Bang's Blogs: Captain Price vs John Rambo

“Two commanders on the battlefield are always one too many.” - Ulysses Grant

Captain John Price, the Black Viking. 

John James Rambo, the Lone Wolf. 

Betrayed by their own commanding officers, these two high-ranking soldiers were the best of the best in their special ops units, taking down platoons and militia with superb combat prowess. Masters at stealth and using the environment, anyone who became their enemy will spill blood, but despite that, these two have gone through hell and back and haven’t fully recovered what they’ve seen. Still, this does not stop them from being badass soldiers thick and thin, but who can put the other down for good? The icon of the 80s or the modern-day classic? Will Rambo fall in the world of death, or is Bravo Six going dark? Live for nothing, die for something, this war ends with DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Start…

For Price, we will be looking through both the original and remake timelines, which includes quite a lot of games and pieces of media. So to be clear as to what COD games are canon and Price can scale to, we have made a timeline of both different universes so that we know what is and isn’t being included.

Original Timeline:

Call of Duty 2 = Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One = Call of Duty 2 JTME = Call of Duty 2 Pocket PC Edition → Call of Duty 1 = Call of Duty: United Offensive = Call of Duty JTME = Call of Duty (Ngage) → Call of Duty: Finest Hour = Call of Duty: Roads to Victory = Call of Duty 3 → Modern Warfare 2: Ghost (Comic) → Modern Warfare Mobile → Modern Warfare (2007) = Modern Warfare DS → Modern Warfare 3: Operation Kingfish (Short Film) → Modern Warfare 2 (2009) = Modern Warfare: Force Recon = Modern Warfare Mobilized → Modern Warfare 3 (2011) = Modern Warfare 3: Defiance

Remake (Black Ops) Timeline:

World at War = World at War: Final Fronts = World at War DS = World at War (Glu Mobile) = Call of Duty WW2 = Call of Duty Vanguard → Rightful King (Book) → Black Ops 1 = Black Ops DS = Black Ops Mobile → Black Ops: Declassified → Black Ops Cold War → 1987 Black Ops 2 Missions → Black Ops 6 → Modern Warfare (2019) → Modern Warfare II (2022) → Modern Warfare III (2023) → Call of Duty: Strike Team → 2025 Black Ops 2 Missions → Black Ops 7 → Black Ops 4 (Comics) → Black Ops 4 → Black Ops 3 (Comics) → Black Ops 3

Yes, Call of Duty had some Fate levels of timeline building even before touching the even messier Zombies timeline.

Games like Call of Duty: Ghosts, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare (and its spinoff Call of Duty: Siege) all take place in their own stand-alone universes. Call of Duty Mobile, Call of Duty Heroes and the China exclusive Call of Duty Online are also not connected to the rest of the Call of Duty games. Whilst these games were still researched for stuff that COD protagonists are capable of and for the sake of exploring 100% of Call of Duty media (of course, extra scrutiny was given to Advanced Warfare due to its futuristic setting enhancing the characters), these games were not taken as primary sources and only used as supporting evidence at best.

Additionally, the futuristic technology seen in Strike Team onwards in the Black Ops timeline was not considered as something Price should have, even if they take place only a couple of years after the Modern Warfare 3 remake. Price has never been shown to use or possess these pieces of tech, so despite it being realistic that Price could have used this tech later in the Black Ops timeline, there is a complete lack of evidence for it.

Furthermore, physical feats seen after the Black Ops 4 comic book run would be inapplicable for Price, as genetic engineering has become commonplace at that point in the timeline, with characters having a much easier time pulling off inhuman feats. Feats from these games will still be included in the blog, but it will be made clear that Price does not scale to these due to these enhancements.

Finally, Call of Duty 2 Pocket PC Edition was not researched for this blog due to being unable to obtain any full play through of the game, with the game itself being super rare and undocumented.

As for Rambo, it’s more straightforward, we will be looking at nearly every form of media possible from the titular franchise. This includes the main five movies, the Force of Freedom cartoon, novels, comics, video games, toys, etc. Though just as a disclaimer, there is unfortunately some lost Rambo media. Examples include the Argentine Rambo comics, where not every issue has been found, as well as the Little Owl Books, where not all of them are easily accessible online (Or available for a reasonable price). We will also later discuss the usage of the cartoon and its own tie-in media in a BtV.

Special Thanks to…

• Versus Battles Wiki (For Calcs)

• Rina, Kaiser and Kuma (For Calcs)

• Call of Duty Wiki

• Rambo Wiki

• Media Mania’s Rocky Balboa vs Daniel LaRusso 

Background

Captain Price

“There's a simplicity to war. Attacking is the only secret. Dare—and the world yields. How quickly they forget that all it takes to change the course of history...is the will of a single man.”

DISCLAIMER: Due to the reboot series not being finished, this backstory is largely based on the original Modern Warfare trilogy.

In 2011, Sergeant John “Soap” MacTavish was recruited into the 22nd Special Air Service under the command of one Captain Jonathan Price. There’s nothing that you need to know about how the Captain came to be; only the legendary accomplishments he’s left in the shadows.

The world was in turmoil; a civil war had erupted in Russia between Ultranationalist extremists and government loyalists, and a coup d'etat in the Middle East ended with the anti-West leader Khaled Al-Asad overthrowing and executing president Yasir Al-Fulani. For Soap’s first mission with the unit, Price led the unit into a cargo ship raid, having been informed by their Ultranationalist spy Nikolai of dangerous materials being transported on it. What they found was more than dangerous; it was a nuclear device. Though the ship was sunk with the nuke on it, what was gained from the operation was more than enough for everyone to gather that something was on the horizon, and the intel was passed onto the United States, who had launched an intervention in the Middle East due to the coup. A nuke was discovered in the area, and despite their attempts to disarm it, the device suddenly went off, causing widespread destruction and leaving more than 30,000 Marines dead.

Price immediately went on the hunt for Al-Asad, who detonated the bomb remotely. During the tortuous interrogation, Price executed the warlord after finding out who he had collaborated with; Imran Zakhaev, a man Price believed he killed 15 years ago in the ruins of Pripyat, now the leader of the Ultranationalists. A joint operation between the SAS, Marines, and the Russian Loyalists was formed, aiming to capture Imran’s son Viktor to figure out his father’s location, though he committed suicide before allowing himself to be captured. Furious, Zakhaev’s forces seized a nuclear launch facility, forcing the operation’s participants to intervene. This came with numerous losses, but Price’s quick thinking allowed Soap to shoot Zakhaev and his escorts dead, ending the conflict briefly.

In 2013, Price and Soap were reassigned to Task Force 141, a group of elite specialists under the command of American General Herschel Shepherd. A new terrorist faction of the Ultranationalists had been established under the command of Zakhaev’s protege Vladimir Makarov, and the team was tasked with capturing or killing the man. However, the strike was an ambush, and the team was forced to evacuate as Price allowed himself to be left behind to cover the team’s escape. For the next three years, Price spent time in a Siberian gulag as “Prisoner 627”, constantly fighting for his survival, up until a raid by the 141 allowed him to break out and rejoin his comrades.

By the time Price got out, World War III had already started. The United States was blamed for a terrorist attack at a Russian airport carried out by Makarov, resulting in Russia invading the West. The 141 was directed to split up to find Makarov’s location, but Shepherd unexpectedly betrayed the group, ordering his private military Shadow Company to fire upon the 141 and leaving Price and Soap as the last survivors of the team. Furious, Price created a temporary truce with Makarov, leading himself and Soap on a suicide mission to kill Shepherd. In an intense battle, where Shepherd revealed he orchestrated World War III to make himself a hero as revenge for the deaths of the 30,000 men five years ago, Price and Soap defeated Shepherd, exacting justice for his betrayal.

This action did not come without its consequences; though they escaped, Price and Soap were labeled as fugitives for killing Shepherd. In spite of this, they still vowed to continue the fight against Makarov, joined by Nikolai’s Loyalist forces and his best man Yuri. Their chase led them to Prague, but Makarov caught wind of their assassination attempt on him and foiled their plot, ending with Soap mortally injured. Despite Price’s pleading, Soap died of blood loss, though not before leaving Price with a message: “Makarov knows Yuri.” Angered by all the losses he suffered, Price threw Yuri down a flight of stairs and held the Russian at gunpoint, demanding answers from him. Yuri explained that he was formerly Makarov’s right-hand man, who became more disillusioned with him as his methods became more brutal, especially after the nuke was detonated. He attempted to stop the massacre at the airport, but was shot by Makarov and left for dead, though he survived and joined the Loyalists.

Price continued to work with Yuri to foil Makarov’s plans, starting with a nearby castle that he was using as a base. There, they discovered plans to kidnap the daughter of Russian President Boris Vorshevsky to use her to leverage the president into giving up nuclear launch codes. They tracked down the family to Siberia, and with a group of American soldiers, rescued them, though not without the sacrifice of the latter. In gratitude to their saviors, Vorshevsky listened as Price informed them of the machinations that brought them to war. He was convinced and immediately ended Russia’s offensive, began peace talks with the West, and cleared the 141’s good name, bringing the war to an end, while also mending Price and Yuri’s relationship.

Price never forgot his desire for revenge against Makarov, who was now in hiding. Soap’s death and World War III were his fault, and more than anything, Prisoner 627 wanted to see the terrorist six feet under. After several months of investigation, Price finally tracked down Makarov to a hotel in Dubai, and with Yuri and Nikolai, wasted no time in launching a heavily armored assault, fighting all the way to the top until they reached Makarov, where he was attempting to escape by helicopter. In a final showdown, Price and Makarov struggled against each other, with Makarov regaining his composure faster and ready to execute Price. Just before he could, Makarov was stopped by Yuri, who shot him to death in response. Infuriated by yet another friend murdered by Makarov’s hand, Price gained just enough adrenaline to bullrush Makarov, mercilessly beating him right before hanging him to death by tying a steel cable to his neck and dropping him underneath the broken glass rooftop.

Price lost more than enough on the path to victory and peace, but that’s the cost of the mission. No matter what timeline it is, one thing is constant about Price; he’s willing to get his hands dirty so that the world stays clean. And for him, there’s nothing more that he needs.

John Rambo

“Don't push it or I'll give you a war you won't believe.”

Born in Bowie, Arizona on July 6th, 1947, John James Rambo has always been a man caught up in trouble. Growing up on a horse ranch, his mother died young and his father was an abusive alcoholic towards young Rambo. But being of Navajo descent, Rambo learned from the tribal elders on how to fight and how to proficiently use a bow and arrow. This would be useful as Rambo’s father tried to kill him, only for him to nearly die at the hands of his own son. Rambo would then run away from home and felt that the only way to get away from his problems was to join the Americans fighting in the Vietnam war.

In 1966, Rambo joined the U.S. Army at the age of 18. This is where he received intensive training from Colonel Sam Trautman to be an expert in Guerilla Warfare. This included extensive training with firearms, knives, and bare handed combat, plus training in a variety of war vehicles, survival, and stealth, to which Rambo was seen as the best in those fields. Rambo went on to become a Green Beret and was deployed to fight in Vietnam under the Baker Team.

