Kill_All_Monkeys

You mispelled Hardee's. Yes I know the two are the same I'm already getting the Hardened edition, and even if I wasn't that still isn't enough to get me to go to either of those places.

You know who else doesn't speak with a German accent? Eddie from the Origins cutscene. All I can say to that is we're not even sure how much of what we saw was real or not. Also totally forgot about FIVE. Not sure how much credence there is to Picardo voicing MacNamara and The Shadow Man. In case you guys didn't know, Fred Tatasciore voices both Nikolai and Maxis and I think we can all agree they're two separate characters.

The map looks good though if I do say so myself.

I see nothing but vague exposition there alluding to her backstory.

I don't think the Shadow Man is anyone we've already seen. Certainly there could be connections made to previous maps but I find it extremely unlikely for him to be anyone but a brand new character created by Treyarch that drew inspiration from The Shadow and maybe a few other things. He does not speak with a German accent, so neither Maxis or Rictofen would be the mysterious figure. They also would likely have no interest in this group of characters either as Maxis is clearly more focused on the O4 and fixing the timeline with Samantha than dogging on people for their sins. The original Rictofen is now dead, or will soon be dead in the timeline if it is before The Giant. He was also not in the Aether at this point either and had no supernatural abilities other than the voices he heard in his head. Gary and Brock are stuck in that time loop in Shangri La and would likely have zero motivation to do such a thing. The N4 are also stuck in a loop, or dead at some point, and Treyarch would probably prefer to wash their hands of them anyway. We already know what the NO4 are up to, which also involves the O4. Sophia seems unlikely to me as there hasn't been enough told about her to sufficiently convince me she would don the guise of The Shadow Man and seek out corrupt individuals. The other scientists working with Rictofen as heard in the Moon radios are also probably dead, or in the new timeline will meet a similar fate to their now former colleague should they happen to meet Origins Rictofen. The scientists heard in Ascension I believe fall under the same category as Gary and Brock as mainly serving as a self contained story in a single map that helped moved the O4 along in the plot to the next map. They are also Russian and would probably not concern themselves with perfecting an American accent to torture some sinners who would no idea who they are anyway. Peter's fate is still somewhat up in the air for me but I see no motivation for him to do such a thing either. And if SoE is sometime in the early 40's then Peter is probably undercover at that moment in time. The only likely connection I see to past characters heard or mentioned are the other test subjects mentioned by Rictofen (ie the Mexican, though I doubt he would speak with a perfect American accent either) and the shadow portrait in Kino. There probably is a real connection there but I cannot think of any clues left in any maps besides that pointing to the identity of the character. So I think we really won't be able to determine anything until we actually get our hands on SoE or Treyarch releases new information about him.

It's probably jason todd. I probably found this funnier than I should have. literally LOL`d I just realized that I wasted a funny conclusion for a New Ultimate Shadow Man Theory. DAMN The Arkham Shadow Man

It's probably jason todd. I probably found this funnier than I should have.

Well ATVI said it had nothing to do with them, but Microsoft said they are working with ATVI to get it back on the store. Ever since this unnecessary partnership ATVI have had with Sony it seems like ATVI hates Microsoft, which means them allowing BC is extremely unlikely now :/. They don't hate Microsoft, we got screwed like that all the time here on the Sony side and it wasn't because of bias, it was purely because of the contract signed between Activision and Microsoft. I highly doubt whatever problem the Microsoft store is having is not because ATVI is trying to screw over xbox users now.

YAS! Was my favorite party game that got me into the wager matches from the first BO and was still fun in BO2. Here's hoping Sticks and Stones somehow makes a return as well, I enjoyed that mode quite a bit too.

Do you happen to have a picture of this poster on hand or a link? I've heard nothing about Brutus being shown in anything related to BO3.

Probably some SoE first because it will have been the first (Treyarch) zombies content in about 2 years. But the campaign has certainly caught my interest lately so I think I'm going to play through that first, also mainly to see if there are some juicy bonus zombie unlocks for beating it. Honestly I just want to play all 3 modes right away, that's how good this game is looking so far.

Well it lead me to create a new thread regarding a theory I had about that, and I didn't really take into account their being more than one map in any or all of the DLC's. Imma have to go edit though right now. The Giant, while interesting for the story, kind of came across to me as another one-off much like how Origins sort of was in BO2. If it was that pertinent to the story then surely it would've been included on the disk instead of being released as a bonus map where a lot of people may not be able to play it for quite some time. That is why I thought Treyarch may have been wanting to roll on ahead with this particular story line instead of focusing purely on the O4 again. Idk. Last time I checked SOE was going to be it's own complete storyline with connections to MOTD and the Original Story and wouldn't continue in the DLC. I think it would be in treyarch's best interest to finish what they started because they know what we are all expecting and if they just pull the rug on the whole thing their DLC sales will definitely drop. That's true, but it still just seems like some odd priorities in place here. During BO2 people were practically begging to have the O4 back front and center in the zombies storyline. And we did eventually get that, but only for one map at the very end and the characters weren't quite the same either. The only reasoning I can see SoE being released first is that given the reception of MotD compared to most of the rest of the maps in BO2 they just want to start with a map akin to that. It's just odd to me because it goes against what they've done before, which isn't to say it's impossible for them to do such a thing, I just get a feeling that they're wanting to return to an experience like the first Black Ops. If it's a good story I don't think DLC sales would drop if they were to follow this story more, especially if it still fit into the larger story.

