Frank Woods

"YOU CAN'T KILL MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

- Frank Woods' famous quote.

Master Sergeant Frank Woods is one of the main protagonists in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Woods was part of the Studies and Observation Group (SOG) along with Alex Mason and Joseph Bowman. He is also one of the main protagonists in Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified; he appears mostly as a NPC, although he is playable in the level "Suffer with Me", and several missions in Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified. Throughout Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Woods appears as a narrator for several campaign missions, past and present.

Early life and military career
Frank Woods was born in 1930 and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He served in the United States Marine Corps, during which he had much combat experience fighting in the Korean War. This gained him a reputation that led the CIA to recruit him for their Special Activities Division.

Bay of Pigs Invasion
"Movement inside. Get in position. This is it... Ready to make history?"

- Woods to Mason as they prepare to breach the bedroom



Woods is first seen in a Cuban bar with Mason and Bowman talking to Carlos in "Operation 40" where they make plans for Carlos' militia to assist in the takedown of Fidel Castro. Woods talks to Carlos about the location of Castro. Suddenly, the police arrive, and when a Tropas Officer questions Mason, Woods stabs his hand to the table, smashes a bottle across his face, and then executes him. The squad flees to the streets, where the police are waiting for them. The squad fights their way through a police-infested street and in an alleway, Carlos provided a car where they flee for Castro's compound. We next see Woods overlooking Castro's compound as he, Bowman, and Mason zipline into it. While Carlos and the rebels attempt to distract Castro's bodyguards in the airfield, Woods leads the raid into the compound. At some point, Bowman splits from the group and continues the search for Castro along the rooftops. Woods and Mason fight their way to Castro's bedroom, where Mason executes Castro with an ASP and either Woods or Mason kill his mistress. Regrouping with Bowman, Woods leads an escape to Carlos's C-130 where Mason jumps off and sacrifices himself for the escape of his squad. Later leading to his capture by Dragovich and Kravchenko, it is revealed here that the Castro they assassinated was a double, and the real Fidel Castro then turns Mason over to the Soviets, leading to Mason's two year imprisonment and then their prolonged escape from Vorkuta.

Operation Flashpoint
"No, no, no, somethin's wrong. There's way too much activity."

- Woods

Woods later leads his team to Baikonur, U.S.S.R., on a mission to disrupt the Soviet Space Program at the Missile Launch Facility, and also to retrieve the captured Weaver. Woods and Mason kill two Soviets idling and disguise themselves as the enemy. Woods is somewhat fluent in Russian, as 2 more Soviet guards talk to him in their language and he answers back. After being exposed and fighting back, Mason and Woods zip-line and smash through a window. They kill a few Soviets and finally save Weaver. They go on to the Auxiliary Control bunker, with hopes to abort the launch. They fight their way to the missile and Mason detonates the room with the scientists in it, killing them, but failing to stop the missile. However, Mason uses a guided missile to destroy it. As they can't stay in the open, they move to the tunnels, with plans of still killing the Ascension group. As the mission comes to an end, Kravchenko escapes and there is no sign of Dragovich. It is assumed that he perished while inside his limousine.

Capture, Escape, and Presumed Death
"FUUUUUUUCK!"

- Woods playing Russian roulette

Woods returns as SOG's team leader in Khe Sanh, Vietnam, and along with Jason Hudson and Mason, joined the fight against a major assault on the base by the NVA.

In the mission "The Defector", Woods led the team to Hue City to recover a Soviet defector along with a dossier that would unravel Dragovich's master plan. While they managed to recover the dossier, extraction became a fight for their lives amid a massive assault by the NVA on Hue City.

Following on the intel disclosed by the dossier, Woods led the SOG team to Laos to uncover Soviet presence there, specifically those concerning Project Nova headed by Kravchenko, under orders from Dragovich. But it was at Laos, during the mission "Crash Site", Woods and the team found the shot-down Soviet cargo plane that carried Nova 6, but were subsequently captured by Dragovich and Kravchenko's men after a firefight.

During "Payback", Woods and Mason used the chance when they were forced to play Russian Roulette by the Viet Cong to stage their escape. They then proceed to take a Hind from Soviet forces, and destroy several supply stops for North Vietnamese forces along the way to Kravchenko's compound. In the final part of the mission when Woods and Mason are attempting to kill Kravchenko in his office, Mason was brutally beaten when Woods, sneaking up behind Kravchenko, stabs Kravchenko in the back. At his last breath, Kravchenko pulls a string attached to the pins of the grenade belt strapped to his body. Thinking quickly, Woods tackles Kravchenko out of the window, apparently sacrificing himself to save Mason as the grenades explode. Woods is presumed dead by everyone, including Mason and later by Hudson and Weaver during their interrogation of him.

Aftermath
"Kravchenko. When I sliced that bastard open, it saved everyone's ass. He comes to first, BOOM! Welcome to the Hanoi Hilton. Six months later, they shipped me over to Da Nang. And this fucking place made the Hilton look good. We lost 17 in my group. By '72, it was just me. I was not gonna die in a FUCKING SWAMP!!"