Over the course of three years, Rambo’s high kill count of over 59 earned him such accolades as two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts, the Distinguished Service Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor. But in 1971, it all took a turn for the worse when he was deployed in a mission with his comrades behind enemy lines, where they were ambushed by the Viet Cong and taken prisoner. While under capture, Rambo’s time there was the very definition of the word “torture”, he was cut up and scarred by the Viet Cong, as well as being sleep deprived, hungry, forced to stay in a 10-foot hole, and worst of all, watching all of his allies die slowly right in front of him. Despite all that, Rambo never gave up any information and eventually managed to escape custody, even taking on a few more missions. But Rambo’s time in Vietnam only ended in a nervous breakdown after witnessing the death of many of his allies and friends, he was then discharged in 1974.

Returning home wasn’t pleasant. Rambo was shunned by the people he swore to protect, calling him derogatory names and continuously being pelted with objects by protestors. This led to Rambo having an extreme case of PTSD and he distanced himself from society, becoming a homeless wanderer who kept his emotions to himself. That is until 1981, when Rambo ended up in the small town of Hope, Washington, where he got the attention of the town’s sheriff, Will Teasle. Sensing Rambo was a troublemaker, he took him to the edge of town and dropped him off there, hoping he would walk away. But Rambo wouldn’t do such a thing and was arrested by Teasle. While in custody, Rambo was beaten by the cops, which reminded him of when he was a prisoner of war, and Rambo fought back, escaping the police station and heading into the woods. This is where Rambo’s one man war against the police of Hope and the National Guard would begin.

Using his survival and stealth skills during his time in the military, Rambo was more than a match for the police and the National Guard, all because they drew First Blood, not him. Trautman would soon be called in and tried to let Teasle know that it’s safer to let Rambo go, but he refused and the war continued to escalate, eventually culminating with a battle between Teasle and Rambo back in Hope, which resulted in some collateral damage to the town. Rambo was almost ready to kill Teasle, but Trautman stepped in and told him how much worse things would get if he killed Teasle, showing that the police had him surrounded. This then caused Rambo to emotionally break down and tell Trautman of all the horrors he’s experienced throughout the years of being a soldier and as a civilian. Rambo would then turn himself in and was sentenced to prison.

Years later in 1985, Trautman would give Rambo the opportunity to be a free man and would task him with a mission to save some POW’s in Vietnam, which Rambo would accept. Despite the odds being stacked against him thanks to the higher-up’s behind the scenes, Rambo returned with the Prisoners safely alongside him, all to hope for a country to love the people that fight for it just as much as the soldiers do. A couple years later in 1988, Rambo would then fight alongside Trautman in Afghanistan’s rebellion against the Soviets and would settle down at a village in Thailand for over 20 years.

But Rambo would be called back into action in 2008, where he would assist a group of mercenaries in the war-torn country of Burma with saving the Karen tribes missionaries. Even in his old age, he managed to fulfill this task and after this, he returned to the U.S. after decades away from it. Rambo would live a peaceful life on a farm with the Beltran family, keeping his past to himself. But his past would quickly catch up to him in 2019, when travelling to Mexico due to Gabriela Beltran wanting to see her long lost father. Rambo knew that Gabriela’s father was a bad man and wanted to save her, even after sustaining a concussion from a beatdown by the Mexican Cartel. But despite the fact he found her, Gabriela would unfortunately die due to a forced drug overdose by the Cartel.

This would all culminate in one last mission, where Rambo would take on the Cartel to avenge Gabriela, which resulted in him ripping out the heart of its leader, Hugo Martinez. Even though Rambo may be alone once again, he swears that he will continue to live on to keep the spirits of who he once loved alive. While Rambo and his future may be uncertain, one thing is certain, he is a dedicated soldier both on and off the battlefield.

Experience & Skill

Captain Price

Price from the get go is introduced as a soldier with tons of experience under his belt. In the original Modern Warfare trilogy, 15 years have passed between his first chronological appearance in All Ghillied Up to when you first meet him in Crew Expendable, in-between which he was promoted from a Lieutenant to Captain. He’s trained with any type of weapon and can deal with any enemies at any range. 

Of course, Price’s biggest and most iconic skill set is his sniping skill. Even early in his career, Price landed a 896.7 meter shot on Zakhaev, which nearly killed him, and managed to land several hundred meter shots casually during the events of Modern Warfare. Price’s sniping skills also help transfer to his stealth skills. With nothing but camouflage and his Ghillie suit, Price managed to slip through an entire army coming right at him, and has frequently used the environment and the dark to his advantage to take enemies by surprise.

In the reboot trilogy, Price spent many years under the shadows and truly sharpened his skills under stealth. With his gear and calm demeanor, Price managed to slip by enemy forces and take them down without them ever knowing what hit them, and he’s able to do this both indoor arenas and especially outdoors. He keeps his Sniper skills well from the original trilogy, being able to hit enemies and lights from several hundred meters away causally, and is the one who helps teach Gaz the ways of sniping as well. Though of course, he can use any other weapon he can get his hands on and do just fine. He joined the British military at 16 years old and served for 18 years, being one of the youngest men to graduate the Royal Military Academy. This version of Price is particularly ruthless and has gotten his hands extremely dirty, such as when he was forced to throw a doomed hostage with a bomb vest over a railing to prevent the loss of more lives. 

Price’s also able to do takedowns up close, grappling and putting enemies down in a position to take them down quickly, both in combat and especially during stealth missions as well. He’s also able to use the environment to weaponize it in non-stealth related scenarios, like how he killed Makarov by using a nearby rope and shattering the glass beneath them to hang him. (Also the best death in the series) Price could lose his temper at times, but during the majority of the reboot trilogy, he keeps a very calm and levelheaded tone and attitude even during dangerous situations, and won’t often let his emotions break what he believes is the right thing to do.

Due to his levelheadedness, Price became a brilliant leader for both Bravo Team and SAS in both arcs, being able to keep his friends together when they’re put against each other, and manages to create plans that have shut down terrorist masterminds for good.

John Rambo

Even at a young age and before joining the military, Rambo received training from Navajo warriors on how to fight and proficiently use a bow. But that’s just the start of how much training Rambo has received, because when he joined the military, he would continue to gain experience both in training and on the battlefield. According to the man who made Rambo the deadly soldier that he is, Colonel Trautman, Rambo has been trained as an expert in Guerilla Warfare and is a Green Beret. He was trained to kill with anything from guns to a ballpoint pen, can hit targets thirty meters away and Trautman considers Rambo to be the best with firearms and knives, as well as bare handed combat. He's a black belt in Ninjutsu, Ban Do and Karate, being so skilled Trautman chose Rambo over dozens of other Green Berets, even when he was currently in prison. Sylverster Stallone himself has even gone on record saying that a fight between Rambo and Rocky Balboa could go either way.

But Rambo’s training goes beyond wielding weapons, he has also been trained to ignore pain, survive the harshest weather climates, and eat things that in Trautman’s words, would make a billy goat puke. As a bonus, Rambo has also received training as a medic. With all of these skills, Rambo is a master at winning in a war of attrition, while also remaining strategic since he views the human mind as the best weapon. His survival skills are bar-none, he’ll even burn food to insure he leaves no trace of his presence and the slightest noises will alert him, even if he’s asleep. In the novels, it was brought up that Rambo survived off of little food, mostly just bugs for days or weeks on end.

This can be seen with Rambo’s stealth skills, he is an expert at using the environment to his advantage. Whether it be for a sneak attack in plain sight, or to craft traps, most never see them coming. He is also quick and quiet, able to sneak past the enemy without them noticing him walking right by, with the kid’s books making note of this as well. Even the army has trouble keeping track of this guy when they have direct line of sight. Rambo is also a quick crafter with his traps, like when he was able to create an explosive one while the bad guys were chasing after him and make a getaway when done crafting. But Rambo’s skills also extend to how accurate of a shot he is, being able to shoot playing cards from a distance with his bow and arrow, or a surge arrestor on a telephone pole, or an enemy on a searchlight. Hell, even in the original novel he was confident in his ability to accurately shoot the gas tanks of moving helicopters and did shoot one’s pilot in the head from ground level. Rambo is also proficient with many different vehicles, which includes motorcycles, helicopters, tanks, and hot air balloons.

During his time in Vietnam, Rambo gained a high kill count of over 59 confirmed kills. This has earned him multiple accolades, which include a congressional medal of honor, 2 silver stars, 4 bronze stars, and 4 purple hearts. But that was just Vietnam alone, which was before the events of the movies and all other media. From his battle against the Hope police force in 1981 to his final mission against the Mexican Cartel in 2019, Rambo has fought battles for over 6 decades, with his kill count going up to the hundreds. Now he hasn’t fought in battles during all of those 6 decades given that he did live a secluded life in Thailand for 2 decades, but even into his 60s and 70s after years of not fighting, he continued to do what he was trained to be, a deadly soldier.

Equipment

Captain Price

Guns

What is a first person shooter without guns? Price has used a ton of weapons throughout the series which include but not limited too:

• M4A1: A standard 30 round assault rifle price used in various levels throughout the series 

• M21 Suppressed: A Semi-Auto sniper rifle used in all ghillied up, perfect for stealth missions 

• USP. 45 Suppressed: A pistol also used in all ghillied up

• Barrett .50cal: The same sniper rifle that Zakhaev’s arm smooths off even when he was almost 900 meters away.

• AK-47: An iconic assault rifle Price used once when breaking out of the gulag 

• M1911: A pistol shared between Price and Soap throughout the original trilogy 

• Intervention: Reskined Barrett .50cal but this time suppressed 

• Scar-H: A hard hitting assault rifle that Price picked up during the mission Just Like Old Times

• Desert Eagle: A powerful hard hitting handgun that Price briefly used in the mission Return to Sender

• PKP Pecheneg: A 100 round LMG used when storming Makarov for the final showdown 

• Kilo 141: A standard Rifle Price can be seen using

• M13: Another standard Rifle Price can be seen using 

• .357: A revolver Cpt. Price used 

• P890: Pistol Price can be seen using during stealth missions

• Rev G-80: A 6 round grenade launcher Price let Gaz use 

Note: This is far from all of Price’s weapons, as being playable in Warzone gives him access to every weapon in the game thanks to Loadout Drops

Attachments

A lesser talked about part of a soldiers arsenal is the attachments on their gun. Some are basic like give a scope or aim down sights quicker. Others reduce recoil and let you run faster. However, the best of the best can make the gun shoot faster, give heartbeats on enemies, suppress the weapon, or can even come equipped with a underbarrel grenade launcher. If we listed all attachments that are usable we would be here all day.

Lethal Grenades

• Frag Grenade: A standard grenade that allows you to cook and blow your enemies away when timed properly 

• Semtex: A sticky grenade perfect for dealing with riot shield and corner campers 

• Proximity Mine: A powerful self-detonating bomb for those who get too close 

• Claymore: An easy to set up explosive another perfect tool for those campers

• Molotov: A deadly cocktail perfect for any arsonist starting a revolution

• C4: An explosive that can be set off at any time 

• Throwing Knife: Pretty self explantory 

• Thermite: A fusion between a semtex and molotov, perfect for sticking and burning 

• Drill Charge: A unique grenade that can drill through walls to kill your opponent 

• Breacher Drone: When deployed this drove flies to any enemy, exploding on contact 

• Thermobaric Grenade: An impact grenade made for enemies with armor

Tactical Grenades

• Flashbang: A tactical that when thrown will NEVER blind your opponents, rather will make you feel like you are using a napkin from a little kids birthday party (Those who know)

• Stun Grenade: This grenade when used slows enemies down tremendously.

