It is no secret that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies is full of Easter eggs. However, one subtle Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War detail serves as an unexpected nod to the popular Disney film Tangled.
The reference comes in the intro cutscene for Die Maschine, with the cinematic introducing fans to the new factions and setting the stage for the Dark Aether story. Players learn of Weaver’s role in the narrative, confirming that the campaign and Zombies storylines are connected. Gamers also get insight into the villainous Omega Group, with the big reveal being that an older Samantha Maxis is the focus of the story. Despite all this lore, Treyarch was apparently able to slip in a random reference as well.
At one point in the trailer, players see Samantha Maxis inside of a phone booth. As she talks to Weaver and goes over the tape that exposes the Die Maschine experiments, players get a brief look at the phone booth’s interior. As pointed out by Reddit user JellymmmJAM, some graffiti can be seen in a few frames of the trailer. Circling the piece in question, players should easily be able to see the resemblance to Tangled’s main character Rapunzel in the drawing — with the addition of Pascal the chameleon only making things clearer.
In the drawing, Rapunzel’s long hair and large eyes can be seen clearly. As for the chameleon Pascal, the creature is almost a perfect copy of the one seen in the movie. The pose where Pascal rests on Rapunzel's head is seen, making the nod to Tangled clearer. While either drawing would have made the reference harder to spot, seeing both together guarantees that the movie is the first thing that comes to mind. However, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War fans are confused as to why the Easter egg exists in the first place.
While Treyarch has referenced memes like Ronald Raygun and the Coffin Dance Easter egg via some side quests, references to film are limited in Zombies. Further, seeing it in such a dark and serious cutscene is even more out of the ordinary, as this is the last place fans would expect to see a Rapunzel reference. For now, JellymmmJAM’s theory that one of the developers simply liked the movie seems like the best guess gamers have for why this sketch is in the phone booth.
With the next Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Survival map supposedly set in Berlin, players may be able to see this Rapunzel graffiti in-game. For now, these frames in the Die Maschine cutscene are as close as fans can get to the princess and her pet.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Reddit