Alex Mason

"Your name is Alex Mason. You were born in Fairbanks, Alaska. In 1961 you served in a CIA assassination team known as Operation 40."

- Interrogator

Captain Alex Mason is a CIA agent and former Marine Force Recon Captain. He is the protagonist and main playable character in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Mason is voiced by actor.

Early Life & Military Career
Mason was born on June 3, 1933 and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska; the geographical proximity of his home state to Communist Russia brought the threat of the Cold War much closer to his doorstep than most Americans. This was a key contributor to his fervent anti-Communist ideals and eventually led to his enlistment in the USMC. He spent his youth hunting elk and grizzlies in the Alaskan wilderness with his father (a WWII veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart for wounds received during action at the Makin Atoll); as such, he is adept in cold weather environments and is an excellent sniper; at the age of 23 he became the youngest Wimbledon Cup winner in the history of the marksmanship competition.

He was recruited to SAD/SOG at the age of 25 after an exemplary term of service with the Marines. Having served with distinction since joining the Agency, Mason has a long standing friendship with many of his fellow Agency colleagues and shows a particular kinship with operative Frank Woods. Always itching for action, Mason's tendency towards impulsiveness is the one trait that may not have been completely "trained out of him." However, his close friend Woods is well aware of this, and knows exactly when and how to rein him in.

Family Obligations
The information stated below is referenced from files found in Alex Mason's CIA account.

A few years after Alex came back from Vorkuta to join the SOG, his mother fell ill and his father called him and his siblings to her death bed. Mason failed to arrive, leaving a bad impression on his father and his sister, Marion. The two sent a few more letters to Alex but he failed to reply to any of these. From then his father considered that his son died in Vorkuta. Marion had also let Mason know that he could stay with her if he needed to, and that her children still loved their "hero," uncle Alex.

Service in Afghanistan
The information presented in the following section only appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS)

In the early 1950s, Mason served as a United States Marine in Afghanistan. Shortly after his service there, he joined the CIA.

Operation 40
"You ready to make history?"

- Mason to Woods before killing Castro's double.

In 1961, Mason is a member of a CIA task force known as Operation 40. Mason and fellow Operation 40 members Joseph Bowman and Frank Woods infiltrate Cuba prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion to carry out Operation Zapata, the assassination of Fidel Castro. Using the distraction caused by the Bay of Pigs invasion, Mason, Bowman, and Woods raid a compound where Castro is reportedly living. Mason and Woods encounter Castro with a mistress in his bedroom; Mason shoots and kills Castro.

During their escape, Cuban military forces rapidly turn the tables on the U.S.-supported Cuban rebels and swarm the airfield where Op 40's escape plane is located. While Mason, Bowman, and Woods make it to the plane, Mason bails out just before takeoff to clear the runway of Cuban military vehicles. Mason is subdued and captured by Cuban troops. Regaining consciousness, Mason watches as Fidel Castro, alive and well (the "Castro" Mason shot was a double), turns him over to Soviet General Nikita Dragovich as a "gift of their new alliance" and Dragovich says he has plans for him.

Imprisonment at Vorkuta
"I'd given up hope of ever gettin' out. But Viktor Reznov found a way."

- Mason to his interrogators.

Mason is transported to a Soviet labor camp at Vorkuta, Russia. There, Dragovich had Friedrich Steiner brainwash Mason; Mason is implanted with the knowledge to interpret the outgoing broadcasts from Dragovich's numbers station, and is also programmed to become a Soviet sleeper agent with the primary purpose of assassinating U.S. President John F. Kennedy. However, Mason's willpower resisted the programming, but they eventually succeeded. Then, Viktor Reznov, a former hero of the Red Army from Call of Duty: World at War who was betrayed by Dragovich and his underling Colonel Lev Kravchenko, successfully sabotages Mason's brainwash, programming him to also kill Steiner, Kravchenko, and Dragovich out of revenge.

By Mason's account, it was 6–7 weeks after his arrival at Vorkuta that he was then thrown into the labor force. There it did not take long for him to clash with prisoners loyal to Reznov. The fights got both Mason and Reznov each 1 month of solitary confinement, in which they both became fast friends. Sometime later, Mason and Reznov plot their escape from Vorkuta. On October 6, 1963, the Vorkuta prisoners initiate a riot and charge out of the mines and the breakout begins. Mason escapes back to the U.S. while Reznov dies helping him escape; Mason at that moment was unaware he was ever brainwashed.

Operation Flashpoint
"It's Weaver. He's burnt"

— Mason informing Woods of Weaver's compromise. Upon his return to the USA, Mason is escorted by his new handler Jason Hudson and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to the Pentagon, where he is given direct orders from President Kennedy to begin Operation Flashpoint: Mason and his team must locate and kill Dragovich and sabotage the Soviet space program. Throughout the meeting, Mason hears the numbers, causing him to experience everything as though it was a dream; when speaking with Kennedy, Mason hallucinates taking a pistol and pointing it at Kennedy, meaning he was at least partially under Dragovich's control, although resisting it.

