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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | You suffer with me. | „ |
| ~ Menendez's most famous quote. |
| “ | Opulence is sinful and we all pay for it. | „ |
| ~ Raul Menendez's catchphrase. |
| “ | Power... We were all robbed by it. Those so-called "heroes" left us divided and broken. But they underestimated how dangerous we are. That mistake gives us an opportunity. And for the first time, they'll understand... what it feels like to be powerless. This is OUR time, my friends... to destroy everything they've built! | „ |
| ~ Raul Menendez's narration in the Season Five Cinematic. |
Raul Menendez, also known as Odysseus, is one of the main antagonists of the Call of Duty franchise, most prominently serving as the main antagonist of Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
He was an extremely charismatic and influential Nicaraguan political activist, founder and leader of Cordis Die and an old nemesis of Alex Mason and Frank Woods. He intends on destroying America through a worldwide uprising by crippling the U.S. military, in his campaign to avenge the death of his sister Josefina and the many people that Americans have killed throughout history.
He was voiced and motion-captured by the late Kamar de los Reyes.
His Evil Rankings[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- Raul, alongside his father Jose sold drugs for easy money, making them rich and powerful. They’ve also started the Menendez Cartel, which was said to be feared.
- After the death of his father, he took over the Menendez Cartel to continue his father's work. Raul also never mentions his father even once, implying that he did not care about him.
- He had supplied weapons to the MPLA and Trópas with the intent of causing Third World countries to burn.
- He captured Frank Woods and his team, and tortured them. Then he brutally murders Woods' teammates in front of him, giving Woods PTSD and being the reason why Woods is insane. Afterwards, he leaves them to be locked in a shipping crate, causing Woods to become dehydrated for weeks.
- He threatens Lev Kravchenko over the radio and even calls him a puppet to remind him that he is the superior authority, showing how he treats his subordinates.
- He tries to kill Alex Mason by using a grenade, and when that doesn't work, he tries to stab him. After he is shot by Mason, the grenade detonated, killing his own Cuban soldiers, which he shows no remorse for. This proves he does not care about the safety of his associates.
- Despite being saved by him, he beats up Manuel Noriega and knocks him out, though it’s not like it was undeserved.
- He brutally murders many PDF soldiers during his rampage, though this is understandable as they harmed his sister.
- Abducts David Mason (a 10 year old boy) and Jason Hudson. He then threatens to kill David and forces Hudson into feeding Woods false information saying Menendez is Nexus Target, manipulating Woods into killing his best friend, Alex Mason.
- Constantly torments and taunts David Mason, giving him PTSD.
- Shoots Woods in his kneecaps with a shotgun, crippling him for life.
- Torments Hudson about the death of Alex Mason before forcing a sadistic choice upon him to have himself, Woods or David killed. Hudson, who couldn't handle the guilt of betraying Mason and Woods, volunteers to be the next victim for Menendez.
- Brutally kills Hudson in front of Woods by shooting him in the knees with a shotgun and slitting his throat. Then he torments Woods about the deaths of Mason and Hudson before taunting David to remind him of this moment as he grows up.
- Founds a dangerous terrorist organization called Cordis Die, and manipulates his followers into believing he is a Messiah.
- Made propagandistic videos of himself on YouTube and Twitter. When his Twitter account was suspended, his followers went to the FBI Director’s house and burned him alive. He is also indirectly responsible for riots happening in North Korea and Iran at the hands of his followers.
- Invested money into a tech company called Tacitus Corporation to create and use a cyberweapon called Celerium to cripple the Chinese stock exchange. This leads to China banning the export of "rare earth elements" that the entire U.S. Army and military's infrastructure is dependent on. This also causes tensions to happen between the US and China, leading to the Second Cold War.
- Had his associate Erik Breighner locked in a crate, then executed for revealing information to David Mason.
- Ordered DeFalco to brutally execute one of his men by shooting his kneecaps with a shotgun after finding out he was a spy.
- Takes advantage of the war between America and SDC by allying himself with rogue Chinese General and SDC Chairman Tian Zhao.
- Lures in and tries to kill David Mason and Mike Harper with a grenade.
- Orders DeFalco to kidnap Chloe Lynch, his former associate. If DeFalco is killed during his mission, Raul does not mention him at all and doesn’t even retaliate for him.
- Orders the Mujahideen to assassinate the Afghan president. If the assassination succeeds, Afghanistan and Russia will join SDC.