• Smoke Grenade: When thrown this grenade bursts into a smoke cloud. Perfect to hide, run away, or psych enemies.

• Snapshot Grenade: A special grenade that highlights targets in thermal when hit.

• Medical Syringe AKA Stim: This multipurpose syringe can do a ton. When soap was shot in the arm using one healed him back to normal, it can also make you run faster and even save you from near death.

• Decoy Grenade: Creates fake gunshot noises.

• Shock Stick: When thrown, this tactical electrocutes its opponent forcing them to shoot their gun.

• Spotter Scope: It's a cool pair of binoculars.

• Battle Rage: A tactical that gives you a shot of adrenaline after killing an enemy.

• Scatter Mine: A mine that explodes when enemies get in range.

Field Upgrade Equipment 

• Heartbeat Sensor: Can detect enemies based on their heartbeat

• Dead Silence: Makes the user’s footsteps silent when active. Killing enemies refreshes its duration

• Munitions Box: Refills Price’s ammo and equipment back to maximum

• Stopping Power Rounds: Loads any gun with high power rounds that deals more damage 

• Trophy System: Summons a machine that destroys nearby equipment and projectiles 

• Deployable Cover: A portable ballistic cover that defends against gunfire 

• Recon Drone: Can spot and mark enemies remotely

• Suppression Mine: When detonated, slows enemy vision and movement 

• Portable Radar: Detects enemies nearby

• DDoS: Shuts down any nearby technology and sensors for a short time

• Inflatable Decoy: Decoy of the user that’s secretly a mine that explodes upon destruction

• Weapon Drop: Summons crate that delivers high powered weaponry 

• Jammer: Jams minimal and radios of enemies

• Armor Plates: Extra defenses to the torso until it breaks

• Smoke Airdrop: Drops smoke at a designated area

• Anti-Armor Rounds: Loads the user’s gun with armor piercing rounds  

• Comm Scrambler: Disables communication for the enemies, stopping them from activating killstreaks 

• Tactical Camera: Remote camera that takes photos and scans enemies

• Enhanced Vision Goggles: Goggles that toggle between normal and enhanced vision for finding enemies. Has limited battery life 

• Med Box: Drops medical supplies

Knife

A standard combat/survival knife every soldier is equipped with. Price usually uses it for either stealth kills or when he’s left with no other options to defend himself against a threat.

Ropes 

Price also carries ropes with grapples as well to ascend up or down walls and areas he can’t reach on his own. He also used a rope to hang Makarov at the end of Modern Warfare 3, even if that was a bit context sensitive.

Swim Suit

For water missions, Price equips a swim suit to help him carry equipment while swimming and show slight camouflage when on the water.

Snake Cam

To safely gather visuals on targets and enemies behind a closed door, Price can use a Snake Camera to roll underneath and locate enemies there.

Parachute

 

Of course, when leaping down high places through helicopters, in order to glide there safely, Price equips a parachute to descend.

Night Vision Goggles

Used in several nighttime stealth missions, Price carries these Night Vision Goggles he has on his helmet. They help with seeing in spots with little to no light while their enemy is in the dark. Bright lights however can disrupt their vision with the goggles, hence why Price shoots any lights nearby to keep his stealth edge.

Gas Mask

Price carries a gas mask to block any toxic chemicals or gas in the surrounding area from getting to him. In Warzone, there are two kinds of Gas Masks; a standard one and a “Golden” gas mask with significantly higher durability. Both of them allow players to survive a toxic gas storm that can knock out operators in seconds.

Body Armor

In combat as intense as Price’s world, body armor is essential to keep going. This allows Price to take gunfire when under combat, preventing it from hitting his body. Price can also carry armor plates in case the current one he is wearing is damaged. Price can also use armor satchels to hold even more plates (theoretically 33 plates without room for ammo or killstreaks).

Ghillie Suit

This is a classic-this ghillie suit allows Price to blend into his environment and hide his identity from the enemy. Price has used this since his first mission, where he had an entire army march right in front of him and did not notice because of the camouflage it provides. These showings of stealth are actually pretty consistent as in the reboot trilogy Gaz and Price were not seen when soldiers were marching 3 feet away from them.

Juggernaut Suit

By far the most famous special item in Call of Duty, the Juggernaut Suit is a huge set of armor Price can wear that’s almost completely bulletproof, and takes huge amounts of damage, just to keep the user going. It also is equipped with a minigun to mow down anything in the user’s path. It also wears Timberlands.

Killstreaks

After enough kills, operators like Price can activate Killstreaks to give them new items and weapons to use, such as the following:

• Personal Radar: Mini drone that reveals nearby enemy’s location

• Shield Turret: Manuel shielded turret deployed for high firepower

• Counter-UAV: Disrupts enemy’s mini maps and their senses if they get closer

• UAV: Recon ship that reveals enemy locations

• Bomb Drone: Pilots a drone with an explosive to detonate nearby enemies

• Cluster Strike: A small laser that marks a location, when marked several missiles will be dropped on said area 

• Precision Airstrike: When confirming a location a quick AC1-30 run will fire upon the marked area

• Sentry Gun: A unmoving gun that auto fires when enemies are near 

• Foresight: A huge scan that sees all future circles. Perfect for avoiding the gas 

• Napalm Strike: Summons an airplane that drops napalm in a straight line

• Guardian: Deals radiation damage to those within its cone, slowing them down and blurring their vision

• Care Package: Drops a random killstreak (and also the most fun Killstreak -Torchwick)

Loadout Drops 

One of the most important items in all of Warzone (and this debate). With enough cash Price can call down a loadout drop allowing him to select any weapon he wants. Not just weapons either. Perks, Grenades, attachments, you name it. This alone gives access to practically EVERY SINGLE ITEM in Call of Duty (or at least the games since Modern Warfare 2019 onward).

Call of Duty Zombies Equipment (See Before the Verdict)

Wonder Weapons

Ray Gun

The Ray Gun is perhaps the most famous gun in all of Call of Duty Zombies, powered by Element 115 and Atomic Cold Cells, it fires energy blasts which have a hefty amount of splash damage at the zombies which quickly render them dead. Also, it is shown capable of two shotting tanks in the World at War campaign where you can get the Ray Gun as an easter egg.

Scorcher

The Scorcher fires an energy blast which can melt through both people and zombies with ease, or be charged up to deliver an even more powerful blast.

Wunderwaffe DG-2

The Wunderwaffe DG-2 is powered by Element 115 and powered by 200000 amperes, ready to shoot devastating chain lightning at any enemy who approaches, perfect for dealing with crowds of enemies.

V-R11

The V-R11 has the fascinating ability to turn zombies into normal humans, who can act as tasty distractions to the rest of the horde while you plan your next move. If another human is shot by this gun it will make the zombies ignore them, useful for reviving allies stuck in the middle of a horde.

Pack-a-Punch

A key part of the zombies game is that of the Pack-a-Punch machine, capable of upgrading your weapons into even deadlier and scarier beasts. Covering every weapon that can be Pack-a-Punched would be unnecessary, as there are 114 weapons available in MWZ which Price could get his hands on. A full list can be found here.

Ammo Mods

Ammo mods usually trigger randomly per bullet. Only one can be active at a time.

• Napalm Burst: Sets the target on fire

• Dead Wire: Shocks the target

• Cryo Freeze: Slows the target down

• Brain Rot: Converts zombies onto the player’s side

• Shatter Blast: Creates an explosion on impact

Perk-a-Colas

These aren’t your average carbonated beverages. Even though they, for the most part, taste extremely awful, Perk-a-colas provide very useful buffs for anybody who drinks them, providing a wide variety of abilities.

• Juggernog: Increases health
• Quick Revive: Makes reviving other teammates and yourself from the ground faster
• Speed Cola: Significantly boosts reload speed
• Stamin-up: Significantly boosts stamina and movement speed
• Elemental Pop: Any attack will randomly activate an Ammo Mod regardless of whatever is currently equipped on the firearm
• Deadshot Daiquiri: Increases headshot damage. Also provides aim assist that allows the player to lock onto heads upon aiming down sights.
• Tombstone Soda: If you died in the previous Zombies match, this perk spawns a tombstone that allows the player to return to the site of their death and acquire their lost items. You can guess how usable this is.
• Death Perception: See enemies, items, etc. through walls.
• PhD Flopper: Negates fall damage from dolphin diving; the impact of the fall will create a small explosion that staggers nearby enemies

Weapon Aetherium Neutralizer Devices (WANDs)

A set of special devices that can be activated to provide certain effects.

• Energy Mine: Spawns an explosive that deals massive damage to enemies who set it off

• Frenzied Guard: Repair armor to full and force all enemies in the area to target the user for 10 seconds

• Healing Aura: Instantly heals its user and surrounding allies back to maximum health

• Frost Blast: Creates a blast of wind that damages in the initial explosion and slows down victims

• Aether Shroud: Makes the user invisible to zombies briefly

• Tesla Storm: Electrifies the user and surrounding allies, shocking any enemies within distance

John Rambo

Guns 

Just like any good 80s action hero protagonist Rambo has a shit load of guns which include:

• M60 machine gun - A machine gun that fires 600 rounds per minute and weighs around 23 pounds. Machine guns in the video games are quite strong, using them to blow up a tank by shooting at it once and taking down massive armored vehicles. 

• M60E3 - Same thing as the M60, only more scaled down.

• Browning M2HB - A heavy American machine gun that’s typically part of a pickup truck.

• Colt M1911A1 - A semi-automatic combat pistol that has eight rounds in a single magazine.

• Heckler & Koch HK94A3 - Based on the MP5, it’s a submachine gun that’s common in 80s American cinema, it even comes with a 3x scope.

• AKM - An assault rifle that’s a lighter and more durable upgrade to the AK-47.

• Remington 870 - A 12 gauge pop-action shotgun that’s perfect for hunting and self-defense.

• RPG-7 - An anti-tank rocket launcher that comes with a PGO-7 scope.

• M72 LAW - A disposable rocket launcher that also fires anti-tank grenades.

• DShK heavy machine gun - An anti-aircraft machine gun that’s mounted on a tripod.

• AKMS - An assault rifle that’s a scaled down variant of the AKM, but still seen as an upgrade to the AK-47.

• PK Machine Gun - An open bolt machine gun that fires up to 100 rounds and comes with a bipod.

• FN MAG - A general-purpose machine gun that also fires up to 100 rounds.

• SVD Dragunov - A semi-automatic sniper rifle, which is also a type of designated marksman rifle.

• .50 AN/M2 - A lightweight aircraft machine gun that also has a fixed variation for turrets and mounts.

• M16A1 - An assault rifle that’s seen as the American counterpart to the AK-47.

• Benelli M1 Super 90 - A semi-automatic 12 gauge tactical shotgun that fires up to 7 shells.

• Winchester Model 1892 - A lever-action carbine that fires up to 12 rounds.

• Saddle Ring Carbine M1 Garand - A semi-automatic battle rifle that fires up to 8 rounds and requires rapid reload.

• Sawed Off Shotgun - A short double barreled shotgun that can also fire incendiary rounds.

• Pump Action Shotgun - Stole off a pirate and proceeded to use it against the crew.

• .45 Pistol - A part of the official Rambo survival kit play set.

• M-16 A2 w/ Over-under M-79 Grenade Launcher - Offered to him by Trautman, which he exclaimed looked straight out of Star Wars. It has a Tracor star-light scope, laser sighting system and a scionics sound suppressor.