On November 17, 1963, Mason and the CIA infiltrate a Soviet Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan per Operation Flashpoint. The Soviets were already aware of this attack by capturing of Grigori Weaver, a CIA double agent who was compromised by Kravchenko. Mason and his team are able to rescue Weaver and fight their way to the control bunker for the Soyuz 2 rocket, but are unable to abort the launch.

Mason uses a Valkyrie Rocket to destroy Soyuz 2 in mid-air, then the Operation 40 squad begins a sweep of the facility to eliminate the surviving members of the Ascension group, a group of former Nazi scientists who had been collaborating with the Soviets, and to hunt down Dragovich. They corner Dragovich in his limousine and destroy it, but rather than verify Dragovich's death, Mason decides to move on after being told by Woods that the explosion would not have left anything recognizable. Woods and Mason assume Dragovich is dead, but this is later proven to be far from the truth.

It is worth noting that five days after Flashpoint, on November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated. It is implied that Mason may have assassinated him while under brainwashing from Dragovich. It is first hinted in the level Revelations, when Mason shouts, "Proceed...to...target. Oswald...compromised." It is also seen at the end of the game, when Mason has Dragovich pinned down. Mason yells at Dragovich "You tried to make me kill my President!" to which Dragovich replies in a mocking tone: "TRIED?" Lastly, there is a black and white photo of Mason in Dallas at the same time Kennedy was assassinated.

Imprisonment in Cuba
It is known that Mason, along with Sgt. Michael Shaw were captured while on a secret mission in Cuba in 1967. A rescue team, led by Sgt. Thomas Hayes, were sent to rescue them on November 10, 1967, but due to bad intel, they were only able to escape with Shaw. Mason eventually escaped, but it is never explained in game how.

Vietnam, Laos and Kravchenko
"Woods! You look like hammered shit!"

- Mason to Woods, joking about his appearance.



Almost five years later, in 1968, Mason joined the SOG unit led by Frank Woods and was sent to Vietnam for the purpose of searching for covert Russian operations in Vietnam and Laos. After landing at Khe Sanh to meet up with Woods and the rest of his old unit, the hill of Khe Sanh comes under attack by NVA forces. Mason, Woods, and Special Agent Hudson repel the beginning of the attack before the SOG leaves for its mission.

In Hue City, they attempt to pick up a Soviet defector with vital information of Soviet involvement in the war. Inside a safe room, Mason believes he is reunited with Reznov, "the defector", although "Reznov" is a figment of his imagination and the real one died after Mason got on the train from Vorkuta. After collecting the intel, the team leaves Hue city.

While heading north into Communist territory, Mason's helicopter is shot down but, spurred on by a hallucinated image of Reznov, he escapes the wreckage. Mason and the rest of the team silently enter a village where they sabotage Vietcong equipment. Afterwards, Mason clears out a "rat tunnel" and retrieve a Soviet operations book from Kravchenko's office. The tunnel begins to collapse and Mason barely escapes with his life.

The intel leads them to a Soviet cargo plane downed in Laos which was believed to be carrying some sort of chemical weapon. Mason remembers stories Reznov had told him about a nerve gas called Nova 6, originally developed by Nazi scientist Friedrich Steiner, but commandeered by General Dragovich and reproduced by Daniel Clarke. After combat up the river to the crash site, the SOG team is set upon by both VC and Spetsnaz before making their way into the plane. There, they find the Soviets have already retrieved the cargo and were waiting for them to arrive in the valley below. After an explosive fight, the plane wreckage tumbles down a cliff and the team is taken prisoner by the Spetsnaz for the second time.

At a VC compound, Mason, Woods, and Bowman are forced to play Russian Roulette. Bowman defiantly insults his captors, prompting their Russian contact to club him to death with a pipe. Woods plays, choosing an empty chamber, whispering to Mason that the next one is loaded. Mason shoots the VC leader in the chest and takes his pistol, fighting out of the compound and killing the Russian. Woods and Mason commandeer a Hind and fly it to Kravchenko's compound, where they battle to his office along with Reznov and attack him. Mason is overpowered and Kravchenko begins to repeatedly kick him in the face, before being stabbed by Woods. In his dying breath, Kravchenko pulls the pins on his grenades, before Woods throws Kravchenko and himself out of the office window, leaving Mason the only, presumed, survivor of his SOG team, the imaginary Reznov not withstanding.

Hunting Steiner with "Reznov"
"How many times?! Steiner was at Rebirth Island! We had to kill Steiner!"

- Mason to his interrogators.

A letter in Kravchenko's office shows Steiner is overseeing Nova 6 operations on Rebirth Island in the Aral Sea. Mason infiltrates the island with imaginary Reznov at his side, stowing away in an empty crate being handled on the island. When the crane carrying the crate sets it down, they exit the crate and proceed with making their way to the labs, Mason kills a worker with his own Tomahawk and proceeds to hide in the shadow with Reznov to avoid a spotlight from an Mi-8 Hip, the pair move on until they see an armed soldier patrolling the area, Mason kills him with the Tomahawk after a brief struggle and takes his weapon.

