whether the game will be about taking on Menendez's cartel or perhaps there will be a sequel hook teasing Treyarch's game in 2024 is another discussion.There will be countless bait-and-switches to mess with the heads of veteran MW2 players.
A trailer contains the voice of what seems to be General Shepherd, and another one shows a mission ominously-named "Backstabbed", involving a raid on an estate. When was the last time there was a mission like that? Oh yeah, when Task Force 141 retrieved data on Makarov from one of his estates, only for Shepherd to steal it, murder Roach and Ghost, and betray the rest of the Task Force. Just to tease veteran fans.- This game will give Shepherd some Adaptational Heroism, and he will support Task Force 141 all the way through.
- Jossed, if anything, he's gone significant Adaptational Villainy instead as he loses a lot of his redeemable traits as a Well-Intentioned Extremist and instead becomes a self-centered dick trying to cover his own ass for colossal fuck up he caused.
- The raid on the estate will go smoothly, all things considered. No one gets betrayed but, of course, there will be a heavy fight.
- Tying into the first theory, someone else will betray the Task Force, and it won't be Shepherd. In fact, Shepherd will be livid and help Task Force 141 take revenge.
- Jossed, Shepherd is the traitor.
- The new traitor might either be Shadow leader Graves, or Alejandro Vargas.
- Shepherd is the traitor again, and by association Graves and Shadow Company as well.
Alejandro Vargas is Sebastian Vargas' grandson.
Kind of a crack theory since Vargas was Colombian while this Vargas is Mexican; not to say it isn't possible he or his children could've moved around but, you know, on paper it kind of sounds like one; but this could be another use of the Shared Universe. We could see Vargas talk about his abuelo who served in the Cold War.Gaz is screwed.
Gaz is weirdly absent from most promotional material compared to the others. While he still gets a fair share of screentime, he's still overshadowed in favor of Vargas and Shadow Company. He also only seems to appear in the Mexico missions. Going by his original counterpart, he's well past his expiration date. We might see Gaz get in a bit of trouble in this game.- Jossed. Gaz survives the events of the story.
This will detail Shepherd and Shadow Company's Face–Heel Turn
.In the original MW2, Shepherd being Evil All Along was a shocking twist. Here, he seems to start out genuinely well-intentioned and cooperating with Task Force 141, though he clearly shows his doubts in how they handle the situation. Shadow Company is playing nice and accompanying the 141 compared to their original counterparts who only showed up to kill Roach and Ghost and spend the rest of the game hunting Soap and Price down. Shepherd and Price will eventually come to blows and the former will decide to take things into his own hands, which means betraying the 141. His descent will be portrayed even more sympathetically than it was in the original, and you might be left wondering if he was justified or not.- Mixed, Sheperd broke bad months before the game starts, there is no downward spiral portrayed, but Laswell explicitly says he had good intentions, and ultimately his crime is illegal arms shipping, ordering unlawful detainment, and putting a morally dubious merc in charge of a sensitive operation, he's not intentionally starting WW3 and then cold bloodedly murdering everyone who might have knowledge of his crime.
Post-release theories
Graves is still alive
Soap and Rudy just assumed Graves was in the tank and was killed when it blew up. Since anyone inside would have been disintegrated, they Never Found the Body, and it's possible that Graves was never in it and got away, stopping his taunting to cover his tracks while he went to ground.- Confirmed with Season 5's release. He was never in the tank.
