With the recent reveal of Modern Warfare 3’s Campaign Gameplay, we got a stunning reveal about an old favorite that’s back from the dead in MW3. Verdansk, the fan-favorite Warzone map, is returning in Modern Warfare III in the Campaign for MWIII, but how and why is Verdansk back? Here’s what you need to know:
VERDANSK WAS DESTROYED
If you remember Verdansk, you most likely remember the last time we saw the original version of the map; overrun by Zombies and with no hope left, the operators at Rebirth Island launched a nuke in an effort to contain the outbreak.
This mission happened back in 2021 during the early days of Black Ops Cold War’s lifecycle. Right after the map was nuked, we got Verdansk ‘84, a version of the map that was set in 1984.
The map was retired when Caldera launched during Vanguard’s lifecycle, marking the end of the map for 2 years aside from its release in the upcoming “Warzone Mobile”.
VERDANSK NEVER GOT NUKED
According to the new blog post given for Modern Warfare 3’s Campaign, this version of Verdansk is set in 2023, which raises the question about the nuke back in 2021.
Let’s get this question out of the way: Does this mean Zombies don’t exist in the Modern Warfare Universe?
The answer: No, they exist. Every universe: Vanguard, Black Ops, and Modern Warfare are all connected as of MW2019. Plus, the new iteration of Zombies coming to Modern Warfare 3 is confirmed to be involved with the iconic Treyarch Aether Story.
So, how are we in Verdansk during 2023? The theory is that the outbreak has been retconned as far back as the launch of MWII. There’s a specific character bio for Roze that says “Unseen forces had different plans for Verdansk.” They never clarify what the forces were or where Verdansk currently rests in terms of being destroyed or alive.
Suppose you say that the outbreak was deemed highly-classified and therefore not able to be discussed, but surely the 141 would let it slip to each other about the horrors they could’ve heard about or even witnessed. You could also say that the nuke didn’t take out all of Verdansk, but considering the current modern-day power of nukes and the fact that it hit downtown means that the entire city should’ve been decimated, especially the prison which is shown to be fully intact in the gameplay.
So what took Verdansk? It’s an answer that wasn’t revealed until Season 5… the Konni Faction. Makarov, to our knowledge, is locked up in the Prison in Verdansk, and as the blog post confirmed the Prison is ran by the Konni Faction. This gives Makarov major protection, and means he has a secret HQ in an old Gulag in Verdansk.
THE END
Of course, this is pure speculation. For all we know, there’s a quarantine zone in Verdansk, but the Stadium in the trailer shows copious amounts of people in it, and it seems from screenshots and other videos that Verdansk is up and operational, so I think it’s safe to assume that the nuke never happened.
What do you think? Was the nuke retconned, or is it still present? We’ll find out once Modern Warfare 3 launches in November.
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