This is sort of what I was trying to say, but also that the connection is that the purpose of The Shadow Man is similar to why Brutus was created for MotD (by the evil entity in control for that map). Someone, or something, created based on the image of someone from one of the characters' pasts (or all) designed to test him/her out much like Weasel. The other side of the coin is that if the Shadow Man is going to be a prominent character moving forward with the future DLC maps, then maybe he isn't tied to just one character but is more so of an agent meant to place these curse marks on people who have committed serious sins and see if they can redeem themselves when literally put through hell. I would go as far as to say this map and the 3 DLC he will be collecting one person from each map, with the 4 people chosen from each map being the 4 playable characters in the final map for some mission that the Shadow Man requires them for. This actually gives me an idea for a theory... I honestly don't see that happening. Treyarch needs the DLC space to continue the story from The Giant onwards considering there are so many questions that still need explaining. Unless they had more than one Zombies map each DLC Well it lead me to create a new thread regarding a theory I had about that, and I didn't really take into account their being more than one map in any or all of the DLC's. Imma have to go edit though right now. The Giant, while interesting for the story, kind of came across to me as another one-off much like how Origins sort of was in BO2. If it was that pertinent to the story then surely it would've been included on the disk instead of being released as a bonus map where a lot of people may not be able to play it for quite some time. That is why I thought Treyarch may have been wanting to roll on ahead with this particular story line instead of focusing purely on the O4 again.

Well I just watched a video from IGN where they casually mention how you'll be able to carry a loadout you created for campaign into zombies so unless there are some side modes not yet announced that allow you to create a class for zombies that they're aware of, I would take what they say about unofficial information with a grain of salt.

This is sort of what I was trying to say, but also that the connection is that the purpose of The Shadow Man is similar to why Brutus was created for MotD (by the evil entity in control for that map). Someone, or something, created based on the image of someone from one of the characters' pasts (or all) designed to test him/her out much like Weasel. The other side of the coin is that if the Shadow Man is going to be a prominent character moving forward with the future DLC maps, then maybe he isn't tied to just one character but is more so of an agent meant to place these curse marks on people who have committed serious sins and see if they can redeem themselves when literally put through hell. I would go as far as to say this map and the 3 DLC he will be collecting one person from each map, with the 4 people chosen from each map being the 4 playable characters in the final map for some mission that the Shadow Man requires them for. This actually gives me an idea for a theory...

I think there is a connection to MotD with him because the whole point of the story in MotD was the prisoners paying for their sins, and here we have a mysterious new figure who literally said the SoE 4's sins were an invitation for him to come perform his twisted sense of justice basically. This would suggest it's Weasel given how his story ended in MotD, but there is also a chance he is to SoE as Brutus was to MotD. Brutus was a sinister recreation of the man we see Weasel shank in the intro to MotD. Now the interesting connection there is that Weasel was arguably the main character of MotD, so this leads me to believe that The Shadow Man will have some sort of connection to one playable character in SoE that the story will revolve around much like Weasel in MotD. I currently believe this to be Nero as he appeared to be into some dark stuff and we know a lot of his real life inspiration already. But it could still be any one of the 4, we won't know for sure until we have more information.

I think he is roleplaying as the cosmic silverback, hence mentioning stuff like the chickens. I thought they were a drop that helped you though XD shows how much I know. Chickens were very bad for the cosmic silverback, because it meant MOAR BULLETS! And I do believe he's technically role playing as cyber silverback, the new antagonist of the DOA2, and brother to the cosmic silverback. Oh my god. Cosmic Silver back has many brothers. My mind just got blown. When I saw that I always assumed it was reference to how multiple cosmic silverbacks would appear after round 40 in DOA, but after hearing about DOA2 I never imagined it was hinting at a sequel all this time.

@Shootinfish It's similar in looks to the Afterlife symbol but I think that may simply be a pattern for a frame or something that was either an intentional or unintentional nod to MotD. With this new Cthulu mode being teased in the trailers I doubt we'll be seeing Afterlife again unless we get another map in Purgatory/Hell like MotD.

I think he is roleplaying as the cosmic silverback, hence mentioning stuff like the chickens. I thought they were a drop that helped you though XD shows how much I know. Chickens were very bad for the cosmic silverback, because it meant MOAR BULLETS! And I do believe he's technically role playing as cyber silverback, the new antagonist of the DOA2, and brother to the cosmic silverback.

I think he's going to be the last or second to last to be unlocked, he will most definitely end up being my main one though.

Thank you for the clarification, I was worried much of the most heated discussions would be stifled by general confusion over what is or isn't acceptable as spoiler-necessary.

Not exactly pertinent to the discussion but I feel like I have to point out with Nero's crime, did he do that in front of an audience or behind closed doors? Because the latter would be much harder to prove as an accident, much less receive life insurance money for. Also Nero's voice sounds much less outlandish in this trailer than in the reveal one.

The whole thing has been a bit confusing for me. The official Spoilers announcement states that spoiler content includes officially released Story Content even from Call of Duty's social media accounts, so I honestly don't know anymore. I'll admit, even though I put my thoughts from the trailer in a spoiler, this particular policy does kind of make things difficult for future stuff. Will we not be able to freely discuss any future trailer for DLC maps and whatnot? Also what becomes fair game once the game is released? I know it will be difficult enough with most people on xbox here, but it seems like most of the heated discussions will take place in spoiler tabs and yes it doesn't take much to click through them but that's still a bit of a hassle if that will overtake most discussions. I think if the OP states the thread will use spoilers, and puts the word spoilers in the title, then everything discussed therein is fair game and doesn't need to be put within spoiler tabs.