• Hawk Machine Gun - A small automatic weapon from the toyline.

• AK-47 - Offered to him by Trautman in the 2nd novel.

• Colt Python Revolver - Looted from a policeman in the first novel.

• Crossbow - Gained through the Weapons Pack in the toy line.

• 9mm Pistol - Gained through the Weapons Pack in the toy line.

• Belgian .30 Calibur Machinegun - Gained through the Weapons Pack in the toy line.

Survival Knife

One of Rambo’s weapons he is very proficient with as a tool in both combat and survival. It makes for a good stainless steel weapon to use for encounters up close and personal, as well as for crafting traps and to help Rambo live off the land, like when he used this knife with a stick to create a makeshift spear. But in case Rambo sustains a serious injury, the knife contains stitches hidden inside that can help patch him up. Though in the Last Blood, Rambo carries a new Bowie Knife. In the cartoon, Rambo has another knife that's sharp enough to cut through swords.

Compound Bow and Arrows

Firearms aren’t the only long range weapons Rambo knows how to use. When he was a child, Rambo learned how to use a bow and arrow from Navajo warriors, of which he is an expert marksman with them in the battlefield. He’s had a few over the years but Rambo’s signature bow in the novels requires one hundred pounds of effort to use and can fire its arrows at two hundred and fifty feet per second, enough to kill a kodiak bear. Even his regular arrows are stated to hit with the force of a copper jacketed bullet. But if Rambo needs a more destructive method of taking out his enemies, he utilizes explosive arrows, which as you can see here, are indeed deadly. These explosive arrows are so powerful, they can blow a helicopter to smithereens. In the novels, these arrows are made with C-4 and in extended media they can topple down watch towers and destroy metal buildings.

Escrima Sticks

A pair of wooden sticks granted to Rambo during his matches in fight clubs, beating dudes absolutely senseless. 

Mini Knives

These are knives that Rambo hides in the back of his belt for an unsuspecting kill. He also carried similar “T-Knives” in a few toy sets.

1982 Yamaha Motorcycle

A sweet little motorbike that Rambo yoinks off some punk in the movie and the first novel, using it to evade trained police officers and swerve through heavy oncoming traffic.

Various Explosives

Of course Rambo has far more explosive weapons than his arrows. A lot more! He’s got sticks of dynamite, hand grenades, time bombs, molotovs and in one of the kid’s books he’s given enough explosives to “level Cleveland”. He uses C-4 plastic explosives a lot, such as the novels which he used to destroy large sections of a cliff and to heavily damage tanks. In the cartoon he used enough to level a bridge, so with an arm like this, good luck dodging em. He’s also gotten his mitts on Claymore mines.

One of his better choices might be the bombs from the Sega Genesis game, however, which could decimate large walls and he can carry about a dozen or so.

Parachute

Good for when you need to jump out of a plane. In the 2nd novel and its variants Rambo has a pretty bad experience using it, but even when things go bad he still made it to the ground safely. They also gave him a helmet I guess. 

Machete

In the later movies and in the toys, Rambo added a machete to his arsenal. Not a whole lot to say here, but it has more range than his Survival Knife.

The Mystery Log

Rambo has this random log with a question mark on it that immediately kills any enemy nearby. However this can be avoided if you’re far enough away.

Misc Tools

Being an army man, Rambo has used a lot of nifty tools and gadgets throughout his life. Such as a Transponder, a small device that's used to send out decodable messages within a millisecond. As well as one hundred and twenty pound testing weight fishing line, compass, walkie-talkies, .45 Hollow Point Rounds, Flares, Electric Saws, leopard grease, glow sticks, boomerangs, grappling hooks, swords, whips and bullet proof armor. Along with various farming tools.

Horses

Rambo is quite natural at horseback riding. Having ridden several in the movies and novels. Specifically, he used pack-horses, which are used to carry goods long distances. In this case food, ammo and weapons. But he also used them during a killer match of Sheep Ball. 

T-62 Military Tank

A heavy duty tank used by John in the 3rd movie. He can even use it in a few video games, including both rail shooters specifically. In both of which Rambo can use its mounted machine guns as well. Rambo even had a crossover with World of Tanks… so him having access to one probably isn’t too crazy.

Force of Freedom Equipment (See Before the Verdict)

Anti-Tank Gun

Of course since Rambo got a cartoon, he got a toyline along with it. Including this Anti-Tank grenade launcher that he and his buddies could use to…. Well blow shit the hell up. 

Bazooka

Another goodie from the official toyline based on the cartoon, Rambo gets a high powered “bazooka”, which is actually just a RPG. It even has a nifty little piece of string to keep kids from losing the missile. Even the N2 toy and Neca figure kept this as an accessory! In the video games, Rambo destroys a house with an rpg.

Flamethrower

Surprisingly Rambo has never used one of these in the movies or games, but the guys making the cartoon and toys were ahead of the curb, I guess.

Space Suit

In both the Forces of Freedom cartoon and the literal first issue of the Argentine Rambo comics, he goes to space and gets to wear a spacesuit that comes with a jetpack. Yes. This exists.

Jetpack

That’s right. This exists too. In the Cartoon, Rambo uses this a couple times to zip around at mach speeds, with it being equipped with duel mounted machine guns. Shockingly, they never made a toy of this. 

Missile Armed Speed Boat

A high tech watercraft used by Rambo and the Forces of Freedom to battle the cartoon villains over sea. It has like 8 different guns attached to it lmao.  

Skyfire Helicopter

Not having a cover for this is probably insanely dangerous but fuck it, He’s Rambo. It has a front mounted search light and a mounted M60 machinegun. Even better though, this puppy is packing several hellfire missiles. 

The Skywolf Assault Jet

A high speed jet with a “swing wing” design. It comes equipped with a front mounted grenade launcher and two pairs of minguns. It has eight “hot missiles” shot from the wings. Which are anti-tank guided missiles. 

The Defender

A trusty military vehicle used by Rambo and crew in the cartoon and kid’s books. They have 4 - 6 high traction wheels, a front mounted hook, a mounted machine gun, an auto pilot system and a whole lotta fire power to boot, with Turbo calling it a “Tank Buster”. Likely making this Rambo’s single most powerful weapon, as in the Lost City book, Rambo uses this thing to completely obliterate a metal pyramid. There’s also the Tri-Tracker, which while it can be used on its own, it’s also an accessory for the Defender and can be attached. It has 3 Stinger missiles that can track the heat signature of a target.

Abilities

Captain Price

Perception Slow

A common feature in most COD games is a character’s perception slowing down. When characters have to breach into a room, react in a close quarters combat fight, or aim down the scope of their sniper, you can bet that their adrenaline will kick in and they will perceive the events in slow motion. Hell, sometimes they’ll see things in slow motion just because it is a badass time to do so. They can also make use of an adrenaline vial to speed up their perceptions should they ever be unable to get it up for whatever reason.

Extraordinary Senses

Price has been shown to have incredibly keen senses. Perks like Bomb Squad and SitRep can allow Price to spot enemy traps and explosives through walls as well as increasing the sound of enemy footsteps to make them easier to track, and High Alert can act as a sort of spidey-sense, letting Price know when someone is aiming at him. Tracker can allow Price to see the footsteps of his enemies to help allow him to find them. Additionally, Price should scale to COD characters like William Pierson or Wade Jackson, who can see people through smoke, foliage and walls due to their skills as a sniper and pilot respectively. Considering Price is also a highly skilled sniper, it makes sense to say he could replicate similar feats.

Inhuman Pain Resistance and Endurance

If there is one thing you can count on Price to be, it is a badass in the face of pain and the capability to keep on going. Perks like Double Time can help Price run for prolonged periods of time, with the perk Marathon increasing his sprint time indefinitely. Price survived the gulag for three excruciating years, and would compare to his squadmate Ghost, who could survive getting tortured, buried alive, then starved for thirty days and nights. Not to mention the many, many instances of COD character’s continuing after anyone else would tap out, like Weaver getting his eye gouged out and kept going, or Belikov getting gassed and then running around immediately after like it was nothing. That’s to say nothing of badasses like Dimitri, Hudson, Logan or Rorke, all of whom got shot in the chest and kept going afterwards like it was nothing.

Oh, and with the perk Last Stand, Price can go down and still continue the fight with a pistol, continuing to fight even after suffering usually lethal damage, and the perk Survivor can even let him get back up from this state. These Call of Duty guys are certainly some tough fellas. 

Enhanced Stealth

Captain Price is renowned for his stealth capabilities, completing many missions without ever being spotted, usually with the help of his trusty gilliesuit. But he also has perks which can massively improve his stealthing capabilities, Ghost and Ninja can hide him from UAVs, Heartbeat sensors and portable radars, whilst Cold Blooded can hide him from thermal scanners and Dead Silence can reduce the noise made by Price’s footsteps by 75%, rendering him essentially silent.

Enhanced Aim

Captain Price is no slouch when it comes to marksmanship, being an accomplished sniper and making some ridiculous shots throughout his career, like his 896.7 meter shot which took off Zakhaev’s arm. Additionally, he has a variety of perks to help enhance his aim - Stalker lets Price move at full speed whilst aiming down sights, Focus reduces his flinch when aiming down sights, and Steady Aim increases from the hip accuracy by 35%. Additionally, Price should scale to plenty of other skilled marksmen from throughout COD history, like Daniels who could hit ammo boxes from over eighty meters away, or Marshall who could shoot helicopter missiles out of the sky with his insane reflexes and accuracy.

Perks

Price (and by extension other Call of Duty characters) can perks to enhance themselves or their killing power. These perks are shown to be physical items (especially in Modern Warfare III, where they take the form of actual equipment rather than simple satchels or training booklets) that passively work on your character. Seeing how these can be swapped out with Loadout Drops, this will be given to him.

With the exception of Modern Warfare III, operators are generally limited to 3 perks at a time per category. Some games will allow you to replace standard support killstreaks with even more perks, wherein enough kills will earn you Specialist, unlocking every perk for you until your next life.

• Double Time / Running Sneakers: Increases Price’s stamina to allow him to Tactical Sprint longer.

• E.O.D. / Bomb Squad / Ordnance Gloves: Reduces explosive damage from non Killstreaks. Bomb Squad and Ordnance Gloves have the additional ability to allow Price to reset the timer on armed grenades he picks up from the ground.

• Scavenger: Allows him to scavenge for ammo on dead bodies regardless of caliber.

• Cold-Blooded / Hijacked IFF Strobe: Hides Price’s presence from AI targeting systems and thermal signature detection.

• Quick Fix / Compression Plate: Allows Price to heal up quicker from damage after getting a kill.

• Restock: Regenerates Price’s grenades within a certain timeframe, usually between 25-50 seconds.

• Hardline / Mission Control Comlink: Price’s Killstreaks all require one less kill for him to obtain.

• High Alert: Provides Price with 360-degree awareness being able to detect when enemies are aiming at him.

• Ghost: Provides near complete immunity to all UAV and heartbeat scans.

• Tune Up: Speeds up the recharge time for Price’s Field Upgrades.

• Amped / Quick Grip Gloves: Increases Price’s dexterity, allowing him to swap out items in his hand faster.

• Battle Hardened / Tac Mask: Reduces the effect of enemy Tactical equipment such as Flashbangs, Stun Grenades, etc.

• Engineer / Spotter: Allows Price to see enemy equipment such as Field Upgrades and traps like Claymores through walls.