- Woods to David Mason on his survival.

In reality, both Frank Woods and Lev Kravchenko survived their confrontation; Woods managed to get Kravchenko's grenade belt loose and used the loading bay next to the window to get the grenade belt over it, using it as a "Sump" so the wall can absorb the grenade and create little damage to Woods.

Despite his knife wound, Kravchenko was able to recover more quickly than Woods, capturing him and sending him to the Hanoi Hilton. In a message from a mysterious informant codenamed "X" to Mason, Woods was reported as being the only prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton.

Six months later, he was moved to another POW camp in Da Nang. By 1972, he was the last of 17 prisoners. Determined not to die in captivity, Woods eventually engineered an escape and got back home safely.

Back in the CIA
"Thanks to your old man. He put it all on the line for me... for honor... and friendship."

- Woods to David about his rescue.

Woods was back to operating in the CIA by 1975. By the 1980's, Frank Woods was operating in Angola on behalf of the CIA, eventually being captured by Raul Menendez. Menendez tortured Woods, killing his men in front of him, in order to learn what the CIA knew about Menendez. Woods was eventually locked in a container with his dead comrades, and left to die of dehydration and starvation. Eventually, Jason Hudson and Alex Mason rescue him and found him in critical condition. From that point on, Woods would be consumed by an overwhelming thirst for revenge against Raul Menendez.

Woods and Mason meet up with Tian Zhao, a future Chinese General, to stop a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They managed to stop the threat and found out that Lev Kravchenko was leading the invasion and interrogate him. Kravchenko refused to cooperate and was killed. Woods, Hudson, Mason, and Zhao then get turned on by the Mujahideen and get left and stranded somewhere in the desert but were saved by strangers.

Alex Mason and Frank Woods eventually led an invasion on Raul Menendez' home in Wasa King, Nicaragua. They intruded the place and Woods attempted to kill Menendez once he saw him but Mason restrained him. Woods managed to throw a grenade but it was knocked off it's course by Mason and bounced into Menendez' room where Menendez' sister, Josefina was. After the explosion, Woods found out about the girl and deeply regretted the murder.

Failed Capture
Woods, at the age of 59, went to Panama with Mason to capture Manuel Noriega, a high value target that was codenamed, False Profit, who was highly involved with Menendez' arms dealings. They managed to capture him and escort him to safety where they told him to set up a meeting with Menendez where Menendez would be blinded and shot by Woods. Woods climbed up a building and saw their target's head bagged and restrained by Noriega's men. Woods shot the man, and exited the building and walks towards the corpse. During their walk, Noriega smiled, which made Woods increasingly suspicious. Woods broke out into a run and removed the bag from the corpse/body's head and found it to be none other than Alex Mason. Woods brought out a handgun on Noriega but was shot in his right knee by the actual Menendez, who continued to shoot Woods' other leg, disabling him for life. Woods continued to struggle but is knocked unconscious.

Suffering
Woods woke up to find a young David Mason in a trance, alongside Alex Mason's corpse/body and Hudson tied to a chair, with Menendez wielding a shotgun. Menendez said that one more person had to die out of those three, and if there wasn't a decision then all of the them would be killed. Hudson sacrificed himself, and after killing him, Menendez showed David the pendant he was wearing. Menendez then told David that he should go to Menendez the next time he sees it. David snapped out of his trance, saw his dead father, and started crying. Woods crawled towards the boy to comfort him. Woods then raised David himself as he had no other family to go to.

Retirement
By 2025, aged 95, Frank is residing in a CIA retirement home called "The Vault". On April 19, he is visited by Raul Menendez and is given a heart-shaped pendant that has the faces of two lovers on it. He is then whispered the words: "Now it begins". Later that day, Frank received a visit from a squad belonging to the Joint Special Operations Command. The squad has Frank Woods' long time friend Mason's son, David leading the team. Frank then told David about Raul Menendez's rise to power starting from his rescue by David's father. Frank was later visited by David again who asks Frank what he was doing in Panama during the night his father died. Frank encouraged David to kill Menendez.



Ending
Depending on the player's actions, Woods will be seen in different endings. Primarily, there are three major cutscenes. The first two are dependent upon Woods' actions during "Suffer With Me". Should Woods shoot a headshot upon Alex Mason, David Mason and Woods will be seen at Alex Mason's grave. However, if Woods shoots a non-lethal shot (such as a shot to the leg, arm, foot, anywhere but the head, chest and torso), Alex Mason comes back to greet Woods. Woods initially thinks its a hallucination, to which Mason will reply that Woods is a lousy shot. David Mason will also appear later on and finally be reunited after thirty years with his father, at which point Woods leaves the room. The final cutscene, which occurs if Menendez is alive and breaks out of prison, features Menendez coming to the Vault one year after his capture, and later executing Woods with the heart-shaped pendant. Raul then placed Frank's body on his bed before killing himself over his sister's grave.

