Call of Duty: WarzoneSeason 5 is just a few weeks away, and as usual, this means that Activision is dropping teasers to promote the next batch of content for its flagship franchise. Alongside a very short teaser forBlack Ops 6Zombies' Janus Towers map, which showcased odd plant structures and bodies falling down the massive shafts of the buildings, a minute-long story trailer has been unveiled for Season 5. And thoughCall of Duty: Warzoneplayers are understandably focused on Avalon, which is shown at the tail end of the footage, those who care about the series’ lore are more confused than anything else.
While it remains to be seen whether Avalon is used purely for someBlack Ops 7multiplayer maps or treated as a full-scale battle royale playspace, what is clear is that the ongoing story has seemingly skipped over its big climax. Season 4 had been building up to a battle between the Pantheon faction and Stitch,Black Ops Cold War’s post-launch villain who had been freed in a last-ditch effort to gain the upper hand. However, in theWarzoneSeason 5 teaser, two huge details are glossed over. Not only is Stitch nowhere to be seen, leaving fans to wonder what happened to the charismatic masked antagonist, but Pantheon has apparently been dismantled off-screen. This feels hugely rushed and anticlimactic, as it’s like a Season’s worth of storytelling has been left out. However, the bigger problem is that Pantheon’s quiet defeat retroactively makesBlack Ops 6’s campaign worse.
WithBlack Ops 7revealed so soon, perhaps Treyarch and Raven lacked the time and resources to properly show Stitch and the gang dismantling Pantheon. Though this is purely speculation,BO7is just around the corner, so it’s not unrealistic to think that the story may be getting sped up to make way for that game.
Black Ops 6’s Campaign Leaving Pantheon For Later May Have Been an Even Bigger Mistake Than Met the Eye
WhileBlack Ops 6’s campaign was genuinely strong and contributed toBO6’s impressive reviews, it wasn’t without its flaws. Yes, it may have had some varied mission design, interesting concepts like the Safehouse, and genuine surprises, but its ending left something to be desired. Players were left with a cliffhanger for theBO6chapter of the ongoingWarzonestory, as much likeBlack Ops Cold War, heroes like Woods and Adler only partially accomplished their objective. Pantheon was still at large, and as indicated by the final shot of the closing cinematic, the group had even infiltrated the CIA. Players were left wondering what was next and who the mysterious character was (it turned out to be the multiplayer Operator Caine, which was a rather unsatisfying reveal in its own right).
At the time, this ending was a blemish on an otherwise strong singleplayer mode, as it felt like players were being told an incomplete story. However, fans were able to overcome that disappointment by holding onto the hope that the post-launch narrative would be engaging and interesting.Black Ops Cold Warhad taken a similar approach, after all, and while many may have still preferred a more complete tale that didn’t require them to search up the rest of the narrative on YouTube, that game’s post-launch story was satisfactory thanks toAdler and Stitch’s dynamic. Sadly, while it seemed likeBO6’sWarzonestory was really beginning to pick up, it’s fallen off a cliff just as quickly due to this lackluster Season 5 teaser. This only makesBO6’s awkward ending more frustrating, as it now feels meaningless to have kept Pantheon going.
Black Ops 6’s Campaign Will Always Be Tainted By Pantheon’s Quiet End
Perhaps there will be a proper CGI cinematic released closer to the launch ofWarzoneSeason 5that shows Pantheon being dismantled by Stitch and gives fans closure, but as of now, this teaser is all fans have to go on. Considering that Pantheon’s fate has been spoiled by the current teaser’s dialogue, too, it’s hard to imagine such a cinematic hitting all that hard if it did happen. Regardless of the behind-the-scenes reason why the story suddenly feels rushed, it does a disservice to not only this era ofWarzone, butBlack Ops 6’s campaign.
Players who play throughBO6in the years to come will undoubtedly feel confused by its ending, but when they search up what happened with Pantheon, they won’t be met with an exciting cinematic showing how the heroes won the day. Instead, they’ll find a brief line of dialogue and a Tweet saying “Pantheon has collapsed,” with the villainous group hand-waved and defeated off-screen as if they weren’t that big of a threat in the first place. Stitch’s involvement feels even stranger now, with it coming off like the villain was brought back purely to sell skins and with no real plans for him in place beyond the initial comeback. In a way, it would have been better for him to stay dead, as Stitch’s sudden disappearance following the prison break has cheapened his great “death” scene fromBlack Ops Cold War. If this truly is how Pantheon’s story ends, then twoBlack Opsgames’ stories will have been irreparably harmed, and that’s a shame.
