How Carver Butcher and the Prestige system connects Call of Duty Vanguard, Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare

2021's Call of Duty Vanguard took players back to the World War 2 setting, with a new story. It is the most recent entry in the franchise following 2019's Modern Warfare and 2020's Black Ops Cold War.

While each of the three games were designed by a different studio, there are are some links between Call of Duty Vanguard and the other two games.

Some of these connections are in the form of game mechanisms, while other links are less apparent on the surface, and players will have to do some digging to find a relationship.

A possible reason for this integration is to help fans maintain a link between the different releases. It also allows for the characters to be properly established before new storylines are drawn around them.

Be it for the Taskforce Vanguard or the prestige system, Vanguard links up with the previous releases more often than not.

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Call of Duty Vanguard's prestige system is a continuation of the previous games

Call of Duty Vanguard's focus is clearly on the online aspects of the game. Unlike Battlefield 2042, there is a short campaign in Vanguard that serves as an extended tutorial and a taster for the various weapons and accessories in the multiplayer experience.

Call of Duty Vanguard's prestige system certainly bears resemblance to previous games. When Call of Duty World War 2 was released, Activision planned to make the system more rewarding. Vanguard's prestige system has its own set of differences, but the similarities are pretty apparent.

Players rise in rank from 1 to 55 across all game modes. Additionally, with the availability of Call of Duty Warzone and Call of Duty Vanguard's integration, players can use the Battle Royale game to rank up the prestige system.

There is also a more focused emphasis on the environment and the game's overall pace. Some players have complained about the overall TTK of specific Call of Duty games, which seems to be a deliberate push by the developers to balance gameplay. However, these kinds of additions, and the Zombies mode, help keep Vanguard players engaged and not feel bored.

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Taskforce Vanguard and its connection between Call of Duty games

Taskforce Vanguard's battle with Project Phoenix is the main backdrop of the game. Carver Butcher created Taskforce Vanguard to foil Hermann Freisinger and his attempts to mobilize the remaining Nazi Army. Incidentally, Carver Butcher is present in Call of Duty World War 2 as well, and he has a special connection with Black Ops Cold War.

Russell Adler is a CIA agent in the Black Ops Cold War whose task is to stop a Russian agent codenamed Perseus. Adler and his team work with Butcher, the same personality found in World War 2 and Vanguard. This was shown in a trailer involving the two characters.

While Black Ops Cold War has a different setting, the connection clearly shows the relationship with Vanguard. Specifically, it can be claimed that the occurrence in the Cold War setting is a continuation of Vanguard's story in itself. Could there be a game set between the two titles? Only time will tell, but it can't be ruled out, given Activision's attempts at creating a connected universe.