- Sadistically forces Farid to kill his friend, Mike Harper to prove his loyalty to Menendez. If Farid refuses to kill Harper, Menendez will execute Farid after telling him he means nothing to the people he serves.
- Willingly gets captured by David to get onto the USS Obama and carry out his plan.
- Takes advantage of the attack on the USS Obama and kills the Navy SEALs guarding him, then he pistol whips David unconscious.
- Executes Briggs, against his subordinate Salazar's wishes, or at the very least wounds him. If he executes him, he will say "I decide what is necessary.", proving himself to be a hypocrite as he claims to want to avenge innocent lives that were taken by Americans but took an innocent life himself despite the request of Salazar.
- Plants a virus in the USS Obama's defenses and hacked the US drones, which can be deactivated if Chloe survives.
- He causes the hacked US Drone fleet to sink the USS Obama, killing Briggs, Salazar, Chloe and the crew. This can be prevented if Briggs was spared to reboot the defenses and if the Strike Force missions are complete for the Chinese soldiers to protect the ship.
- Used the US Drone Fleet to attack cities in America and China, killing many civilians, police officers and Secret Service personnel in the process.
- Taunts the JSOC Operatives through a broadcast in which he self destructs the drones, revealing that he was not planning to only destroy cities, but to weaken the US Military and empower Cordis Die. He also plotted to destroy all capitalist governments in the world and cause global anarchy.
- Killed a JSOC Operative and took his uniform as a disguise. He later detonates bombs in his base, killing many US Soldiers and wounding Mike Harper (if he is alive).
- Tries to shoot David Mason on sight to escape.
- Manipulates David into killing him so he can be a martyr for Cordis Die and so he can start a revolution after his death.
- David killing Raul caused riots to occur in the US as well as the White House being burned down, which led to the events of Black Ops III, making him the Greater-Scope villain of the game. Even Jacob Hendricks claims that Raul had deserved his death at David’s hands.
- If Chloe is dead and Raul has been captured and imprisoned, he will escape from jail, killing several security guards in the process, disguise himself as a military soldier, then confront and kill Woods at the retirement home. (Non canon)
- While Call of Duty has an extremely high heinous standard, Raul manages to stand out due to committing mass murder directly and indirectly. Also, he is somewhat unique since his act of making USA and China go to war with each other would have caused billions of deaths and the worldwide revolution that he caused would have killed off half of the world's population, so Raul is technically responsible for attempting to commit two genocides, attempting to destroy multiple cities/countries and indirectly attempting to wipe out almost half of the human population due to causing a worldwide revolution that would have destroyed all capitalist governments in the world.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- The main reason why he can't be Near Pure Evil is because he is way too sympathetic:
- As a boy, he witnessed USA-backed Contras rape and murder his people.
- In 1972, a earthquake caused his family to lose everything which put them in poverty, and his sister Josefina was crippled and disfigured in a warehouse fire the two were seeking shelter in 1 year later, caused by its American owner for $11k in insurance money, forcing him and his father to move into crime for money, which caused CIA to assassinate his father later on. All of this is what caused Menendez to hate the West so much.
- His sister was accidentally killed in a raid by Frank Woods to eliminate Menendez, which caused the latter's hatred for Woods, Hudson and even Mason.
- He’s a well-intentioned extremist as he believes that his actions are for the safety of others. He also has a goal to avenge people and make sure everything is under control.
- He truly cared for his sister and the reason for most of his crimes is simply because he wants to avenge her after she were killed. He also saved his sister from the burning warehouse and tried to commit suicide after thinking she died until he saw her wake up and took care of her since then. He also went on a rampage to rescue Josefina from the burning mansion while seeing visions of her face, which ended up failing because Woods threw a grenade which blew them both up and killed Josefina. He also mentions that she was the reason for him to live.
- He is genuinely affable to others, shown where he embraces DeFalco, is genuinely friendly towards Farid (until Farid betrays him), and even respects David Mason, to the point where he refuses to kill him when he has the chance.
- Has a Pet the Dog moment where he saves civilians from being assaulted and executed by PDF soldiers while also referring to the PDF as “filthy, soulless animals”, implying that he has moral standards as well.
[]
 Inconsistently Heinous
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Al-Qatala | ||
External Links[]
- Raul Menendez on the Villains Wiki
- Raul Menendez on the Call of Duty Wiki