Call Of Duty Players Can Unlock A Classic Villain By Preordering Black Ops 7

It’s a day ending with “y,” so you know what that means: more Call of Duty datamines and leaks. This time around, the community has found that preordering Black Ops 7 will resurrect Reznov, a classic villain from the series’ past–in the form of an operator skin, at least.

CharlieIntel, a page well-known for publishing details on the Call of Duty games, shared a pair of posts sourced from Twitter users HeyImAlaix and Reality that seemed to corroborate the news. According to the posts, players who preorder Black Ops 7 will immediately unlock the SOG Reznov skin for use in Black Ops 6 and Warzone’s latest season.

Additionally, there are a pair of variants skins–Stalingrad Reznov and Memory Reznov–which will seemingly be available via a challenge pack that will also be granted to players who lock in a preorder. It is unclear if these skins or challenges will be made available to players by any other means. The skins appear to reference appearances of Viktor Reznov in previous games: Stalingrad Reznov seems to be a callback to Reznov’s first appearance in 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War, while Memory Reznov would reference his role in 2010’s Call of Duty: Black Ops.

For those who may not remember, Reznov–who was voiced by legendary actor Gary Oldman–has a major role in Treyarch’s Call of Duty games. In World at War, he was an ally character to the player and shows up in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II. Reznov then returned in a villainous role in Black Ops, revealing a connection between the two games. Since then, Reznov has recurred throughout the series, including a cameo of sorts in Black Ops II and a turn as a playable character in Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode.

It’s possible that the return of Reznov, even just as a skin, is a tease of what’s to come in Black Ops 7. Details of the game are surprisingly scarce at the moment, but the player character David Mason, who’s being played by Milo Ventimiglia, does have close ties of sorts to Reznov. After all, Reznov’s villainous turn in Black Ops came to light through his manipulation and brainwashing of David’s father, Alex.

Moreover, Black Ops 7’s only trailer is pretty trippy, and the only real information we have about the game’s villain comes from the game’s description, where they are described as “a manipulative enemy who weaponizes fear above all else.” That sure looks and sounds like brainwashing and mind games are back on the table, folks.

Though the trailer makes it clear that David is going against Raul Menendez, another recurring Black Ops character and villain returning in the upcoming game, there’s no telling if there are connections between him and Reznov. The Black Ops games have pulled some crazier stunts across their conspiracy theory-obsessed, alternate history timeline.