Frank Woods

"YOU CAN'T KILL ME!"

- Frank Woods in Payback

Sergeant Frank Woods is one of the main characters in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Woods was part of the Studies and Observation Group. He also appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops II , as an NPC and a playable character. He also appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified.

Early life and military career
Woods was born 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". 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 to a car where they escape. We next see Woods at Castro's compound as he, Bowman, and Mason zipline into it. While Carlos and the rebels make the distraction 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 2 year imprisonment and then 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

thumb|300px|right|Woods in Vietnam in the mission "S.O.G."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
"Mr. Mason-- Woods is alive and remains the sole remaining American guest at the Hanoi Hilton. Thought you should know."

- "X" to Mason about Woods' whereabouts

In reality, both Frank Woods and Lev Kravchenko survived their confrontation; Kravchenko's grenade belt apparently separated from them during the fall and detonated far enough away that they were not killed by the blast.

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 '72, 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.

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 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 captured by the Afghan Army 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, without knowing that the lady inside that home was his sister. So 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 off its mark and bounced into Menendez' room where Menendez' sister 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 manage 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 climbs up a building and sees their target's head bagged and restrained by Noriega's men. Woods shoots the man, and exits the building and walks towards the corpse. During their walk, Noriega smiles, which made Woods increasingly suspicious. Woods breaks out into a run and removes the bag from the corpse's head and finds it to be none other than Alex Mason. Woods brings out a handgun on Noriega but is shot in his right knee by the actual Menendez, who continues to shoot Woods' other leg, disabling him for life. Woods continues to struggle but is knocked unconscious.

Suffering
Woods wakes up to find David Mason in a trance, Alex Mason's corpse, Hudson tied to a chair, and Menendez wielding a shotgun. Menendez says that one more person must die and if there wasn't a decision then all of the them would be killed, Hudson sacrifices himself, so Menendez kills Hudson violently and shows David the pendant he was wearing and that David should come to Menendez the next time he sees it. David snaps out of his trance, sees his dead father and starts crying. Woods crawls 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, Woods 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, Woods received a visit from a squad belonging to the Joint Special Operations Command. The squad has Woods' long time friend Mason's son, David a part of it. Woods then told David about Raul Menendez's rise to power starting from his rescue by Mason's father. Woods was later visited by David again who asks Woods what he was doing in Panama during the day his father died. Woods encouraged Mason to get 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 and later executing Woods with the heart-shaped pendant.

Trivia

 * 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. However, in "S.O.G." and the levels after, other than "Payback", the "115" tattoo is changed to read "SOG TOUGH."
 * Mason, Woods, Bowman, Shepherd, 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 and PS3, on the marketplace and in the Alter Ego store, respectively.
 * Woods and Kravchenko are both born on March 20.
 * 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 map Nuketown, Woods' name is on one of the mailboxes; the other says "Mason".
 * 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 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 only playable in the mission Suffer with Me.
 * 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 Black Ops II. In the video, Woods is shown walking and playing drums.
 * 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 Black Ops, where he witnessed Bowman's death in Payback, another time prior to Pyrrhic Victory, and twice in Suffer with Me (he killed Mason and witnessed Jason Hudson executed by Menendez, although he can prevent getting Mason killed by shooting a non-lethal shot).
 * In the last cutscene, where David Mason and Frank Woods visits Alex Mason's grave, Woods' shoulder insignia is for a Master Sergeant.
 * In the dancing scene after Judgement Day, Woods said that he did not need the wheelchair he had which put Menendez in shock. This must have been a presumed joke because Menendez crippled his legs
 * Woods also said that the reason he was using the wheelchair was because he was lazy.

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