Call of Duty: Warzone’s The Haunting returned in October of 2021 with plenty of new game modes, weapons, and skins. One of the most interesting additions was the Donnie Darko Bundle, which featured a Frank the Rabbit skin along with some Legendary weapons and Epic items. Players could purchase the Donnie Darko Bundle with 2,400 COD points or around $20.
Though the Operator Skin may seem a bit silly — it’s a giant bunny suit, after all — there’s more to it than is immediately apparent. Call of Duty: Warzone players might not realize it given the game’s action-packed gameplay, but Frank the Rabbit actually has quite the backstory.
Frank the Rabbit and Donnie Darko
Frank the Rabbit is the antagonist of the psychological thriller Donnie Darko. Throughout the film, he is seen following Donnie, the titular main character, as the teenager goes about his daily life. Played by Jake Gyllenhaal, Donnie first meets Frank when a strange voice leads him to the golf course. When he comes face to face with the bunny man, he’s told that the world will end in approximately 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds.
After this first meeting, Frank starts appearing more often, with Donnie growing more and more unhinged after every sighting of the strange bunny man. While at first it may seem like Frank is a malevolent entity, his goal is actually to push Donnie to save the world.
In the movie, watchers are introduced to a book entitled The Philosophy of Time Travel by Roberta Sparrow. This fictional book talks about the potential for alternate universes and time-traveling entities to spring forth from anomalies in the Primary Universe or the world where mankind resides in currently. In short, Donnie Darko’s Primary Universe was corrupted by something unknown, and the characters of the movie now reside in what is known as a Tangent Universe.
The Tangent Universe is an alternate world born out of the anomaly that occurred of the Primary Universe. It is an alternate reality that exists separately from the Primary Universe but can only last for a couple of weeks before collapsing into itself. This results in a black hole that would wipe it out, taking the Primary Universe along with it, effectively ending the world as humanity knows it.
This is where Frank the Rabbit’s role comes in. Frank is an entity from the Tangent Universe that was killed and granted the ability to time travel specifically so that he could help close the Tangent Universe before it wipes out the rest of reality. He does this by pushing Donnie, who is the movie’s “chosen one,” to execute a series of tasks that inevitably leads to him preventing the collapse of the Tangent Universe.
Call of Duty: Warzone’s Version of Frank the Rabbit
Now, knowing who Frank the Rabbit is and his role in Donnie Darko, it’s a bit easier to see why the Donnie Darko bundle is the way it is. Aside from the visuals that draw inspiration from Frank’s design, there are also subtler touches to the bundle’s other items.
The Time Lapse Watch is an homage to Frank’s ability to travel through time. Meanwhile, the Jet Engine Charm also alludes to a crucial element of the movie, as it’s something that helped both Frank and Donnie prevent the end of the world. Finally, the Sky is Falling Finishing Move has elements taken straight from the movie — the looming jet engine and how it falls from the sky.
Overall, Warzone’s recreation of Frank the Rabbit and the items that they created along with him are a faithful iteration of Donnie Darko’s bunny man. While he may not be as popular as Ghostface, there’s no doubt that the lore behind him is as interesting as it is complex.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.