• Tracker / Backlight Flashlight: Allows Price to see enemy footprints.

• Focus / Marksman Gloves: Reduces Price’s flinching while being shot at.

• Last Stand / Survivor: If Price goes down, he can pull out a pistol while on the floor and make a last attempt at taking out his enemies, or attempt to pick himself up with a Self-Revive.

• Bird’s Eye / High-Gain Antenna: Price’s map of the area becomes much wider, and UAVs will now indicate the direction his enemies are pointing at.

• Ninja / Covert Sneakers: Hides Price’s footstep audio.

• Bone Conduction Headset: Reduces combat noise and environment sounds to allow improved focus on hearing.

• Threat Identification System: Automatically pings an enemy’s location in Price’s crosshairs.

• Signal Jammer: Emits signal disrupting placed enemy claymores and mines. Warns of nearby enemy equipment

John Rambo

Meditation

Rambo believes the best weapon is one’s mind. In the novelisation of Rambo 2, it’s revealed that Rambo found Buddhism, where he learned how to meditate. In a state of meditation Rambo can mentally force out the past and future and force himself to concentrate on the vividness of the present, even if overcome with extreme pain. Being able to put himself in a mindset where he thinks pain is “wonderful”. It’s said that the focus of meditation can merge his spirit with his physical being and “double his capabilities”, making him physically more capable than before and increasing his aim accuracy. This also likely helps him control his heartrate, which is stated to go down to 42 beats per minute. 

Heightened Senses

Not only is it stated that Rambo will be alerted to even the slightest noises while asleep, the novels also bring up in one scene that Rambo possesses “Premonition”, a 6th sense that was warning him of dangers ahead. (Khaled in the novels was also able to focus all of his senses to amplify his hearing, so this isn’t farfetched for Rambo.) In the teaser trailer for the first film, it's said that Rambo can track a man by the sound of his heartbeat and in the Blackthorne comics, while he was inside a cabin, he managed to hear a soldier step on a small twig in the woods outside, and in the Splatto comics, he located part of a crashed aircraft using his sense of smell.

Inhuman Pain Tolerance 

Likely helped by his meditation, not only is Rambo cauterizing his wounds with gunpowder in the movies and consistently shrugs off gunshots, the original novel showcases just how much of a force of nature he is. He spent multiple days fighting off an entire police force all while suffering a rifle shot to the chest, several broken ribs and potentially being infected with rabies- as he’s going manic with PTSD. Still managing to be tactical and efficient despite it all. Rambo also has a history of being tortured, like in the novel for the 2nd movie. Where he was being fed to leeches and was electrocuted endlessly by a guy who… was getting off to it. In the Kids books he even kept fighting a man twice his size even while under the effect of poison darts.

High Stamina

It’s stated by Rambo’s capture that he hunted Rambo for three days straight, and even despite Rambo being severely malnourished and sick he still managed to escape. Rambo would later go on to do similar things in the events of the first movie/novel. He’s also consistently able to battle hundreds of enemies at once, never slowing down in the process even after being tortured and when they have tanks and heat seeking missiles going after him. Killing over one hundred and ten men without rest in Rambo 2 alone.

Transmutation

Yeah this technically exists, lmao. At the end of the SNES Rambo game, you unlock the ability to shoot the chinese lettering for “Rage” and turn people into frogs. (This is a joke inclusion, we just thought it’d be funny to mention.)

Wrath Mode and Rage Mode

A pretty random ability for Rambo to have, but in the game, Rambo does have the ability to make time seem slower in order to hit multiple targets quicker. It grants Rambo a small window of seemingly infinite ammo and recovers some of his health per enemy kill. Rage Mode is similar and comes from the arcade game. It boosts Rambo's firepower and makes him more resistant to damage.

Feats

Captain Price

Overall

• Landed a 896.7 meter shot that blew off Imran Zakhaev’s arm, while still early in his career.

• Survived in the Gulag as a prisoner. 

• Expertly commanded Task Force 141 on several missions.

• Put an end to World War III.

• Fended off entire armies. 

• Destroyed General Barkov’s Gasoline Plans.

• Defeated Al Asad, Vladimir Makarov, General Shepard, Hadir.

• Avenged his fallen comrades.

• Is the most beloved character of one of the biggest video game franchises of all time.

Power

• Kicked a steel door open.

• Able to fight General Shepard even after falling down a waterfall.

• Able to carry Cpt. MacMillan (A fully grown man).

• Sucker punched Yuri down a flight of stairs.

• Throws a pilot with one hand.

Speed

• Can dodge around and evade incoming gunfire. 

• Outran a Helicopter crashing.

• Able to quickly gun down two men in a room and get Al Asad to the ground.

• Technically moved in tandem with a C-4 Explosion.

Durability

• Survived a missile hitting his helicopter and crashing.

• Survived his car crashing.

• Survived a drop from a raging waterfall.

• Lived a helicopter crashing into him with Juggernaut armor.

• Kamarov explodes and Price is able to survive.

• Survived a Helicopter missile… (0.0021 tons of TNT) 

• …And right after survived another helicopter crash. 

• Price survives YET ANOTHER Helicopter crash.

• Can tank a 105mm missile with the Juggernaut armor. (0.002 - 0.009 tons of TNT)

John Rambo

Overall

• Defeated Sheriff Teasle, Murdock, Kourov, Major Tint, and Hugo Martinez.

• Has saved multiple war-torn countries and has waged one man wars against armies in the hundreds.

• Earned multiple medals and stars for his service. 

• Made a dude shit himself in the novel. 

• Diffused an active nuclear warhead.

• Defeated Oram in Buzkashi while he was cheating.

• Is of course one of the most influential Action Movie Heroes in history and is amongst pop culture’s most iconic characters in general.

Power

• Broke free from a pair of handcuffs.

• A younger Rambo in the books put a cop on his ass with little effort and has threatened to snap arm joints.

• Ripped out a throat with his bare hands (seen above) and snapped necks.

• Shattered ribcages and cut off heads in the same assault.

• Broke a shovel with his fucking wrist.

• Leaped onto and knocked a flying helicopter off balance.

• Lifted a couch over his head and threw it away.

• Horses faltered against Rambo when they tried to pull his arms off. 

• Beat the shit out of a crocodile, mountain lion, panthers and a tiger.

• Held onto a flying nuclear warhead without losing his grip, or really even struggling. 

• He does this in the cartoon as well, and has held onto flying jets and speeding underwater missiles.

• In the novels he pushed a large boulder that he thought would take several men to lift.

• In the cartoon he was also able to push a boulder larger than himself and once lifted and tossed a hunk of stone pillar.

• Broke through a wooden crate with a kick and destroyed a table by throwing it. 

• Has broken through metal gates and doors with ease.

• Destroys multiple trees with knives, lifts massive pieces of wood and logs and he even once FLEXED out of a hollow log.

• In the cartoon he has bent metal bars, lifted large machinery, broke out of chains and has flung grown men like rag dolls. 

• Kept himself from being sucked into space. 

• In the video games these explosive arrows can blow up stone statues (0.012 Tons of TNT) and can destroy a tank. (0.1 Tons of TNT).

Speed

• Aimed, drew, fired and killed an enemy with his Bow and Arrow within a single second. 

• Outran incoming napalm blasts.

• Drew his knife “in a blur”.

• Aim dodged gunfire in the comics and the movie.

• Threw a frying pan fast enough to hit a speeding vehicle.

• Rolled out of the way of incoming gunfire twice in the same novel.

• Rambo dodges gunfire meters away (17.1 - 68.4 M/S)

• Dodged a Grenade launcher blast (56.81 - 65 M/S)

• Shoots and kills multiple men while they are still trying to take aim at him, likely implying that he is blitzing their perception.

• In the Sega Genesis game he can run around and evade gunfire and incoming tank shells.

• Dodged machine gun fire. (Mach 0.8)

• Could catch up to a moving plane and dodge a rocket. 

• Dodges rockets and bullets on motorcycle (258 M/S)

• In the Sega Master Game Rambo is capable of dodging bullets (Mach 1.09)

• Dodges some bullets from Russian army men.

• In the cartoon he dodged rapid tank fire, missiles and evaded gunfire several times. 

• While piloting a jetpack, he dodged close range machine gun fire in the cartoon. (Mach 1.45)

• In the video games, he could shoot incoming missiles out of the air.

• Deflected a laser beam with his knife and dodged lasers in the cartoon. (See Before the Verdicts)

Durability

• Was relatively fine after leaping from a cliff in the movie and novel, of which stated it to be 200 ft.

• He’d do something similar in the cartoon/kid books and the 2nd novel.

• Survives a jet crash in the Pirates Peril book.

• Survived two horses trying to pull his arms off.

• Took part of a C-4 blast that heavily damaged a tank. 

• Survived part of a grenade explosion.

• Took the blast of some C-4 exploding.

• Shielded his eyes from shrapnel launched by an explosion.

• Survived a couple rockets in one of the kid’s books.

• Survives this explosion while in a tank.

• Took the shock wave from an exploding time bomb. 

• Cauterizes himself which causes a mini explosion somehow?

• Has taken attacks from Gripper’s cyberized arm. 

• In the cartoon he survived being tackled by an Elephant and falling off the Statue of Liberty.

• Survived the shockwave of the tall boy bomb which knocked multiple trees down. (10.8 Megajoules)

Scaling

Captain Price

Original World War 2

This section contains feats from the original Call of Duty to Call of Duty 3 and all their subsequent spinoffs. You may be wondering why the original world war 2 games are connected to Modern Warfare, there is a simple answer to this. In the original Call of Duty and its prequel Call of Duty 2, a main character we meet just so happens to be Captain Price's grandfather (also named Captain Price), and therefore we can determine that these games take place in the same timeline as the original Modern Warfare series, so they should be suitable to use.

COD 1 Feats:

• Private Martin kills a guy with a single hit from the butt of his gun

• Corporal Alexi survives explosions happening next to him multiple times

COD 2 Feats:

• Ivanovich survives a close explosion

• Davis and his squad survive a grenade exploding directly underneath their vehicle

• Davis survives a close shot from a mortar

• Taylor survives a close shot from a rocket

COD 3 Feats:

• Nichols kills a guy and sends him flying a fair distance with a hit from his rifle

• Doyle kills a guy with a light rifle bump

• Cole also kills a guy with some light rifle bumping action

• A random German soldier kicked Nichols hard enough to snap a window frame

• Nichols survives a mortar shot

• Nichols survives being on top of a tank as it explodes

• Cole survives a massive explosion which literally destroys the building he’s in. (0.00007 Tons of TNT)

The Extra Spinoff Feats:

• Sgt Peskov casually kicks a door off of its hinges

• The Big Red One squad survives mortar fire

• Brooklyn survives a few mortar shots before dying

• Wescott survives getting nearly shot by a tank

• Carlyle and Starkey survive getting a plane bomb dropped directly on them

• Their machine guns are shown capable of destroying armoured vehicles. (0.000137 Tons of TNT per bullet)

Modern Warfare

Simple scaling chain here- Price is one of the main characters in this game, and has fought alongside and/or against most, if not all major characters in this game, meaning he should scale to the following:

OG Trilogy Feats:

• Cobra Pilot survives their helicopter crashing and blowing up

• Imran Zakhaev survives getting his arm blown off 

• PFC. Joseph Allen has a RPG hit him directly along with destroying the car he was in (322.76 Kilojoules)

• Another RPG direct impacts Joseph Allen destroying the tank he was in (322.76 Kilojoules)

• Ramirez survives his helicopter crashing 

• Roach was able to dodge a landmine before it was set off

• Soap lives a drop from a waterfall (Along with Price)

• Task Force 141 take out multiple enemies in slow motion

• The president and his daughter survive a plane crash 

• Huge explosion sends Yuri sliding 

• Motor fire destroys the car Yuri was on and he lives

MW Reboot Feats:

• Alex survives gasoline explosions 

• Kyle survived close range missile explosions

• Alex briefly resisted toxic gas without a mask

• Farrah survived Solitary Confinement for 10 days with no food and water

• Alex takes an explosion from the Juggernaut

• Members of Alpha team survive a helicopter crash

• Local police and Alejandro survive a RPG that blew up the cars behind them

• Soap survives a gunshot to the arm

• SGT. Dipadlo survives an explosion that flips the car   

• Soap (and Task force 141) survives a door being breached right next to him.

