Alex Mason

"I don't know anything about any numbers!"

- Mason being tortured

Captain  Alex Mason is a Studies and Observation Group (SOG) operator and the main playable character in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Early Military Career
Born and raised in Alaska, the geographical proximity of his home state to Communist Russia brought the threat of the Cold War that 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 WW2 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 20 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, close friend Woods is well aware of this, and knows exactly when and how to rein him in.

Operation 40
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 in order to assassinate 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 body double), turns him over to Soviet General Nikita Dragovich as a "gift".

Imprisonment at Vorkuta
Mason is transported to a Soviet labor camp at Vorkuta, Russia. There, Dragovich has Friedrich Steiner brainwash Mason; Mason is implanted with the knowledge to interpret 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. At the same time, however, Viktor Reznov, a former hero of the Red Army who was betrayed by Dragovich and his underling Colonel Lev Kravchenko, also brainwashes Mason, programming him to kill Steiner, Kravchenko, and Dragovich out of revenge. Sometime after his brainwashing, Mason and Reznov plot their escape from Vorkuta. On October 6, 1963, the breakout succeeds and Mason escapes back to the U.S.; Mason remains unaware he was ever brainwashed.

S.O.G.
Upon his return to the U.S., Mason is made a member of the CIA's Studies and Observation Group, which also includes his former teammates Woods and Bowman. On November 10, 1963, 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 locate and kill Dragovich. Throughout the meeting, Mason recalls experiencing everything as though it was a dream; when speaking with Kennedy, Mason hallucinates taking a pistol and pointing it at Kennedy.

On November 17, 1963, Mason and the S.O.G. infiltrate a Soviet space center in Baikonur, Kazakhstan to kill Dragovich and sabotage the Soviet space program. The Soviets are already aware of this attack through information from Grigori Weaver, a CIA double agent who was compromised by Kravchenko. They rescue Weaver and attempt to abort the launch but fail and Mason destroys the Rocket. Before leaving they attempt to kill Dragovich and after a lot of searching they find and blow up his limo and leave not knowing that Dragovich was still alive.

Vietnam, Laos and Kravchenko
Almost five years later, in 1968, Mason's SOG unit 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 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 seconds after Mason got on the train from Vorkuta. After collecting the intel, the team leaves Hue.

While heading north into Communist territory, Mason's helicopter is shot down but his life is saved by fake Reznov. Mason and the rest of the team silently enter a village where they sabotage Vietcong equipment. After, Mason and "Reznov" clear 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 biological weapon. Mason remembers stories Reznov had told him about a horrible 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, SOG 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

At a VC compound, Mason, Woods, and Bowman are forced to play Russian Roulette. Bowman defiantly insults his captors, prompting their Russian contact to bludgeon him to death with a pipe. Woods plays and thankfully chooses an empty chamber, although he whisper to Mason that the next one is loaded. Mason shoots the VC leader in the throat 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, but he is stabbed by Woods. In his last breath, Kravchenko pulls the pins on his grenades, but Woods throws Kravchenko and himself out of the office window, saving Mason.

Hunting Steiner
A letter in Kravchenko's office shows Steiner is overseeing Nova 6 operations on Rebirth Island in the Aral Sea. Mason infiltrates the labs at the exact same time the CIA is battling through the island village. Special Agent Hudson find the office of Steiner seconds too late, as Mason has already reached the man and is getting ready to execute him in the name of Reznov. The CIA captures Mason after he shoots Steiner in the face and bring him back to the US.

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 Soviet 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, and finally understanding the meaning of the numbers broadcasts. After being subdued by Hudson, Mason 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.

Quotes

 * "I got you, Woods!" - Mason.
 * "UV-32's, assigned. 12mm Cannon, assigned." - Mason, checking the Helicopter controls in "Payback."
 * "Got it, gimme' the stick." - Mason awaiting control of the helicopter.
 * "Chain-load system on the 32's, nice." - Mason.
 * "Reznov! You nearly took a bullet!" - Mason, almost shooting Reznov when he jumped through a hole right in front of Mason in the tunnels in "Victor Charlie".
 * "Woods, you look like hammered shit!" - Mason to Woods.
 * "Dead." - Mason in "Victor Charlie" when Reznov asks him where Swift is.
 * "Clear. Let's fly this bird." - Mason says to Woods after they defeat the Russians guarding the Hind.
 * "Just be cool Woods, alright?" - Mason to Woods at the beginning of Operation 40.
 * "Fuck you!" Mason when asked his name while getting tortured.
 * "My name is Viktor Reznov, and I will have my revenge!" - Mason, said before killing Steiner.
 * "I swear to God that Woods was crying but he didn't show us any tears." - Mason commenting on Wood's reaction to the death of a U.S. Marine.

Trivia

 * The name Alex Mason bears astounding similarity to Alec Mason, the protagonist in the 2009 video game Red Faction: Guerrilla.
 * According to his dossier, Mason is 27 at the time of the game, is 5'11", 190lbs, has green eyes, and brown hair.
 * Mason is voiced by Sam Worthington.
 * Mason is one of the only playable characters to speak, and one of the few to do so under the player's control) like Jason Hudson, John "Soap" MacTavish, the Thermal Imaging TV Operator, Nichols (debatable), the characters in Finest Hour and "Stretch" Roger from Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (a playable crew member of a plane on the mission Liberators), Private First Class Joseph Allen (before Cliffhanger), and playable characters in Nazi Zombies: Tank Dempsey, Takeo Masaki, Edward Richtofen, Nikolai Belinski as well as the random Marines from Verrückt.
 * It was revealed in the Black Ops Single Player trailer that Mason's first name is Alex and that he holds the rank of Captain.
 * Mason is the third playable Captain in the Call of Duty series, the first being Captain MacTavish during Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and the second being Captain Price in the mission All Ghillied Up but being a Lieutenant.
 * It is possible that we have seen Mason's father, due to the fact he was a WW2 veteran who received the Purple Heart for his actions on Makin Atoll.


 * It is strongly implied that Mason assassinated President Kennedy. During his interrogation, Hudson informs Mason that there were long periods of time after his escape from Vorkuta that he went rogue and could not be accounted for. Also, while Mason is stumbling around after his interrogation, he mentions "Proceed...to...target! Oswald...compromised!" suggesting that he worked with Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK's suspected killer, and possibly that Oswald himself was also a sleeper agent like Mason. When Mason confronts Dragovich at numbers station, Dragovich's response to Mason's accusation that he tried to make Mason kill Kennedy ("Tried?") also implies Mason was responsible. At the end of the mission, footage of Kennedy's arrival in Dallas, Texas prior to the assassination shows Mason was in the crowd of onlookers who watched Kennedy disembark from Air Force One.
 * Mason's favorite pistol appears to be the Python
 * Accessing the CIA terminal database accounts of several supervisor-level personels, you'd discover that Alex Mason's regaining operational status was done, despite reservations from assessments and test as well as a widespread beliefs among the CIA staff, by the decision of President Kennedy, who handpicked Mason for Operation Flashpoint. That's why Mason got the "special treatment" - summoned to the Pentagon to meet the President.