Video
Video:Call of Duty Black Ops - Woods Trailer (Official HD)

Treyarch's tribute video to Woods for his "The Best Video Game Character of the Year" Award

Trivia

 * It is odd that Woods did not get promoted after all his actions, but it is seen in "Pyrrhic Victory" that his sergeant tattoos has the master sergeant sign, so it is possible that he did get promoted. Due to the fact that most higher ranked soldiers are placed further from the line, Woods might have simply turned down the promotions offered so he could continue fighting.
 * Frank Woods is the third former NPC to be playable in the Call of Duty series, the first being John Price and Viktor Reznov. All three are similar to each other, as they all have a strong friendship with their teammate protagonist (Alex Mason, John "Soap" MacTavish and Dimitri Petrenko respectively).
 * In "Pyrrhic Victory", when Mason saved Woods from drowning, his wounds could have been badly infected since the river water is dirty.
 * Though Woods is a Sergeant, in the mission "Payback" at the start of the mission in the chopper, the player can see briefly that it says "Pvt. Woods".
 * Woods has Marine Corps Sergeant stripes tattooed on his left arm.
 * In "Operation 40" Woods is seen with no tattoos; by "Executive Order" he has gotten a few of them, one of which reading "115," a reference to Element 115. In earlier designs, a tattoo that read "SOG TOUGH" was in place of the 115 tattoo.
 * Mason, Woods, Bowman, Shepherd, Price, Soap and PFC. Allen are the only characters that are part of multiple factions in the Call of Duty series.
 * Players who buy the Hardened or Prestige edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops receive a Woods avatar outfit.
 * The outfit can also be purchased on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, on the marketplace and in the Alter Ego store, respectively.
 * Woods and Kravchenko are both born on March 20th.
 * On the computer on the menu screen, the player can log into Woods's profile with the username "fwoods" and the password "PHILLY".
 * In the multiplayer maps Nuketown and Nuketown 2025, Woods' name is on one of the mailboxes; the other says "Mason".
 * In the flashback in revelations of "Executive Order", Woods is seen wearing his SOG gear instead of the Russian disguise.
 * Woods was voted "The Best Video Game Character of the Year" at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards. Two modified scenes were shot for the occasion.
 * Despite unlockable intel saying Woods' eyes are brown, in the mission "S.O.G.", one can see Woods' eyes are blue. Woods' eyes are also blue in the Call of Duty: Black Ops II reveal trailer.
 * According to an early casting call and texture file names, Woods was initially named "Frank Barnes".
 * Woods is 95 years old as of 2025. This makes Woods, so far, the oldest living character in the Call of Duty series.
 * Woods is the fourth character to have his reflection seen when he is being played as, the others being John Price, David Mason, and Raul Menendez
 * 95-year-old Woods is featured alongside Menendez and the members of Avenged Sevenfold during a music video for the song Carry On, which is played after the credits of Call of Duty: Black Ops II. In the video, Woods is shown walking and playing drums.
 * It is also likely that he can walk after the shotgun wounds inflicted by Menendez, as he jumps out of his wheelchair "I'm ready to roll baby!" where he then explains to Menendez "I'm just fucking lazy...". However, as the content is non-canonical, it is most likely only done for the humor.
 * Woods seemed to be the most psychologically tortured in the Black Ops series, as he had witnessed his men killed before his own eyes at least three times; once in Call of Duty: 'Black Ops, where he witnessed Bowman's death in "Payback", another time prior to "Pyrrhic Victory", and twice in "Suffer with Me" where he killed Mason (Player determined) and witnessed Jason Hudson executed by Menendez, although he can prevent getting Mason killed by shooting a non-lethal shot).
 * In one of the player-determined cutscenes, where David Mason and Frank Woods visits Alex Mason's grave, Woods' shoulder insignia is for a Master Sergeant.
 * In Woods' room at The Vault, there is a plaque with Woods' medals along with a picture of the Modern Warfare 2 Navy SEALs faction insignia, despite the fact that Woods served in the United States Marine Corps.
 * Woods' Barrett M82A1's bodywork in "Suffer with Me" looks different than other Barretts and it has the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Barrett .50 cal's scope.
 * The only time Woods does not wear his headband in Call of Duty: 'Black Ops is in "Operation 40", and the only time Woods wears his headband in Call of Duty: 'Black Ops II is in "Time and Fate".
 * Woods is the only playable character whose rank is seen in the briefing of a mission in Black Ops II.
 * Woods favorite weapon in Call of Duty: Black Ops appears to be Commando.
 * Woods is the only one of two characters to make an appearance in every ending in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the other being Raul Menendez.
 * It is unknown as to why Menendez did not kill him after visiting him, it is possible that Menendez wanted to let Woods live so he could see the aftermath of his work, and then he would kill him.