• Alex survived the Factory Explosion in 2019… offscreen.

Black Ops

This section contains feats from World at War to Black Ops 3, the entire Black Ops timeline excluding the Modern Warfare reboot games. The Black Ops timeline takes place over the course of 120 years, and while most of the games in the series are usable, Black Ops 4, Black Ops 3 and its comic run are all set after genetic enhancements have become common place in verse, and therefore Price would not scale to feats in these games. The feats from these games are still included below, within the “Far Future” section.

World War 2 Feats:

• Polina survives a direct shot from a rocket launcher

• Lucas survives a point blank explosion

• Arthur survives a close explosion

• Daniels survives a close explosion (Multiple times)

• Daniels survives a close tank shot

• Daniels survives a direct hit from a plane’s bomb

• Daniels survives a shot from a Panzerschreck

• Daniels survives a direct hit from a rocket (I don’t know why Daniels is the COD protag to survive the most explosions, I guess he's just built different)

• The Marines survive their ship exploding whilst they’re still on it

• Rezov and Dimitri survive a close explosion

• Gibson survives an explosion from a relatively close distance

• Misha easily snaps a plank of wood with a punch

• Reznov easily lifts a burning piece of wood heavy enough to pin Dimitri down

• Dimitri gets shot in the upper chest and walks it off

• Sgt Maddock kills a guy with a casual kick

• Lucas bodyslams Richter hard enough to break tiles

• Paul could beat a wolf in close quarters combat

• Daniels kills a guy with a helmet.

• Daniels kills a guy with a casual hit from his pistol

• Steiner (Not from Black Ops 1, the Vanguard one) survives getting stabbed multiple times in his boss fight

• Wade moves around pretty easily just by bandaging himself up after getting impaled from a plane crash

Cold War Feats:

• Woods and Mason dodge bullets (Mach 1.16)

• Bell perceives an explosion in slow motion (Mach 0.3)

• Mason is unharmed by a close grenade explosion

• Bell survives a close by grenade explosion

• Mason survives getting shot by a helicopter missile

• Sanderson survives getting shot by a helicopter missile

• Hudson survives getting shot by multiple helicopter missiles which blew up his armoured vehicle

• Bell survives ramming through exploding armoured vehicles

• Bell survives a short range C4 explosion

• Bell survives a short range rocket hit

• Menendez and Hudson survive practically jumping on a grenade

• Woods tanks getting hit by 2 rockets and some C4 

• the C4 is later shown capable of destroying a building 

• Mason tanks some C4

• Mason survives a plane wing falling on him

• Sergei Kozin breaks down a metal armoury door with his bare hands

• Hudson gets shot in the chest and is fine

• Case can snipe people from hundreds of meters away

• Sev can casually break a guy’s back (500 Joules)

• Black Ops machine guns are shown to be powerful enough to destroy anti-air guns. (0.00063 Tons of TNT)

Futuristic Feats:

• Marshall dodges a sniper bullet (61.407 m/s)

• Harper possibly dodges bullets

• Section dodges bullets

• Section survives a short range explosion

• Kagan survives a direct hit from a rocket

• Harper can easily hold Falkner over a roof with a single hand

• Marshall and an Unnamed Gunner can shoot helicopter and RPG missiles out of the sky with normal bullets.

Far Future Feats (Yes, the BO3 protag is called Player): 

• Ruin dodges bullets

• Player and Hendricks dodge machine gun fire

• Player either tanks or dodges a bullet

• Player rocket dodges

• Kane and Player tank a point blank explosion

• “Thug Patient” gets shot in the chest and is fine after having alcohol poured onto it

• Player survives getting his legs torn off, arms broken, then beaten up

• Prophet can accurately shoot a playing card consistently from hundreds of meters away

• Seraph can beat multiple guys in hand-to-hand combat simultaneously

• Player craters the ground with their ground pound.

• Player kicks a vent hard enough to kill a guy.

And to finish out the section, Sergei, Woods, Belikov, Bell, Adler, Case, Felix, Daniels, Arthur, Onslaught 2 and even random soldiers can all snap necks easily. (750 Joules)

Call of Duty Zombies (See Before the Verdict)

Zombie Feats:

• The zombies can tear through stone walls with their hands (3,474,359 Joules)

• The zombies can dent and send a steel door flying

• A zombie could decapitate a soldier with their bare hands

• A zombie could run away whilst carrying George Romero with one hand

• The zombies can keep up with a moving bus

• A zombie could react to a P90 shot to save Richtofen

• Zombies can survive being run over by a bus

• Zombies can take a ton of bullets and continue moving forward

• Even without legs, a zombie can jump many meters high and tear through barricades like it would normally

• Zombies can take hits from the Ray Gun, which can destroy tanks. (23 - 88 Megajoules)

• It can also be upgraded to be stronger with Pack-a-Punch, so this could potentially be higher. 

Human Feats:

• Tank Dempsey can crush skulls

• The One Inch Punch can send zombies flying and kill them with one punch

• The Golden Helmet allows the cast to survive getting stepped on by the giant robots in Origins (Price can’t get this helmet)

• Richtofen in a zombie’s body was capable of dodging a Drakon shot (119.46 m/s)

• Several weapons are laser-like and can be technically moved in tandem with by players. (See Before the Verdicts)

• Richtofen flies through Saturn’s ring (0.01935c) (See Before the Verdicts)

Miscellaneous

This section will include the COD games which aren’t canon to either of the two main timelines, as such feats from these games will only be used as supporting evidence at best. COD Ghosts, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare are all examples of games which fit in this category. Physical feats from Advanced Warfare can not be scaled to Price due to characters wearing Exo suits to boost their physicality throughout the game, but they will still be included here for thoroughness sake.

COD Ghosts Feats:

• Baker and Mosley survive getting exploded and sucked into space

• Thompson survives a space explosion

• Logan and Hesh survive a massive shockwave

• Hesh casually destroys a brick wall with a kick

• Rorke casually destroys a brick wall with a kick

• Logan survives getting thrown through a wooden wall

• Ghost (The guy) survives being very close to an explosion

• The Ghosts (The group) all survive an explosion

• Logan gets shot in the chest and just shrugs it off soon after

• Rorke survives falling into a tsunami from a high height whilst trapped under rubble

• Logan survives getting hit by a piece of plane whilst falling very quickly

• Logan survives a high fall

• Logan destroys a helicopter by shooting it a couple of times

• Hesh gets shot and in a train crash and is up and at them moments later

• Rorke gets shot in the chest (literally goes through him), left to drown, and somehow survives and beats Logan in CQC a few minutes later.

Advanced Warfare Feats:

• Mitchell survives getting hit by a car

• Mitchell rips off a fence

• Mitchell breaks open a steel door

• Mitchell tears open a sentry turret

• A bunch of the crew survives a big explosion

• Mitchell survives a missile

• Mitchell survives a close range explosion

Infinite Warfare Feats:

• Reyes lifts a big metal locker

• Reyes survives a close explosion

• Reyes survives getting stabbed in the gut and getting beaten up, he’s back at it a few minutes later

• Kotch survives a robot beat down then a point blank self destruct

• Reyes, Salt and a ton of their crew survive crash landing into Mars from orbit

John Rambo

Comrades and Adversaries 

Many have crossed Rambo and sooner or later, came to heavily regret that decision. From the novels to the games and the movies and cartoons, Rambo has kicked a lot of people’s asses and so have his close allies. Rambo is of course the main character of the series and possesses the best feats overall, so comparing him to the rest of the cast should hold little issue.

• General Trautman can beat men unconscious with his bare hands. 

• General Trautman can survive a cluster of grenades exploding on top of him in the video games. 

• Any feat Rambo can perform in this game is also capable by Trautman, and vice versa. 

• General Trautman endured torture for days on end.

• Nathan aim dodged gunfire in the comics. 

• Sheriff Teasle survived being shot and falling through a glass ceiling. 

• Turbo caught two dudes on speeding motorcycles. 

• The White Dragon can chop ice blocks in half.

• Two random civilians survive a car bomb.

• This thug could dodge a rpg shot.

• These soldiers survive a grenade blast.

• This stick-fighter broke through a wooden plank with a tonfa.

• This rando survived stepping on a landmine. 

• Kat could dodge high tech missiles. 

• Random ninjas can slice machinery in half and tank casino wheels thrown by Rambo.

• Some random thugs managed to dodge cutlery fired from a canon. 

• A few random goons can survive shots from Rambo’s explosive arrows in the cartoon.

• Grunts can seemingly survive blasts made by Rambo’s explosive arrows in the Sega Genesis game.

• Kourov survived a portion of an explosion from one of Rambo’s explosive arrows in the movies. 

• A Man attacking Rambo was described to move like a blur.

• Members of the Baker Team while in Wrath Mode could perceive explosions as slowed down, such as claymores. (Mach 0.6)

• Vin survived an explosion that destroyed a small building and made a “mushroom cloud” that sent a shockwave a large distance. 

• This random guy narrowly misses Rambo‘s knife. (16 M/S)

• A big dude tipped over a big car.  

• In the cartoon this group of goons survived being inside of a tank as it exploded from within. (23 - 88 Megajoules)

• This bad guy technically moves in tandem with a laser grid in the cartoon. (See Before the Verdicts)

Rocky Balboa

While some may argue against including this, we ultimately agreed that this is valid to use under the context of it being supportive of Rambo’s own feats. Rocky isn’t really doing anything that John doesn’t just completely outdo anyways and notoriously, Sylvester Stallone himself has said that Rambo and Rocky could fight and take victory over each other depending on the situation. With Stallone having written for and acted as both characters for decades, his word should suffice here. Plus Rocky the goat.

• Trains by breaking cow ribs in the first movie.

• Lifts a big log while in the snow in Rocky IV (184 Pounds)

• Takes multiple hits from Ivan Drago, who can punch quite hard. (1.8 Kilojoules)

• Throws Thunderlips, who weighs 390 lbs.

• Punches Apollo so hard that he felt it in his heart.

• Paulie smashes a wooden chair over thunder lips. (4-6 Kilojoules)

• Lifts Paulie, Tony and Adrian alongside a part of a wooden wagon.

• Lifts up massive rocks.

• Boxers throw punches at (15 M/S).

