Is Mason in Black Ops 6?

Call of Duty fans will remember Alex Mason as the protagonist of the original Black Ops. While tragedy struck him, Hudson and Woods back in Black Ops 2‘s 1989, that game’s multiple-choice narrative made Mason’s fate unclear. So, can you expect to see Mason in Black Ops 6?

Is Mason’s Death in Black Ops 2 Canon?

A mission in Panama back in Black Ops 2 saw Woods tricked into shooting his best friend, Alex Mason. This deception was caused by Menendez, real-world historical figure Manuel Noriega, and an unidentified mole within the CIA.

In this scene, Mason is at the end of a long road subdued by two guards with a bag over his head. Menendez fired a sniper rifle at him, believing him to be Menendez. This key moment was one of the scenes where Black Ops 2’s branching narrative came into effect. Players could either shoot Alex Mason in the head, resulting in a stiff death animation and his decisive death or shoot him in the lower body. If he’s shot in the legs, for example, he will sort of stumble and fall backward, struggling a bit before he reaches the ground. If this happens, Mason will reappear in a post-credits scene at the end of Black Ops 2, reuniting with his son David and Frank Woods at the latter’s nursing home.

In the lead-up to Black Ops 6‘s launch, Treyarch repeatedly stated and doubled down on the fact that the version of events in which Alex Mason was dead is canon. However, a key point of Black Ops 6 marketing is that “The Truth Lies” and no one can be trusted; leading players to question if this applies to Treyarch.

An official timeline video, “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – The Story So Far” poured more fuel on the fire. Starting at about a minute and three seconds into the video, a clip is shown of Mason falling to the ground after Woods shot him. However, the footage in the video depicts the version of events in which Mason is later revealed to have survived. So, with how deliberate Treyarch is with its Black Ops campaigns and Zombies Easter eggs and lore, fans have assumed this is no accident and believe they have spotted Mason at the end of the Black Ops 6 campaign.

Related: Black Ops 6 Zombies: How To Do the Zipline Glitch

Is Mason the Mystery Man at the End of Black Ops 6?

After the final mission of the Black Ops 6 Campaign, there is a cutscene two weeks later in which Daniel Livingstone, one of the CIA’s deputy directors, meets with Marshall, Woods, and Adler. In it, he gives them the green light and a blank check to continue to hunt down the Pantheon, an evil faction that has infiltrated the CIA in hopes of taking it over from the inside.

At the end of this cutscene, players are shown a mysterious shadowy man working at a computer as Livingstone confirms that Pantheon still has people within the CIA, and the Black Ops team is needed in Avalon to hunt them down. While many fans have speculated this man is Alex Mason, the actual answer seems to be a little less exciting.

The mystery man at the end of Black Ops 6 can also be spotted earlier in the Campaign, in the very first mission where Livingstone is interrogating Marshall, Woods, and Harrow. He is in the back of the room. Obviously, if this was Mason – who Woods at the time thought was dead – he’d have a bit more of a reaction. Instead, this man appears to be a character called Jackson Caine. He is an Operator Call of Duty fans can play as and the leader of the Crimson One faction who is hunting down the Rogue Black Ops team. It seems to reason that with this ending cutscene, Treyarch and Raven are setting up the post-launch story of Black Ops 6, which is set to see players head to Avalon in Warzone.

And that’s whether Mason is in Black Ops 6.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.