After proceeding some more, the two attempt to climb up the lab building via ladder, during which Mason dispatches of an enemy that looks down the ladder by pulling him down and taking his KS-23. They attempt to access the labs through the rooftops, when suddenly an explosion in the distance occurs, with the base going to full-alert. Mason tells Reznov that it is the CIA assaulting the island to take Steiner alive, the two pick up their pace to get to Steiner first, going down an elevator shaft, and breach the laboratories from there, carving through troops and scientists alike to get to Steiner. They eventually clear the facility out, and enter Steiner's lab.

Steiner is contacting Hudson, desperately asking them to hurry up and extract him from the island, as Dragovich's men are executing personnel on the island, Mason then confronts Steiner, who is shocked that Mason has managed to reach him, Reznov than begins to beat and executes Steiner. Hudson and Weaver manage to make it to the lab, and try entering the lab from a window by shooting it, but it is bulletproof, forcing the pair to break it with a crate, but by the time they enter the lab, they are too late, as Mason witnesses Reznov shoot Steiner.

After witnessing the events from Hudson's perspective, it is finally revealed that Reznov is a figment of Mason's imagination, and he is the one actually executing Steiner. As stated above, they break the bulletproof glass and enter the room too late, as Mason shoots Steiner in the head, and then he shoots Weaver in the arm when Weaver tries to apprehend him. Hudson then tackles and disarms Mason, Mason punches Hudson in the face, forcing Hudson to pistol-whip Mason, rendering him unconscious. With Steiner dead, they leave the island with Mason as their only link to the numbers, leading to his interrogation.

Interrogation and Redemption
Following his apprehension by Hudson and Weaver at Rebirth Island, Mason is interrogated ruthlessly. With Steiner's death, Mason is their only link to the numbers station and the impending Nova 6 attack by sleeper agents in the capital cities of every state in the U.S. In addition, the President was prepared to launch a full nuclear strike against the Soviet Union in retaliation. If the numbers station could not be located and neutralized before Dragovich sent the signal to attack, World War III would break out.



After forcing Mason to relive his experiences leading up to the present date, Hudson had yet to learn anything from Mason. With DEFCON 2 declared, Hudson reveals himself to Mason out of desperation and removes his restraints. Mason knocks Hudson out and makes his way through the interrogation facility, remembering his brainwashing at Vorkuta, realizing that all of his encounters with Reznov after Vorkuta were imagined, as Reznov had actually died during the breakout. Mason also remembers how to translate the numbers broadcasts. After being subdued by Hudson, Mason translates the number sequences and explains that the numbers station is on the Soviet cargo ship Rusalka, which Mason had originally seen during his first meeting with Dragovich in 1961.

Mason, Hudson, and Weaver raid the Rusalka, located in waters southwest of Cuba. In the cargo ship's hold, they discover an antenna with a tether leading into the depths of the ocean. While a U.S. Navy fleet is en route to destroy the Rusalka, Mason insists on entering the submerged numbers station to kill Dragovich once and for all. After fighting through the numbers station as it comes under fire, Mason finds the console controlling the numbers broadcasts and attempts to deactivate it, but is knocked away by Dragovich. Hudson comes to Mason's aid, distracting Dragovich and allowing Mason to pull him down. Mason strangles Dragovich, then escapes the imploding numbers station with Hudson. With the station destroyed and Dragovich dead, the crisis is averted.

Operation Charybdis
According to the unlocked Intel in the final mission, Mason never fully recovered from his brainwashing as he still hears Reznov's voice after killing Dragovich, making the CIA suspicious of Mason's actions (and presumably his connection to the JFK assassination). Weaver and Hudson became targets of suspicion as well for their association with Mason and their supposed complicity in gathering top secret information for Mason. Sometime in 1978, Mason's decision to chase an as of yet unknown lead led the CIA to deem him "burnt" and a threat to national security, along with Hudson and Weaver, who had escaped to South Africa with him. As of October 28, 1978, the CIA was making plans to form a joint task force with MI-6 in order to find and eliminate Mason, Hudson, and Weaver in what they dubbed Operation Charybdis. What became of the three after this operation was launched is so far unknown.

Call of Duty: Black Ops (DS)
Mason appears once, and is mentioned another time in Call of Duty: Black Ops DS. He appears in the mission "Behind Enemy Lines" and "New Alliance" (His voice is different from the Console versions, and the player can only hear him in New Alliance) in Afghanistan, where he helps Yuri Raslov defect to the U.S. He is also mentioned in the level "The Recovery Job," as he was imprisoned in a converted convent with Michael Shaw. A rescue team is sent in to free Mason and Shaw, but it turns out that they are not able to free Mason. Oddly, the rescue misson takes place in 1967, six years after Operation 40. This may mean, if it is indeed the same Mason, that he went on a second mission to Cuba, and was once again, captured. After this, he is never mentioned in-game.