• Sent george washington duke flying with a punch. (1.46 Kilojoules)

• Creed pulled a plane while training. (1.41 Kilojoules)

Weaknesses

Captain Price

No soldier is perfect, and Price is not the exception to this rule. Price has little filter when it comes to dealing with enemies at times, and his emotions sometimes get the best of him when it comes to certain decisions. And despite the potency of some of Price’s gadgets, some of them take time for them to get going, leaving him vulnerable to counter attack. Of course, at the end of the day and despite his accomplishments, Price is just a mortal man and will die just like any other. Even the far more advanced Black Ops 3 characters consider a headshot instant death.

John Rambo

As great of a soldier he is, Rambo unfortunately has experienced the horrors one goes through during war. He has lost many friends and allies in the battlefield and suffers from PTSD. This can be seen when he was tortured by the cops in First Blood, which reminded him of when he was a Prisoner of War. Even in his old age, Rambo still suffers from traumatic flashbacks and despite regularly finding himself in hectic fire fights, Rambo has never worn armor of any sort, which has led to him being shot on many occasions.

Before the Verdict

What’s going on with COD Zombies?

For a more detailed analysis on this matter, please refer to this document about the relationship between Modern Warfare and Black Ops Zombies.

TL;DR, Activision has made the decision to unite the entirety of the remake/Black Ops lore in the new Dark Aether timeline (they started doing this in Black Ops Cold War which retroactively made every Black Ops game, and by extension the Modern Warfare remakes, canon to zombies). Aside from the blatant existence of Modern Warfare III's Zombies mode with characters such as Soap and Laswell being key players, Black Ops characters like Weaver and Kravchenko feature prominently in the new Dark Aether timeline, with the former being a main character.

Additionally, “Project Aether” was mentioned at the end of the Vanguard campaign, and there is intel that Ghost finds in Warzone which also confirms the events of Zombies of having happened. Furthermore, it retroactively canonises the Wonder Weapon easter eggs in the campaigns, that of getting a Ray Gun in World at War and a Thundergun in Black Ops.

So what is Price getting from Zombies being canon?

Well, he scales to the stuff the more grounded characters in Zombies do, especially characters like Weaver and Kravchenko who are literally a part of the Black Ops campaign. Additionally, it could be argued that he should have access to the weaponry from the Modern Warfare 3 Zombies mode due to his status as a playable character.

However, it should be noted that whilst you can play as Captain Price in the Cold War Zombies mode, this is specifically a “Price ‘84” skin and is not the actual Captain Price, so he shouldn’t be getting the weaponry seen in here, not to mention the timeframe conflict would make his appearance in the game non-canon.

Of course, it is also very debatable as to if you would even want to discuss Zombies in a matchup like this one, after all it does feel a bit strange to have a matchup which has a selling point of “grounded, gritty gun play” to be giving Price access to a Ray Gun and Perk-a-Colas, so we have decided to consider both options of including it and not including it in order to try our best at satisfying everyone.

As a final part of the justification of Zombies scaling, we should bring up the relativistic space flight that the zombies cast did in Black Ops 7. So are Call of Duty characters actually approaching near light speed in their reactions? Well no. There are many many instances throughout all of COD of characters just about capping out as bullet dodgers. Them going from transonic to relativistic based on a single feat is too big a jump to justify on that one feat alone.

How usable is Warzone?

This one’s much easier to explain so let’s keep it brief.

Warzone (and by extension, Multiplayer) has been the primary method of continuing each Call of Duty game’s storyline following the campaign. However, with Call of Duty's more wacky crossovers in recent memory, some individuals may take their presence in the game a little bit too seriously.

The simple answer here is just that the crossover stuff is obviously non-canon to the actual CoD storyline. The only real outlier in this scenario would be the Monsterverse Godzilla VS Kong collab in Vanguard, as the events were given its own teaser and cinematic cutscene for Season 3. But Vanguard's post-launch storyline kind of stops taking itself seriously at this point, as it somehow leads directly into the 70s without any of the characters aging, and the characters all eventually end up taking mercenary work and fighting each other to get rich off of Nazi gold… yeah.

This does mean that Price isn’t getting the luxury of scaling to people like Ash Williams, Spawn, and even Rambo himself, nor would he get things like Temp V, however the events of Warzone are undoubtedly canon and the game should be considered usable for Price.

Is Call of Duty Heroes / Mobile canon?

Call of Duty Heroes is COD's version of Clash of Clans. In this mobile game, you build a base and attack other bases using troops and “Heroes” - specialized troops with powerful abilities, all being key characters from different COD campaigns. The very first Hero you ever unlock in COD Heroes happens to be Captain Price himself, and he has the power to destroy large buildings with a single blast of his special ability. So it begs the question - Why is Call of Duty Heroes not being included?

Quite simply, COD Heroes is completely incapable of being canonical due to the heroes which exist within the game. It is completely impossible for characters from Call of Duty WW2 like Daniels and Rousseau to be able to meet Ethan from Infinite Warfare or Gideon and Ilona from Advanced Warfare. Ignoring them being from entirely separate universes, those games are set over 100 years after the events of WW2, making those characters meeting each other completely impossible. A list of all COD Heroes characters can be found here. 

COD Mobile has similar issues, with characters from across the timeline being crammed into one game, being a complete impossibility in canon. So long story short, these games are incapable of being canon and therefore can not be included for Price.

Regeneration - Real or Fake?

We all know of the classic gameplay loop of shooting a bad guy and ducking for cover to regain health, but is this an actual occurrence in lore or is it just gameplay? Well, looking over the entire series does paint a pretty clear picture that the regeneration seen in game is just a gameplay mechanic.

While it is true the franchise has multiple perks that allow you to heal quicker implying your character can naturally heal and perks are shown to be a physical piece of equipment in the later games, so much of the series outright contradicts the idea of a sort of regeneration. For starters, characters like Adler complain about having scars which have never healed and Soaps journal also mentions the fact that he had to take prolonged trips to the infirmary due to a bite and knife wounds took a long time to heal.

On the topic of Soap, well… Soap dies in MW3 via bleeding out. Not from a quick kill he didn’t see coming, not from a big explosion, or even a helicopter crash finally killing him, nope just bleeding out, which doesn’t exactly seem like something a guy with regeneration should be dying from.

Some of you may be thinking, “Well, what about the medkits seen in the Original Call of Duty, Finest Hour and WW2?”. While it is true that those game’s campaigns forgo the usual natural regeneration in COD for manual medkits the characters apply, it is pretty clear that the instant regeneration these medkits apply is also a gameplay exclusive benefit. Tanya has to be treated in a hospital for injuries in Finest Hour and Zussman needed to be dragged to a medic after getting stabbed, with Turner later on nearly bleeding out from his own injuries in WW2. Basically, none of these events would have happened should medkits be capable of quick healing, so we can determine that they are also gameplay mechanics.

Overall while COD does have some healing items the idea that Price and by extension all of Call of Duty has some sort of pseudo wolverine regen that allows them to heal from bullets is likely false and just gameplay. They just have hella good endurance and can keep going even after sustaining heavy damage which would probably put most people out of commission.

Should we use the Rambo Cartoon?

Every franchise eventually sells its soul to merchandising, and the Rambo series is no exception. Much to Sylvester Stallone's grief.  

Understandably, a lot of people will likely be taken back by the inclusion of this, as it is tonally very different from the rest of the series… for obvious reasons. It was meant for kids after all, so you can’t really have Rambo gutting people throat to groin. But while this cartoon does act as a sort of sequel to the original first 2 movies and makes occasional call backs to it, it is pretty clearly non-canon at this point. Though one could attempt to argue it as a sort of alternate timeline in a generous discussion, akin to the novels in a way. It’s also notoriously hated by Sylverster Stallone himself, calling it out as “That’s not Rambo” and has even confirmed he’s out right attempted to keep them from making it, with it only going through as they were not using Stallone’s direct likeness, just adapting a character he’s portrayed. Hell, he even refused to buy his children the toys. 

So, is this viable for usage here? Well, we personally are airing on the side of caution with it. It can obviously be argued for, but we agreed the cartoon is better used as supporting evidence for more traditional Rambo media and taking things like background information should be fine to use. It can not, and in all honesty should not be the focus of an analysis and we do not think it should be used for any sort of massive buff for the character. Namely, concerning the laser feats that are present in it. All other things considered, Rambo doesn't typically do anything in the cartoon that’s out of the norm when looking at the movies or novels. He still consistently ranges in the wall - small building and low mach speed metas and most of the arsenal he gets in it should be reasonable to give Rambo as it’s mostly just… typical military weaponry and vehicles. Only one of those laser feats is truly solid without any issues and at that point, it is just reasonably an outlier. Quite simply. 

So TLDR; The Rambo cartoon can be used as supporting evidence in our opinions. 

Artwork

(Artwork by Nitrox)

Fight Track

The Price of the First Blood

By: French

Verdict

Stats

Starting off with their respective states, Rambo right out the game already seems more impressive than Price in a direct comparison. Rambo’s own feats completely encapsulate what Price has done on his own, but this isn’t the entire story. Scaling to other characters in the series, Price physically can get up to wall level and can potentially be pushed into low small building metas. Pretty impressive for a “grounded” series! However Rambo can match this and can be pushed even further. Firstly, Rambo’s lifting strength is just ludicrously above anything scalable for Price. We’re talking about a guy who even as early as the first novel is moving boulders that’d require several other men to move, and things only get crazier with Rambo out muscling horses trying to pull his arms off and moving around boulders larger than himself in the cartoon. But where attack potency and durability are concerned, Rambo is taking the lead again. In Rambo 4, John takes part of the explosion set off by a small nuke, scraping by with 10 Megajoules aka 0.002 tons of TNT, compare this to some of the feats from other COD characters coming around 0.0006 tons of TNT… Rambo is just way stronger with the movies alone.

Getting into extended media, the cartoon has a feat netting up to 88 Megajoules from some regular goons surviving a tank exploding with them in it, pretty good but Price can actually match this thanks to Call of Duty Zombies. The undead can take hits from the Ray Gun, which has shown to be capable of destroying military tanks… weirdly similar to Rambo! We could also mention how the Ray Gun can be upgraded to be stronger but the feat from the cartoon has the tank more destroyed, so these are likely evening out. And this isn’t even mentioning raw firepower. Rambo’s explosive arrows in the video games are ranging from 0.01 to 0.1 tons of TNT, well within the range of one shotting Price. One could also argue that characters in the Rambo series can actually scale physically to these, as there are a few instances of this. No matter how you cut it though Rambo is either matching or exceeding Price physically and most definitely has the superior firepower.

Speed is another thing, and both are fairly close to each other. Rambo in the video games can get around Mach 1.09, while through scaling to Mason and Woods, Price can get up to Mach 1.16- not terribly different from each other but you can get Rambo a tad higher with the cartoon thanks to a Mach 1.45 feat. Not only that, but both have ways to buff themselves up. With a stim shot Price could speed himself up for a short time and with the Speed Cola and Stamin-Up, Price can increase his travel and reload speed while Rambo in a meditative state is stated as “doubling” his capabilities. One can argue this applies to his physicals and potentially get Rambo to Mach 2-3. Even accounting for slow motion shenanigans, and overlooking any arguments one may have for them being illegitimate, Rambo still has the edge Mach 0.6 compared to Price’s Mach 0.3, double in his favor funny enough. And if we also wanted to be a bit disingenuous and mention their relativistic feats, Rambo’s are likely going to be slightly higher, although as we argued in the Before the Verdict section, these are just outliers and shouldn't be used seriously.

Overall though, while his adversary certainly isn’t helpless, John Rambo is taking this category.

Training

With a fight like this, skill and experience matter heavily. Both are decorated soldiers, highly trained in most fields of warfare and obviously are exceedingly talented with firearms. However Rambo is definitely more dangerous in close quarters combat. He has more on screen showings of his skill and is confirmed to be a black belt in several martial arts. Ninjutsu, Ban Do, Karate…. Sylverster Stallone even said Rambo could take Rocky, who has statements of being one of the best fighters on the planet. This paired with a heavy lifting strength advantage? Rambo would most definitely beat the breaks off of Price in a pure physical fight. Rambo also just has more direct showings of stealth and relies far less on technology to get the drop on foes on average. This also leads into his intelligence, while Price definitely isn't too far off in that regard, Rambo is definitely more crafty and likes to think outside of the box more often. Consistently setting up elaborate and complex traps to get one over on entire groups of people, like a Rated-R Home Alone and has fought off massive groups of trained people on his own several times. When it comes to weaponry, it’s a decent back a fourth. Neither should be radically better than the other considering most weapons.

Both are very skilled with just about any firearm you can think of, however Price definitely has superior aim feats when considering sniper rifles, hitting shots at ranges hundreds of times greater than what Rambo has with a bow and arrow. So if Price managed to make some distance between him and Rambo, he’d be at a just as heavy of an advantage as Rambo would be at close quarters. It’s also worth pointing out that while Rambo does have statements of being skilled with firearms both foreign and domestic, Price has a much larger arsenal and has shown proficiency with a wider variety of weaponry in general, not just guns. Though, it’s also important to note that Rambo is definitely more experienced than Price, just via the fact he’s been doing this for much longer and even into his old age. He was well into his 70s and was still just as capable as he was in his younger age. And of course, Rambo has a much wider pool of media to pull from than Price. Who’s only directly been in a handful of games, let alone comics, games, movies and novels like Rambo.

While this should be by the skin of his teeth, we believe John Rambo takes the overall edge in this category.

Technology

Both Rambo and Captain Price have some nifty technology which they can use in order to try and gain an advantage on their adversary, although it probably wouldn’t be too surprising to learn that we favour Price’s tech to Rambos. Considering Rambo’s battles primarily take place in the cold war with his favoured tactic of running around shirtless, compared to Price’s being current age and making full use of the military’s equipment, it seems quite straight forward that Price has more gadgets to help him out, but it’s not clear cut in reality.

Rambo has some pretty incredible weaponry, like his flamethrower or his anti-tank gun, both of which could prove handy in a fight against Price. Additionally, Rambo possesses numerous vehicles which could help him maneuver around the battlefield with a significant edge over Price for however long the vehicles manage to last, and could then use his grappling hook to continue to maneuver around effectively. He even has a space suit, so if we did decide to set the battle in space, Rambo definitely has a good chance of winning (although maybe COD characters can survive the vacuum of space?). The Juggernaut Armor clearly seems like something that Rambo doesn’t have an answer to, but his main go-to weapon is actually the key here. Not only is Rambo just faster than Price, but the Juggernaut weighs him down quite a bit which would give Rambo ample opportunity to maneuver around any incoming fire and just tear right through it with his explosive arrows, which scale much higher than it shockingly. And if we were to give Rambo the jetpack from the cartoon, he’d be incredibly tedious for a slowed down Price to tag reliably.

In comparison to Price’s general technology though. Night vision goggles and snapshot grenades could help Price spot Rambo in a stealth situation, with his heartbeat sensor also being a possible way around Rambo’s stealth (although the novels do say that Rambo could lower his heartbeat significantly which could potentially bypass the heartbeat sensor. Whether he could lower his heartbeat in an active fight is another question entirely). UAVs and especially Advanced UAVs would also ensure that Price can always find Rambo in a stealthy situation. Flashbangs and decoy grenades could help Price disorientate Rambo and the gilliesuit could help him hide in the event that he has to try and use stealth against Rambo, who would have to rely on his own keen senses rather than any technology he possesses to try and find Price. It’s also worth pointing out that while Rambo is quite tough and owns bullet-proof armor, we never see him actually wear any. While Price owns multiple sets and is typically portrayed wearing a vest at the very least, giving him more room for error technically.

And this is all without mentioning the possible inclusion of the technology seen in zombies and how that could benefit Price, with Perk-a-Colas like Death Perception to see enemies through walls or Juggernog and Quick Revive to help him withstand more damage. Ammo mods could shock, set fire to, or freeze Rambo, and weapons like the Ray Gun and Wunderwaffe would give Price more options in how he fights.

While Rambo certainly isn’t a slouch, Captain John Price should take technology with or without zombies.

Win Conditions

In terms of win conditions neither Rambo or Price are left out to dry, with either having the possibility of grabbing victory against the other in this super close bout. Rambo’s explosives are pretty monstrous in comparison to the type of explosives we usually see Call of Duty characters withstand in the campaigns, meaning that the arrows and missiles he shoots at Price should be capable of taking him out with one shot, with even the juggernaut armour being incapable of taking that level of punishment. This means that Rambo just needs to hit Price with the correct weapon once in order to win, with the correct weapon being one that also happens to be one of his go to weapons.

Additionally, Rambo is significantly more skilled than Price in any close quarters encounter, and much stronger physically than Price as well, meaning that Price would have to keep his distance in order to not be grappled and ripped apart by Rambo’s insane physical strength. Rambo would also have a decent opportunity to try and close the distance due to his superior speed to Price, so it isn’t hugely unlikely that he could actually get in close despite this obviously being a primarily ranged fight.

And if the fight started with Price in grabbing range then it would not even be a discussion as to who wins as Rambo should comfortably beat Price at such a range. Of course, for the sake of keeping things fair this fight would start at a mid range between the two combatants.

On the other hand, Price isn’t entirely without hope in a quick draw scenario. Whilst Rambo may be capable of killing Price in a single shot from his explosive bow and arrow, it is a limited weapon in terms of how fast an arrow could travel at Price in order to take him out. Arrows shot from a compound bow typically get around 130 m/s, which is pretty comparable to the missiles which Marshall could shoot out of the sky with a machine gun which usually travel at around 150 m/s from when first fired. This means that you could argue that even if Rambo can shoot an arrow at Price faster than he could react, Price could still react to the arrow travelling at him fast enough to shoot it down. Considering that explosive tipped arrows are a thing in the Modern Warfare games, it is not even too unlikely that Price could recognise the arrow as a serious threat.

But in counter to this, Price would probably be starting this encounter in a juggernaut suit - with it being one of his best pieces of equipment this is the going in assumption - meaning that it is not unlikely that Price would simply decide to try and tank the arrow rather than attempt to shoot it out of the air, afterall the juggernaut suit can typically withstand any explosives dished out against it in the Call of Duty games, so him deciding to not try and aim at Rambo directly and instead focus on shooting an arrow out of the sky first does not seem to be the most likely outcome.

Price can also counter practically any stealth option Rambo might try and implement, so at the very least he will always be able to be aware of what Rambo might be planning. Whilst the inverse is not necessarily true for Rambo who may not be able to figure out where Price is hiding as quickly if he was able to bring this down to a contest of stealth.

Price also takes a significant advantage if the fight was to be taking place at a much longer range, with Price being able to hit accurate shots from hundreds of meters away. Though this does not seem like anymore an even situation for the fight to take place in than Price starting in punching range of Rambo.

But in conclusion, the wincons category depends upon if you think it is more likely for Price to decide to shoot down Rambo’s arrows than to try and tank them with the use of his juggernaut armour. As it is essentially a matter of interpretation, we decided to make wincons a tie.

Conclusion

“You draw the line wherever you need it, Sergeant. End of the day someone has to make the enemy scared of the dark. We get dirty and the world stays clean. That's the mission.”

Advantages:

• Significantly larger arsenal, especially with perks in the mix.

• Significantly a better shot at a long range with sniper rifles.

• Higher travel speed with amps. 

• Actually wears armor and has multiple sets which could render him mostly immune to normal bullets. 

• Trackers would have little trouble finding Rambo….

• Juggernaut Armor would protect against many of Rambo’s weapons….

• Rambo would have a harder time figuring out Price's stealth.

• His equipment is significantly more advanced than what Rambo possesses.

• The best and most consistent character in both Modern Warfare Games. (Next to Soap)

• I like his hat and beard. - Grimes

Disadvantages:

• … Though Rambo’s enhanced senses and certain stealth tactics would make it tedious. 

• … Explosives would be too strong for it.

• Packing less firepower overall.

• Physically weaker and slower all around. 

• Equipment may take too long to set up.

• Killstreaks may not arrive on the field immediately.

• Not as buff.

• Series hasn’t been good since 2012 

• Call of Duty Voice Chat

• Epstein added microtransactions to COD…

“But this is what we do. Who we are. Live for nothing, or die for something. Your call.”

Advantages:

• Significantly more skilled in a hand to hand fight.

• More experienced in general. 

• Certainly has higher lifting strength by a large margin. 

• Higher results in the stat trinity.

• Meditation would tip stats even heavier into his favor. 

• Could work around Juggernaut armor with armor piercing rounds and heavy artillery.

• Owns bullet-proof armor technically….

• More destructive arsenal and has vehicles with far better mobility. 

• Slowing his heart rate and lathering himself in mud could throw off Price’s tracking tech temporarily…

• Sylvester Stallone and these movies kick ass.

• His MK11 Ending is awesome

Disadvantages:

• … Wears literally no armor ever.

• … But he would need to anticipate this in advance and won’t be able to for long.

• Stealth would get nullified by unmanned drones.

• “This film is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of Afghanistan"

• Worst performance of the ERB

So, in the final conclusion of this incredibly close matchup between two of the most badass gunslingers you can find, we have found that while Captain Price has some significant advantages over Rambo in terms of the technology he can use to try and win one over on Rambo, Rambo’s domination in the realm of stats has gunned down Price’s chances of victory and left John Rambo on top in this shoot out. While the Captain had the tools and the skillset to turn the tides of this war in his favor under the right circumstances, Rambo is no stranger to punching up. We ultimately came to the conclusion that Rambo’s physical superiority, oppressive firepower along with his guerilla tactics and training were just enough for him to draw Last Blood. In the end, Rambo gives a Bravo 6 to an honorable soldier as he draws First Blood, with Captain Price paying the ultimate sacrifice.

The winner is John James Rambo

Vote Tally:

Captain Price (2)- Violet, Toppat Torchwick

John Rambo (9)-  door-kun, Echo Awakens, Iceking, Kuma, Riley, Thicc Grimes, Ultra, Yuix, 76sup

Undecided (1)- TheBigIronYoshi

Before We Go…

During the production of this blog, Vince Zampella, the creator of Call of Duty, as well as the co-founder of both Infinity Ward and Respawn Entertainment, unfortunately died at the age of 55 on December 21st 2025 in a car accident. Also around the time this blog was greenlit, the director of First Blood, Ted Kotcheff, who also directed other classic films such as Weekend At Bernie’s and Wake in Fright, as well as playing Marty Peretz in Shattered Glass, sadly passed away at the age of 94 on April 10th 2025. Without these two, we wouldn’t have these great characters brought to life and we thank you both for helping kickstart two series that are so well known and beloved by many.

Next Time…

(Credit to Mega_333 for the trailer!)